The great Christmas truce of the First World War remains a mythic ideal. In December of 1914, British and German soldiers on the Western Front came out of their trenches and sang carols, played soccer and saw each other as humans rather than enemy combatants. Even during the worst of all wars some humanity came through, keeping faith alive that we can put aside our differences sometimes.

At this time of year, the urge to find or share goodwill is strong, even to call truces around ongoing conflicts. Is there a civic truce you would like to see this season?

Here in the city there’s conflict everywhere but we are decidedly not at war with each other, though some who most surely have never been anywhere near a war like to frame things with war rhetoric, like the “war against the car” or the “war against Christmas.” Given that you can find Christmas trees in just about every public place and hear “Merry Christmas” over and over, it’s just a made-up culture war pushed by people whose politics feed on conflict. Ignore all that and just enjoy the trees.

What about those cars, though? We do need a truce between cars and vulnerable road users in the GTA after a horrifically lawless year of people being hit by drivers. With truces, two parties should be more or less equal, but in this ongoing conflict the power imbalance is profound. But let’s try nonetheless: drivers will obey the law and chill on the aggression, and, though far less of a problem, so will pedestrians and cyclists. Can a truce be this simple?

I took political science in university and one of the greatest political science words I learned was “internecine.” Internecine conflict is marked by disputes and discord within a group who, ostensibly, should all be working towards the same goal. Don’t mention the word internecine to a member of the Conservative Party of Canada right now, as they might be a tad sensitive about this kind of conflict.

These conflicts play out across the country and here in the GTA. The old 416-905 stress remains, even if younger people who have no use for old territorial telephone area codes may be confused by the names. Toronto is the biggest and gets all the attention, yet its surrounding cities are home to millions: the conflict is built in.

In Peel Region, there’s conflict between Mississauga and Brampton, two of Canada’s biggest cities that are joined at the hip, if the hip was the Highway 407 corridor. Mississauga wants out, though, more autonomy from the constraints of the regional government.

Within Toronto itself there’s tension between the older city and the “suburbs,” though the Etobicokes and Scarboroughs of Toronto are often more urban than not. Even within neighbourhoods there’s conflict between people who live in homes that are on the ground and have little yards, and those who live in homes that are stacked on top of each other. One side thinks more of the other side will ruin their lifestyles.

The continual atomization of this kind of conflict, from regional to neighbours side by side, is depressing. We’re all in this together, aren’t we? What’s good for Mississauga is good for Toronto is good for Ajax, no? We don’t just live within the confines of our own neighbourhoods. A truce, then. The Great Golden Horseshoe truce of 2019: cross Steeles Avenue at your pleasure.

A confounding kind of internecine conflict sometimes happens between government agencies, like the ongoing one between Metrolinx and the TTC and City of Toronto over various issues such as Presto payments and, of late, sale of a piece of land by Union Station. A truce please: just get us to where we need to be.

Speaking of provincial and municipal strife, that’s a conflict baked into the constitution of Canada. Cities are at the mercy of provincial governments, as Toronto and, most recently, Hamilton have learned. The détente that’s developed between Mayor John Tory and Premier Doug Ford is a truce that’s come in time for the holidays, but after the events that have already occurred, what happens next is most important.

The thing about truces is they’re temporary. They do let us rest and think clearly for a spell, and that’s important, but a truce doesn’t mean the conflict is gone. As a diplomat friend puts it, after the truce what is needed is a ceasefire, then armistice, then a real peace agreement. These are “diplomatic confidence-building measures” and require enforcement and monitoring or it all falls apart. It’s a lot of work.

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Remember, though, we aren’t actually at war here, despite how easy it is to slip into the language of war, so getting to the peace shouldn’t be that hard, should it?

Holding on to whatever spirit of goodwill we have this week might help.

Shawn Micallef is a Toronto-based writer and a freelance contributing columnist for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @shawnmicallef

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