The 'Checkerboard floors riding on horseback', AFAIK, refers to the checker pattern on the RCMP's hats. A lot of people used to refer to them as 'checkerboard floors'.
As for the bit about communism, I think that's unlikely. Canada's a democratic socialist country, and as such, the McCarthyist 'perils of communism' is a bit of anachronism here, and I don't think that that is a sentiment Gord would support (though he isn't a communist [who is?] he's not the type to characterize the disposessed as such, and that's who was really marching in those 'riots' in the thirties; the communist party was just an organizing force).
As for what 'riot' it's about, I'm not entirely sure the question is relevant. There have been a lot of demonstrations in Canada recently, some even on the scale of the 'riots' in the 1930s. (Quebec City and Bay Street, for example) Whether you want to call them riots or not depends which side of the fence you're on, and what your feelings are on the use of police power.
I don't think it's important though, because the song is about the relationship between the cop and the girl in Bobcaygeon (beautiful town; have a cottage there, and BTW, the stars are beautifully visible, no light pollution from Toronto). Although I would speculate that the 'aryan twang' is a reference to fascists being the source of the riot. More characteristically Downie. As a bit of trivia, the man they couldn't hang who jumps on stage with 'the constellations' in the video is Hugh Dillon from the Headstones.
The 'Checkerboard floors riding on horseback', AFAIK, refers to the checker pattern on the RCMP's hats. A lot of people used to refer to them as 'checkerboard floors'.
As for the bit about communism, I think that's unlikely. Canada's a democratic socialist country, and as such, the McCarthyist 'perils of communism' is a bit of anachronism here, and I don't think that that is a sentiment Gord would support (though he isn't a communist [who is?] he's not the type to characterize the disposessed as such, and that's who was really marching in those 'riots' in the thirties; the communist party was just an organizing force).
As for what 'riot' it's about, I'm not entirely sure the question is relevant. There have been a lot of demonstrations in Canada recently, some even on the scale of the 'riots' in the 1930s. (Quebec City and Bay Street, for example) Whether you want to call them riots or not depends which side of the fence you're on, and what your feelings are on the use of police power.
I don't think it's important though, because the song is about the relationship between the cop and the girl in Bobcaygeon (beautiful town; have a cottage there, and BTW, the stars are beautifully visible, no light pollution from Toronto). Although I would speculate that the 'aryan twang' is a reference to fascists being the source of the riot. More characteristically Downie. As a bit of trivia, the man they couldn't hang who jumps on stage with 'the constellations' in the video is Hugh Dillon from the Headstones.