As the ironically named “Freedom Convoy” wound its way across the country to inflict a lockdown on the City of Ottawa it became, somewhere along the way, one of the most counter-intuitive efforts of its kind ever.
Ostensibly a protest against a federal requirement that truckers be vaccinated to cross the border, it picked up support by becoming a vehicle to provide a segment of the population an opportunity to demonstrate a truly over-the-top fear and loathing of Canada’s current prime minister.
Ironically, by the time this paper lands on your doorstep, it appears more likely Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole will be toppled by a caucus revolt than Justin Trudeau will be forced from office by the anti-mandate uprising.
While the right to protest is an important one that most support even when they disagree with the cause, this movement isn’t really a protest so much as a coup attempt.
If it was a protest, the petrol-powered parade would have arrived in Ottawa demanding the government end the border vax mandate, or all mandates, or “stop being mean to us” or whatever their actual demands is.
Instead, they’ve come bearing a “memorandum of understanding” that calls for the government to actually step down, hand over power to a bizarre triumvirate made up of the governor general, the Senate, and representatives appointed by convoy organizers, which would then issue orders reversing the vax mandates. It’s not really clear if they would step down after that, but one hopes they would want to get back to trucking once the border barrier had been resolved.
Which all begs the question, if it’s all about “freedom of choice” as has been widely contended by supporters of this endeavour, what about the free choice Canadians made in the last election?
The current minority government was elected in an campaign fought at least partially, and often bitterly, over the idea of vaccine mandates in areas of federal jurisdiction. That’s thrown to the wind I guess, because a defeated minority won’t accept the election results.
And speaking of Donald Trump, he’s endorsed this entire venture so, hey, make of that what you will.
Still on the topic of jurisdiction, is the reality that even if the Canadian government capitulated completely, the U.S. government still won’t allow unvaccinated truckers (or any unvaccinated non-citizens) into the country.
Aside from the border-related mandates, pretty much everything else the protestors are objecting to (except for Trudeau himself) is under provincial jurisdiction.
Not a problem, as one of the convoy leaders advised during a “press conference” held Sunday for the benefit of only “trusted” (read “cheerleading”) media, they would be dealing with provincial interests in due course. So something to look forward to I guess.
We have lots of local news this week so I don’t really have space to get into stuff like demanding meals at a homeless shelter or the disrespect shown real Canadian heroes by the actions of some protesters involving a statue of Terry Fox and the National War Memorial, but we did receive a press release from Royal Canadian Legion command on the latter.
For the record, it states: “The Royal Canadian Legion strongly condemns the shocking actions of protestors who encroached upon the National War Memorial in Ottawa on Saturday. They jumped on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and parked vehicles on the surrounding grounds.
“This sacred memorial site commemorates those who fought and fell for the very freedoms that allow people in Canada the right to protest peacefully. We are dismayed and saddened by this overt lack of respect.”
A weekend of blockades and blaring horns would be one thing, but with participants indicating an intention to stay for weeks or months, this has gone far beyond protest and now amounts to a city taken hostage. Reports abound of downtown residents, including some disabled and vulnerable citizens, for whom a trip to the grocery store has become impossible due to blockage of their normal routes and the impact on public transit. Of people and pets terrified and tormented by the non-stop blaring of powerful air horns, “Accede to our demands and you’ll get your city back!”
If someone threw in a “bwa ha ha ha” with that, it would hardly seem out place.
Unfortunately it’s the ordinary citizens who can’t get to work or appointments and downtown business owners forced to shut down who will feel the impact of the disruptions most severely.
In western Canada, a similar blockade is actually preventing truckers from doing their job by closing down U.S. border points.
Ironically, the politicians the convoy’s ire is supposedly aimed at are busy, as usual, running the spin cycle and making whatever political hay they can out of this debacle before the protesters run out of gas (perhaps literally) and bring the thing to what will likely be a messy and generally unsatisfying conclusion.
