In the January 26th Herald, I suggested that our media was paying too much attention to the formation of the Ottawa-bound truckers’ caravan in protest over the imposition of Covid-related health mandates. Far more important events were happening throughout the world. North Korea was about to up the odds on our potential for nuclear annihilation by testing its latest medium range ballistic missile. Russia was adding to its 100,000 troops on the border of Ukraine and reintroducing the world to the chilling sobriety of Cold War-style politics.
Meanwhile, in Canada…
It’s almost impossible for me to include every anger trigger I’ve felt in the last six days that have been set off by the antics of these long-haul truckers. Hundreds of drivers are being manipulated by a sleazy group of “organizers”, and cheered on by two prairie premiers, our very own Scott Moe and Wilcox, SK transplanted Ontarian Jason Kenney, neither of whom would now qualify for a Class 1A license, even if they were tested in a Volvo cab-over without benefit of trailer attachment and equipped with Allision automatic transmissions. Every driver over the age of 55 would laugh at the notion of watching either Kenney or Moe try to change gears. Ironically, industrial magazines suggest that over 80% of the truckers participating in this convoy have never even been trained on how to “double clutch”.
I don’t know; maybe I’m a tad “warped”; my idea of being “patriotic” is to turn on the television and watch the Canadian national men’s soccer team finally intimidate and thump its U.S. rival, pretty much guaranteeing their participation in the World Cup to be held this November in Qatar. I was also singing “O Canada” along with some 400 other Dalhousie University students when Paul Henderson scored the winning goal for Canada in the 1972 Canada v Russia hockey shoot-out I also love giving the Trudeau “salute” (aka: “You’re Number 1!”) to American sports writers every time the Raptors win this year stocked with a bunch of kids, including 3 Canadians.
Still…
As was the case in France when they won the World Cup in 2018, I look at our team members, Captain Milan Borjan, flanked by Alphonso Davies or Jonathan David, and coached by former Brit John Herdman, who has now built both the men’s and women’s teams into World Cup contention, and I thank our nation for having a diverse immigration policy.
On the other hand, I watch the news in Ottawa as participants in the convoy desecrate The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier or Terry Fox’s statue, harass residents of minority communities with calls of “Go back where you came from”, and threaten soup kitchen workers. (I’m serious – WHY?)
The protesters themselves are living off fraudulently obtained GoFundMe “welfare” monies donated by anonymous and mostly American donors. Some of them defecated in front of businesses asking them to wear masks before entering their premises. Some threatened people wearing masks in public, calling them “traitors”. I ask myself whether former U.S.-born Raptors Kyle Lowry or Demar DeRosan, both of whom wanted to remain in Toronto and took public stances against Donald Trump’s racist policies, would still want to remain in a country now overrun with idiots claiming violation of their own “human rights”, while defiling those of whom they abuse and attack.
Clearly, this convoy’s membership, as well as the one now closing a border point in Alberta, is being led by morons with the clear political intent of ridding us of our democratically-elected parliament because it has Justin Trudeau as our Prime Minister. This stupidity becomes evident when it is noted that, even WITH the Government of Canada – NOT Mr. Trudeau – giving into the truckers’ demands and rescinding the cross-border vaccine restriction, Canadian truckers STILL won’t be able to cross into the United States. And our so-called “food shortage” problem has already been exposed as a disinformation campaign orchestrated by Conservative MP Melissa Lantsman, who was kicked out of Conservative premier Doug Ford’s caucus for touting her extremist Covid-related views.
Jeremy MacKenzie, spokesperson for the convoy who claims that participants are “peace-loving Canadians offering food, coffee and cigarettes” to anyone asking about the “reason” for forming this convoy, is the same individual telling people that he “doesn’t give a f__k” about what people might say about his own views and that we need a “gun or rope” for the politicians, especially Mr. Trudeau who’ve put this mandate in place. And then there’s Benjamin Dichter, former Conservative candidate in Toronto, now a member of the Maverick Party, an “architect” of the convey and the person putting in motion the fraud-plagued GoFundMe campaign– who it turns out isn’t even a long-haul regular driver.
In addition to the above-noted reality checks, there is NO provision in the United Nations Charter for truckers to claim any violation of their alleged “rights and freedoms”, only an explanatory clause maintaining the right of any nation to restrict such rights in the best interests of the health, safety and wellbeing of the nation. This means, in essence, that the mandates are not only legal, but necessary.
Still, we have these Conservative politicians – Pierre Polivievre, Garnett Genuis, as well as the two Saskatchewan-related premiers – STILL alleging support for the trucker convoy. As well, the now disgraced leader of the Peoples Party of Canada, Maxine Bernier, awaits the opportunity to address what he feels is the most important political rally in Canadian history.
With the removal of Erin O’Toole as the Conservative leader, this sudden embracing the fictitious cause of the trucker convoy suggests a continuing brain rot in the those who see themselves as “conservatives”, but not Trumpists. Even our own MP, Randy Hoback, has indicated that it is his intention to meet with members of the protest, a move that I’ve already advised him will come back to provide him with teeth marks on usually clothed portions of his anatomy.
I respect Mr. Hoback for his willingness to address the concerns of his constituents, even if I don’t agree with his policies. His decision to meet with participants in the convoy, however, flies in the face of his own publicly-stated leanings, in that he supported Peter McKay, and not O’Toole for the Party’s leadership.
Mr. Hoback should be a “voice of reason” begging the Conservative Party to cease its lemming-like march toward the cliffs of legislative inconsequentiality by following the lead of American Republicans loyal to Trump. The reality is, based upon current voter trends, Eastern Canadians will thoroughly reject anyone remotely sounding like a Trump flunkie, or those still foolish enough to believe that Stephen Harper is our saviour.
I may not be running against Mr. Hoback in the next federal election, but if he ever asks me why I think Canada’s voters have become so polarized, I will most certainly re-explain my concerns to him. Notwithstanding whether or not he does seek my advice, I’ll be watching his movement throughout the next campaign to see if he has confidence in the message he’s delivering to voters, or still displays any discomfort to suggest that it’s still painful for him sit anywhere without the surface first being padded by a soft cushion.