Glen Pearson writes that the trucker convoy has revealed our political myopia:
For the average Canadian attempting to muddle through the pandemic, the truck convoy that arrived in Ottawa seemed something of an anomaly – a fringe protest using its heavy rigs to make a statement. Almost two weeks later, we are coming to understand that perhaps the most dangerous aspect of it all has been the political response.
What is apparent, however, is that the more radical right of the political spectrum, still furious of the result of the last federal election, has found another cause celebre with which to disrupt as much of Justin Trudeau’s tenure as it can. The chaos it has caused in Ottawa, Windsor and Coutts, Alberta, has risen in importance in a way that makes official responses to the protests seem timid. At first, it all appeared like the tolerant way Canadians have of dealing with such things, but the more gridlock that results, the lack of an effective response has likely emboldened the protestors.
It’s all fascinating theatre, reminiscent of developments south of the border, but the crucial story in it all has been the rise of the Right once more in a nation that is largely centrist. By playing politics with it, the Conservatives hope to wrangle power out of all the tumult. And it’s not just the fringe of the party. The majority of the Conservative caucus tossed the more centrist O’Toole out the door, opening the floodgates for a free for all political season.
We used to think that these folks were the nutbars in the People's Party of Canada. But we forget that Maxime Bernier almost won the leadership of the Conservative Party. These people have been around for a long time. And ignoring them won't make them go away:
Canadians get it that large swaths of our population feel disenchanted, disconnected, and denied, but little in our national tendency has been towards hatred, anarchy, or violence. And, yet, there are those moments like the trucker protest when we wonder if we are inching closer to the precipice of political and social chaos. We understand that the truckers have the right to demonstrate, but others are attaching themselves to the protest who have nothing but democratic chaos on their minds. There is a difference, and we can’t permit the former while coddling the latter.
These people must be confronted and called out for who and what they are.
Image: Global News
18 comments:
As a former teacher you know that your success for the year is determined in the first five minutes after you enter the room. A teacher who sets and enforces clear rules at the beginning can afford to relax them later, but a teacher who is lax at the beginning will never successfully tighten the reins.
The same principle applies in law enforcement. The Ottawa police and the Alberta RCMP allowed these brownshirts free rein at the outset and now face an insurmountable problem. Abe Lincoln put the problem this way: "Must a government of necessity be too strong for the liberties of its people, or too weak to maintain its own existence?" At this point, thanks to incompetent policing, only Trudeau can answer that question.
Cap
The police have been afraid of violence among these folks, Cap. A mob has to be stared down from the very beginning.
I don't think the police were afraid of violence, Owen. The rot goes further than that and in my view the police are complicit. "Those involved with organizing protest include former RCMP and military officers."
Cap
According to a CBC investigation, this "convoy" is lead by a number of ex-RCMP, CSIS and other security folks who worked for military and the fed, and who would in all likelihood be "known" to many of the Ottawa police, including its leadership.
This is not an itinerant trucker backlash, but a well planned and orchestrated event planned by right wingers with an agenda. That, in and of itself, now explains to me why the Ottawa police just sat by and watched.
It's disturbing to read about these people, Cap. As in the United States, there are ex-military and police who have decided to stand with the fascists.
It appears that these people are carefully organized and intent on taking the government down by down democratic means, Lulymay. That should scare all of us.
If the Trudeau government had a strategy we ought to have glimpsed it by now. The protesters aren't there for the purpose of blocking Ottawa streets. They chose Ottawa to defy the federal government and show it to be ineffectual.
The Liberals appear like the terrified kid in the schoolyard who learns to hand over his lunch money to the bully without even being asked. They treat this as a municipal problem or a provincial problem but not theirs.
Unless the federal government changes direction and soon they'll encourage other malcontents to emulate these protesters.
A main objective of any insurgency is to show the government as feeble, ineffectual, incapable of maintaining order and protecting the citizenry. These protesters have succeeded.
I agree, Mound. The refusal of the federal government to react has simply encouraged chaos -- which is precisely what these folks want to create.
Liked the post.
From the beginning it was doubtful these protests had much to do with covid mandates. Always thought there was an agenda, political and to see how to go about unsettling a democratic country. Those who tried it in the U.S.A. used an american tool--out and out violence,--the riots of 6 Jan. canadians are a bit different and hence the trucker blockades. Its more "Canadian", no guns out in the open, but they've achieved some of their goals. The Conservatives aren't helping, but they see it as a way to gain power. Perhaps they think Trudeau is going to fold his cards and move on.
there is also the problem if 100 children in the Ottawa encampment. Tossing tear gas into the crowd isn't going to go over well with pictures of children caught in it all.
The various police departments ought to have more surveillence of these groups, hello CISIS, RCMP, city police forces.
There is a real lack of a PR strategy for the feds and provinces. I remember a rather large protest in Toronto a number of years ago during a G-20 meeting or something like it. Toronto police were of course critizied for their actions, but that kettling system they used worked. You do have to wonder why it isn't being used now.
It is understandable that police officers don't want to engage in hand to hand combat when they're out numbered but surely some one can get their act together to move police around to deal with some of this, even if they have to go purchase tow trucks to achieve the removal of the trucks.
Give the obstructionists a dead line to move their trucks and if they don't they will be seized and sold as proceeds of crime and the rest of them kettled and put into jail, end of story. They want their freedom, well so do a lot of other people, like freedom from then noise, freedom from fear, freedom to go to work, freedom from being laid off. the list goes on. Those trucks can be removed even if local tow truck drivers don't want to be involved. You can move anything with a DC cat. Might reck the brakes on the trucks, but that is the reasonability of the truckers.
I've protested all through the 70s and 80s but we kept to the side walks or had city permits. Perhaps the real intent is for those who are adversely affected by the truckers to "take on" the truckers.
As I watch the protestors yell./talk about their freedom, none seem to be able to describe with any real clarity what freedom they exactly want. They just keep shouting they want freedom. I've watched a few try to articulate what freedoms they want, but it still leaves me un informed. No one is forcing them to have vaccinations. No one has been rounded, tied down to be given the jab. So what is their problem. You just can't go some places if you don't have the jab. Its that simple. There are all sorts of things you can't do in this country without a "jab" or its equivilent. You want to sell real estate, you need a license. You want to work with kids, you need a criminal check. You want to take out a mortgage, you need to have a credit check and demonstrate you've done your taxes. Want to fly a plane, you need to be certified, same with cars, buses, trains. There are all sorts of contraints on us in society, so what is the big deal with a jab. There is more at play here than covid shots.
You're right, e.a.f. We have lots of requirements in this country. Vaccination is not a burden.
You might want to read today's New York Times editorial:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/10/opinion/ottawa-trucker-protests.html
"Allowing nonviolent, even if disruptive, protest is an important tool for maintaining social cohesion in a polarized society."
Easy to say, Mound, but these days very hard to do.
Then there's this ominous piece from The Guardian.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/10/canada-truckers-protest-mindset-intelligence-reports
Say what?
https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2020/09/fox-news-trump-language-stelter-hoax/616309/
Newspeak at it's best..
TB
If the protesters were lefties, would the police be bashing heads by now?
An excellent article, TB. Newspeak and Groupthink.
Good question, John. Lots of people have knee-jerk reactions to this kind of thing.
The protesters would use violence to bolster their argument that the government should be overthrown, Mound.
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