We have a convoy of angry and shambolic truck drivers to thank for pulling back the curtain and exposing how fragile our democracy is in this country.
This group has unwittingly released a torrent of pandemic-weary frustration and contempt for our democratic institutions and our leaders. The lawlessness and civil unrest we’ve experienced in Ottawa as a result of the protesters has spread to other cities and now threatens to spread to other countries as well.
The convoy was originally intended to protest mandated vaccinations for truckers crossing the U.S.-Canada border but quickly grew as thousands signed on to express a festering anger and fear over lockdowns, school closings, job losses, and a multitude of other social and financial ills during these past two pandemic-plagued years.
Unfortunately, the protest got hijacked and overshadowed along the way by a motley cabal of racists, anti-Semites, outright hooligans, and extremists committed to fomenting social unrest. Opportunistic politicians haven’t helped.
Despite pleas and threats that the protesters must go, there is a solid core determined to stay until the hell they’ve created freezes over.
In fact, it’s a witch’s brew that police and politicians now struggle to control—stirred by social media and lies, distortions, conspiracy theories, racism, and hate.
We knew the big trucks were on their way to Ottawa from all across the country but we can be forgiven for thinking it would be just another protest group that would cause some inconvenience, get some attention, squeeze some promises out of politicians, and then pick up their marbles and go home.
After all, this is Canada and until three weeks ago we were known around the world for our civility, stability, and playing nice.
But when citizens in our nation’s capital become barricaded in their downtown homes and businesses are shuttered out of fear and Ottawa’s police chief admits his force is inadequate and untrained to deal with a city under siege, it is time to admit we’ve got a problem.
In fact, it’s more than that. With the distribution of Jew-hating literature and as symbols of evil like the flags of Nazi Germany and the U.S. Confederacy fluttered amidst the bedlam in the shadow of the Peace Tower, we were confronted with the reality that we have lost our innocence and are not immune to U.S.-style politics and social upheaval.
We have tasted the conservative right-wing populism felt across Europe and which has denigrated the U.S. in the eyes of the world, engulfed the once-great Republican Party, and hobbled the U.S. Congress
That’s not just diesel fumes that permeate the city core around Parliament Hill, the Ambassador Bridge at Windsor, and elsewhere. It’s the unmistakable odour of Trump-like far-right extremists and white nationalists and social media venom right here in our once safe, respectful, and comfy backyard.
What does it say when first responders become the target of demonstrators’ venom and abuse and protesters demand “freedom’’ while depriving their fellow citizens the basic freedom to feel safe in their own communities?
In Toronto, as the city prepared for the protesters, health care workers were told not to display their hospital credentials for fear of being attacked by rabid anti-vaxxers and outright fools.
What does it say when roads and bridges are barricaded, supply chains are severed, and tens of thousands of workers are denied the freedom to work and earn the money needed to support their families?
People demand that the trucks be towed but local towing companies fear the wrath of the protesters and won’t assist police.
The demonstrators are unfazed by the billions of tax dollars being spent on policing, the huge losses to the Canadian and U.S. economies, the damage to international relations, and the potential permanent loss of manufacturing jobs in the automobile and other sectors.
So much for all that money spent on convincing investors that this is a good, safe place to build and create jobs.
Police intelligence confirms the “significant” involvement and influence of U.S. extremists and big money in the demonstrations. It’s no coincidence that Donald Trump, as he plots his return to the White House in 2024, was quick to praise the chaos up here north of the 49th and encourage its spread.
Fox, the conservative cable news channel in the U.S. and rabid Trump supporter, has highly praised the truckers protest and one of its star commentators has called it “the single most successful human rights protest in a generation”.
There was an obvious U.S. presence at all of the demonstrations—from the Stars and Stripes to Vote Trump 2024 banners and Let’s Go Brandon signs (a vulgar expression Republicans have coined to denigrate current President Joe Biden).
Donations have become a major issue with one fundraising company agreeing under pressure to refund the $1O million to donors and MPs have voted to investigate the source of the money.
It is no wonder politicians have an interest in the source of money raised—not just over concern about foreign influence but the reality that the data would be valuable to fundraising by our political parties.
Maxime Bernier’s alt-right People’s Party of Canada (PPC) would be especially happy to get its hands on the list of donors, many of whom would share a similar political philosophy.
Bernier failed to win any seats in last year’s election but more than 800,000 votes were cast for the PPC and support for him and his party has increased in recent months.
Meanwhile, it hasn’t been the finest hour for our system of government and leaders. Politicians have spent more time bickering and testing which way the wind blows than showing the leadership needed to prevent or solve the crisis.
Beleaguered Ottawa police chief Peter Sloly has been begging for help almost since the outset—and is still waiting. The politicians are falling over each other tangled in jurisdictional wrangles.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been a major target of the protesters’ venom with signs and slogans calling for his resignation and condemning him for earlier belittling the convoy as a fringe group of misfits and refusing to meet with the convoy.
Truth to tell, the group is without leaders and their demands (including an overthrow of the Trudeau government) were either so unreasonable or so diverse and numerous not to be taken seriously.
How the public will judge Trudeau’s handling of this whole nightmare is yet to be determined. That will probably be decided by how the situation finally ends.
The Conservative Party of Canada emerges the biggest losers with several of its MPs openly encouraging the protesters and the party clinging to its refusal to call for an end to the protest even as the situation became more dire and costs soared.
No doubt influenced by polls that show Canadians are fed up and want the protests to end, the CPC under its new interim leader Candice Bergen finally put up the white flag this week and urged the protesters to go home.
However, MP Pierre Poilievre, the only announced contender so far in a contest to choose the new Conservative Party leader, stood in the Commons on Thursday, congratulated the protesters for their support of Canadian freedoms, and in a ravenous bid for power left his party bitterly divided.
The outcome of the Conservative Party leadership could well be determined on the issue of the truckers convoy.
Like Fox news and Donald Trump, far right Conservatives will support the truckers and their call for more freedom to live their lives as they wish without government influence and mandates.
Poilievre has firmly staked out his claim on the right and, sadly, it wouldn’t be the first time that a Conservative Party leadership is determined by which candidate can win the social conservative alt-right wing of the party.
The far right is the ball and chain that drags down the Conservative Party of Canada and keeps the Liberals in office election after election as voters show their preference for moderation over extremism.
Poilievre is a shrewd politician and his reading of the public mood is that the time is right for that to change.
The truckers have opened our eyes to the dangers of civil unrest and the fragility of our democracy.
We should learn a lot from this whole sorry mess. We can only hope.
Sally Barnes has enjoyed a distinguished career as a writer, journalist and author. Her work has been recognized in a number of ways, including receiving a Southam Fellowship in Journalism at Massey College at the University of Toronto. A self-confessed political junkie, she has worked in the back-rooms for several Ontario premiers. In addition to a number of other community contributions, Sally Barnes served a term as president of the Ontario Council on the Status of Women. She is a former business colleague of Doppler’s publisher, Hugh Mackenzie, and lives in Kingston, Ontario. You can find her online at sallybarnesauthor.com.
Don’t miss out on Doppler!Sign up here to receive our email digest with links to our most recent stories.
Local news in your inbox three times per week!
Click here to support local news