“You cannot silence people for being too proud, or waving their flags, or being too loud. For standing in support of their fellow man or telling them their freedom is going to be banned. So, listen to me and make no mistake, their freedom was something you simply can't take. It isn't physical, like a truck or a bus, our freedom resides in each one of us. Our charter of rights and freedom stands true. And cannot be undone even by you.”
– How the Prime Minister Stole Freedom
In 2013, as a candidate for the position of Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, was queried on which national administration he most admired. Without hesitation, he picked Communist China for its flexible dictatorship, before elaborating, “Having a dictatorship where you can do whatever you wanted, that I find quite interesting”. A few short months later, Trudeau would become the prime minister, and Canada would begin their unfortunate descent to the far left.
Citizens of Canada, much like the United States, declared their independence from England using the ideas from England’s Magna Carta to establish the Canadian Charter of Rights and Common Law. In keeping with those ideals were specific rights to freedom of expression and legal rights for people accused of crimes, to name just two. Most notable was the enduring principle that no one is above the law. In January 2022, a group of truckers would put these long-standing principles to the test.
In response to a new COVID mandate requiring essential workers to be vaccinated to reenter Canada at border crossings, Canadian truckers brought their grievances to the streets of Ottawa. Careful to keep lanes open for emergency personnel, semis lined the downtown thoroughfares in a sign of solidarity. Although 85 percent of truckers were already vaccinated, many were opposed to this unjustifiable measure. At the time, several countries including Sweden, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Norway, Finland, Iceland, and Switzerland had already ended their mandates. At that point, we also knew, that vaccines were not stopping the spread, immunizing the recipients, or lowering infection rates.
Not to be deterred by a few inconvenient facts, Trudeau immediately politicized the protests calling participants right-wing fascists, racists, and misogynists, before comparing it to the US’s January 6 “insurrection” and calling it an occupation. Yet, like the J6 event, there was no sign of terrorist money or activity, nor were there any guns. Unsurprisingly, even Russia was eventually blamed for the event by the CBC, an arm of the Trudeau government.
To counter the rally, Trudeau and his aides interfered with fundraisers “GoFundMe” and “GiveSendGo” which raised over $10 million and $8 million respectively, in support of the truckers. And despite Trudeau's claims that right-wing Americans were leading the cause, a GoFundMe representative testified that 88 percent of donors were indeed Canadian, with 86 percent of funds originating from Canada. By Feb 13, a hacker would expose the list of donors, to intimidate the supporters of what Trudeau called “a terrorist group”.
The next day, Trudeau took unprecedented measures to invoke the Emergencies Act of 1988, a piece of legislation that replaced the Wars Memorial Act. An Act passed to ensure citizens' safety and security during a national emergency gave broad powers to Trudeau and his parliament. Several days later, police would descend on Ottawa where teargas was used to scatter peaceful protesters, while hundreds more were beaten or arrested. Event coordinators were charged with mischief and held as quasi-political prisoners without bail or hearings. Using further intimidation tactics, Trudeau and his regime would demand that banks freeze the accounts of donors, including a single mom for the sin of a $50 contribution to the trucker convoy.
In Derek Smith’s 2022 illustrated children’s book, “How the Prime Minister Stole Freedom”, Smith details the event that became known worldwide as the Freedom Convoy. In the cadence of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”, Trudeau stars as the grouchy despot who used COVID to gain power and create division across the country. A fitting souvenir for all who missed out on buying the T-shirt, Smith recounts Trudeau's mishandling of the resistance including the implementation of the Emergencies Act to counteract dissent. Unfortunately, the truckers would not get the same happy ending that Smith envisioned in the book.
In the end, 39 trucking companies would be shut down for their involvement in the Freedom Rally, for no other reason than challenging Trudeau and his minions. Yet, the trucker’s resistance efforts would not go unnoticed, as their actions inspired rallies throughout the world, including the Dutch farmer's movement formed to protest a different kind of tyranny. Unfortunately, Trudeau too would win in the end, finally achieving the unilateral power he so envied in the Chinese. Mao would be proud.
Comments