Bill Berkowitz for BuzzFlash: Will Trudeau’s Invoking of “Emergency Act” Lead to the End of the Right-Wing Supported Trucker Convoy?
Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau is a target of the right-wing Canadian “Truckers Convoy” (Geoffrey B)
February 20, 2022
By Bill Berkowitz
As the border crossings between the U.S. and Canada are once again cleared for commerce, Parliament hill in Ottawa remains clogged with trucks from the right-wing supported grievance convoy. Things are not only heated on the ground, but they are heating up in the Canadian parliament as well. And, the vast majority of Canadian truck drivers have indicated – basically by not showing up in support -- that they do not support the convoy.
As of the morning of February 17, Reuters is reporting that buses of police are “mov[ing] into the central core of Ottawa on Thursday after authorities promised to end a three week blockade that prompted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to talk about ‘a threat to our democracy.’"
The Washington Post’s Claire Parker reported, “Some of the convoy’s most visible leaders aren’t even truckers. And at the demonstrations, Confederate flags and pro-Trump signs have mingled alongside the Canadian maple leaf emblem” (https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/16/canada-trucker-distancing-protests/). “Teamsters Canada, a union that represents 15,000 long-haul truck drivers, called the convoy a ‘despicable display of hate lead by the political Right and shamefully encouraged by elected conservative politicians.’”
As Daily Kos’ Mark Sumner recently reported, “in Ottawa, the effort to clear the streets is going more slowly as supporters within the Conservative Party cheer on attacks on … Trudeau. On Wednesday, the discussion in Parliament went beyond heated as a Conservative member of Parliament (MP) tried to make the truck convoy sound heroic, and Trudeau responded by accusing the member—who is Jewish—of standing with those who wave the swastika.”
During a parliamentary question session, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responded to conservative members’ accusations that Trudeau was mischaracterizing the convoy and its supporters: “Conservative Party members can stand with people who wave swastikas. They can stand with people who wave the Confederate flag. We will choose to stand with Canadians who deserve to be able to get to their jobs, to be able to get their lives back.”
As Sumner pointed out, “Trudeau is the first Canadian leader who has invoked that nation’s Emergency Act, an act gives the prime minister and Cabinet authority to take ‘special temporary measures that may not be appropriate in normal times,’ and is reserved for urgent situations that ‘threaten the lives, health or safety of Canadians.’”
That Trudeau is a primary target of the right-wing organized protest is no surprise. Reuters’ Steve Scherer and David Ljunggren noted that “While the demonstrators initially protested against cross-border COVID-19 vaccine mandates for truckers and pandemic restrictions, they have made clear their opposition to Trudeau and some say they want to kick him out of office (https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/ottawa-protesters-vow-stay-canada-warns-extremists-2022-02-17/).
In the capital, police are stepping up their efforts to clear the streets; impound trucks, and arrest those who refuse to leave. Finding tow truck operators to do the job has been a problem. Many of those able to tow large trucks are concerned about their safety and their businesses.
How real is the threat of escalating violence? Reuters reported (https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/canadian-police-arrest-11-people-seize-guns-group-linked-border-blockade-2022-02-14/?taid=620b52fa6194ae0001839e71&utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter) that Canadian police in the province of Alberta “broke up a group that was supposedly prepared to use violence to back a truckers' blockade at a border crossing with the United States, authorities said.
“The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said they had arrested 11 people and seized 13 long guns as well as handguns and a large quantity of ammunition. Those arrested were reported to have "a willingness to use force against the police if any attempts were made to disrupt the blockade", the force said in a statement.”
The U.S. right, major cheerleaders and donors to the convoy are “salivating over the Canadian protests since their inception, and like the evolving protests themselves, the entrancement seems to be not over cross-border vaccine mandates so much as the imagined notion that Canadian far-right anti-government group might be able to topple the government or otherwise impose their will through force,” Daily Kos’ Mark Sumner pointed out (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/2/15/2080497/-Trudeau-invokes-emergency-powers-as-Canada-moves-against-anti-vax-blockades?pm_source=mark.)
According to Gizmodo’s Dell Cameron and Tom McKay, “A data set leaked by an unknown hacker appears to show that Americans comprise a vast majority of the users donating to Canada’s “Freedom Convoy” protest via the website GiveSendGo, a Christian-oriented platform that’s raised more than $8.3 million… In total, 51,665 donations are linked to U.S. postal codes, compared to 36,201 in Canada,” (https://gizmodo.com/givesendgo-leak-freedom-convoy-canada-trucker-protest-d-1848534782).
Will, as the American right hopes, trucker convoys become U.S. phenomenon? Mother Jones’ Kiera Butler recently reported that “American groups are furiously planning their own domestic versions of the truck convoys. … [O]rganizing efforts are gathering steam on the social media platform Telegram, where group leaders with white nationalist ties are delivering marching orders to thousands of followers—many of whom appear to be parents” (https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/02/us-convoy-planners-truckers-american-copycat-ottawa-protests-donald-trump-vaccine-mandates/).
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