# taz.de -- „Trucker protests“ in Ottawa: Canada on the brink | |
> The „trucker protests“ which paralysed Ottawa for weeks were a systematic | |
> attempt from Canada's Trump-inspired Right to overthrow the government. | |
Bild: Ottawa, Saturday 19 February | |
This is the English original of the essay whose German translation by | |
Dominic Johnson appeared in TAZ [1][here]. | |
Judging from reports sent around the world, it would seem that events | |
currently taking place across Canada, including the [2][occupation of the | |
nation’s capital, Ottawa], are led by “peaceful“ truck drivers protesting | |
vaccine mandates imposed on both sides of the Canada-US border. However, | |
many Canadians would disagree and are convinced that the blockades are not | |
led by truck drivers, 82 percent of whom are fully vaccinated, but more | |
importantly Canadians do not believe these “protests“ are in anyway | |
“peaceful,“ or are about vaccine mandates, since upon their arrival the | |
“occupiers“ gave the government an ultimatum: resign, or be deposed. | |
The majority of Canadians believe they are led by a coalition of four | |
groups holding Alt-right ideology, including White Supremacists, Neo-Nazis, | |
anti-Semitics, and libertarians. This belief is based on the political | |
affiliation of the four organizers, whose members drove across the country | |
parading Confederate flags, Third Reich flags, Swastikas painted on | |
Canadian flags, yellow stars, upside down Canadian flags, as well as many | |
flags laden with profanities directed at the Prime Minister of Canada while | |
threatening his life. | |
Despite their posing as “peaceful protesters,“ they polluted the air with | |
idling diesel trucks, blocked Ottawa’s city centre, sounded their air horns | |
day and night (over 106 decibels), put up tents, bouncy castles, open | |
firepits, and even hot tubs on the streets they blocked. They built | |
kitchens offering free food to their supporters as many businesses closed | |
their doors. They put up a stage to party nightly, blocked public | |
transportation, and harassed residents for wearing masks, particularly | |
members of visible minorities. They defecated in the streets, violated the | |
Cenotaph of the War Memorial, danced on the tomb of the unknown soldier, | |
and attempted to burn down two residential buildings in retaliation for | |
being told to stop the noise. | |
Once established in Ottawa, members of this movement proceeded to blockade | |
major highways, the main arteries for trade between US and Canada. | |
Canadians are struggling to come to terms with the level of hate and | |
vitriol expressed by what they first took as normal Canadians tired of | |
Pandemic restrictions wanting to make their voices heard. Few among us are | |
willing to accept that Canada has pockets of groups seeking to cause | |
serious harm to society and their fellow citizens. Even more alarming are | |
the deeply racist and fascist views that members of these groups hold, much | |
of which echoed those held by ex-US President Trump’s supporters south of | |
the border. | |
## A Tale of Two Solitudes | |
One of the reasons that this comes as a shock to Canadian society has to do | |
with the speed with which fissures within the social fabric appeared. | |
Looking back, there was a clear radical shift to the right in Canadian | |
political discourse since 2003, when the leading centre-right Progressive | |
Conservative Party merged with the Reform Party that was based on US | |
socially conservative and far right ideology. The emerging Conservative | |
Party of Canada (CPC) had none of the nuance of the Progressives, as it | |
advocated much weaker Federal government, and pushed provinces to privatize | |
health services and education. The party came to power in 2006 under the | |
leadership of Stephen Harper, whose nine years in office resulted in | |
radically weakened social supports, allowed foreign ownership of Canadian | |
media, muzzled scientists, altered immigration selection process away from | |
family reunification, and promoted policies aligning with racist rhetoric à | |
la Trump. | |
Although the CPC was voted out in 2015, it nevertheless had time to | |
introduce social and political divisions in a country that was feeling the | |
impact of globalization, the off-shoring of meaningful manufacturing | |
businesses, and the influx of highly educated immigrants. Unemployment | |
increased in small rural centres, prompting the exodus of young workers to | |
larger cities. In less than two decades, urban and rural populations were | |
divided along educational, financial, and racial lines. The seats won by | |
the Liberal Party of Canada when it returned to power in 2015 showed a | |
rural (Conservative) and urban (Liberal) divide. | |
The departure of Stephen Harper left a void in the party, which has | |
floundered under successive unsuccessful leaders, last of whom was turfed | |
for attempting to bring the party’s socially conservative members to the | |
centre. This attempt raised the ire of the party’s membership that has been | |
dominated by lobbyists for the gun, oil and gas, and big pharma | |
corporations, and adhered to an ideology imbued with Trump’s populism. | |
However, unlike their Republican counterparts in the US, Canada’s CPC has | |
been unable to regain power as its policies have failed to resonate with | |
the majority of Canadians. As the Republicans have done under Trump, in its | |
bid to regain power, CPC espouses racist rhetoric, conspiracy theories, | |
spreads lies and misinformation on social media, and is supported by the | |
Canadian US-owned mainstream media outlets. | |
## The Pandemic and the “Freedom Convoy“ | |
The pandemic hit Canada as hard as it did other nations, however the | |
Liberal government succeeded in managing its impact quite successfully, | |
keeping small businesses from bankruptcy, supporting gig economy workers, | |
while procuring vaccines for the public. Despite the gross mismanagement by | |
Conservative run Provinces of vaccine roll out and restrictions, Canada’s | |
economy remained robust, and received accolades from international | |
institutions, including the OECD and World Bank. In fact, one of the | |
elements that has led the majority of Canadians to suspect the rhetoric of | |
the “Freedom Convoy“ was the knowledge that vaccine mandates and | |
restrictions are entirely under provincial jurisdiction, and yet these | |
aggressive groups chose to direct their demands to the Federal government. | |
More disquieting for the fully vaccinated Canadian public (90%) was the | |
realization that this relatively small movement had succeeded in amassing | |
$14.7 million (Can) in less than two weeks, 52 percent of which came from | |
the US. As the level of violence directed at the government and the public | |
in Ottawa became undeniable, GoFundMe took the decision to freeze the | |
account, prompting US Republican politicians to weigh in and forced | |
GoFundMe to refund the money, which then allowed the movement’s US and | |
Canadian donors to contribute to the movement through another crowd funding | |
engine, GiveSendGo, notorious for having been the financial conduit that | |
bankrolled Trump supporters who stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. | |
As the situation in Ottawa degenerated, residents took to the streets to | |
stop the entry of 'week-end’ protesters, succeeding where the police had | |
failed. Within two days of these events, the federal government took the | |
decision to [3][invoke the Emergencies Act (EA)] for the first time since | |
it was promulgated in 1988, thereby facilitating the deployment of police | |
from other jurisdictions, and providing federal RCMP support units to end | |
the “occupation“. Again, US politicians and news outlets, including Fox | |
News, CNN, and the New York Times accused Canada’s PM of tyranny and | |
dictatorship, spread false rumours of wanton police violence, and killing | |
of protesters where none were perpetrated. This rhetoric was echoed by CPC | |
caucus members, who openly welcomed the “occupation,“ and went so far as to | |
suggest the PM acquiesce to the demands of the “occupiers“. | |
## Emergencies Act and Canadian Unity | |
A note should be made regarding the nature of the [4][Emergencies Act], | |
which replaced the War Measures Act invoked by Justin Trudeau’s father, | |
Pierre Elliot Trudeau in 1970. The Act allows local authorities to | |
automatically swear in Peace Officers from other jurisdictions, and to | |
limit access to certain areas to help bring a situation under control. It | |
explicitly safeguards all rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and | |
Freedoms, holds police accountable, and permits full access to the media. | |
It also allows the authorities to scrutinize the source of financing of | |
unlawful acts, a power that has in fact succeeded in stemming the funding | |
to this group of right-wing extremists. Unlike the War Measures Act, it | |
specifically does not call for the deployment of the army. | |
Police chiefs and legal experts confirm the powers given under the EA were | |
absolutely necessary to free the city of a group that has taken possession | |
of Ottawa centre, and had setup three command centres within few kilometres | |
of the city. Contrary to common media narrative the majority of Canadians | |
(67 percent) believe the movement is illegitimate, particularly since the | |
group made it abundantly clear their intention was to occupy the nation’s | |
capital and overthrow the democratically elected government. They presented | |
an ultimatum in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) demanding government | |
resignation, and proposed to have it replaced by themselves forming Citizen | |
Committees to rule in coalition with members of the Conservative Party, | |
Governor General, and Senate. Indeed, the influence of US politics is hard | |
to ignore when the organizers when arraigned ask for their rights under the | |
“first amendment“ and plead silence under the “fifth amendment“ of the … | |
Constitution. | |
The government had one week pass the right to invoke the Act in parliament. | |
The minority liberal government of Justin Trudeau had to convince at least | |
one party to vote alongside it, as it faced stiff opposition from Bloc | |
Quebecois (a secessionist party representing Quebec) and the CPC. The New | |
Democratic Party (NDP) has now conditionally sided with the government, | |
while reserving the right to remove its support should its members decide | |
the Act is no longer warranted. | |
The Act has passed its first hurdle in parliament, but provincial Premiers | |
who are in the majority Conservative (eight of 10), have opposed it, and | |
some are currently threatening legal action against the federal government | |
for “overreach,“ a move that will put in question federal authority as set | |
out in the Constitution. In the event the NDP withdraws its support, it may | |
justify the legal case against the government, which may open the way for a | |
constitutional challenge. The decision to open the Constitution can only | |
occur if at least seven of the ten provinces with a combined 50 percent of | |
Canadian population agree. So far only Alberta has launched a legal | |
challenge, but all indications point to the possibility it would be joined | |
by others, most definitely Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Quebec. More | |
Canadians are becoming aware of the wish on the part of some, particularly | |
in the Oil and Gas sector in western provinces, to divide Canada. | |
As these events unfold, Canadians need to acknowledge the socio-political | |
and economic disparities that have nurtured these divisions, and find ways | |
to bridge the rural-urban divide. This will require deep changes to the | |
political landscape, and in particular a strategy to handle foreign | |
meddling. Canada cannot afford to allow divisions to fester, as Canadians | |
are not equipped to deal with extremism and violence. A tall order for any | |
government, let alone a minority government led by a beleaguered leader. | |
What transpires will define the Canada of this century. | |
23 Feb 2022 | |
## LINKS | |
[1] /Truckerproteste-in-Kanada/!5833858 | |
[2] https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/the-aftermath-of-the-freedom-convoy-demonstration… | |
[3] https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-premiers-cabinet-1.6350734 | |
[4] https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/e-4.5/page-1.html | |
## AUTOREN | |
Salam Hawa | |
## TAGS | |
Kanada | |
Justin Trudeau | |
Ottawa | |
Schwerpunkt Coronavirus | |
Verschwörungsmythen und Corona | |
Kanada | |
## ARTIKEL ZUM THEMA | |
Truckerproteste in Ottawa aufgelöst: Impfgegner-Trucks sind weg | |
Kanadas Polizei löst die Protestblockaden in der Hauptstadt Ottawa auf. 170 | |
Personen werden festgenommen, darunter drei der Anführer*innen. | |
Trucker-Proteste in Kanada: Knüppel gegen Lkw-Fahrer | |
Kanadas Premier Trudeau zieht gegen die protestierenden Trucker die | |
Daumenschrauben an. Sie sind aber eine heterogene Bewegung und keine | |
Terroristen. | |
Notstandsgesetze in Kanada: In die Falle getappt | |
Kanadas Premier Trudeau greift gegen die Trucker*innen zu härteren | |
Maßnahmen. Damit verstärkt er allerdings deren Zerrbild einer übergriffigen | |
Elite. |