Honk, honk — the truckers are winning
Canadians found unity despite every attempt to divide us.
It’s been over two weeks since Canadian truckers headed to Ottawa, intent on saving their country. Since they arrived, the convoy and its supporters have demonstrated incredible joy, diversity, inclusivity, and kindness — proving not only that Canada is capable of overcoming its passive national identity when necessary, and showing the government who’s boss, but also that effective protest can be peaceful and non-violent.
On January 29, truckers blockaded the Coutts border crossing in Alberta, joined later in the week by farmers who moved in with heavy equipment and tractors to obstruct the border with Montana. After about a week, Coutts Mayor Jim Willett decided to meet with the truckers at a local saloon, finding just a buch of regular working class men — not angry, just “waiting.” “They’re the same guys that I have for neighbours,” Willett said. On Saturday, hundreds of cowboys rode down the highway on horseback to join the convoy in support. On Monday, trucks blocked the point of entry to the busiest border crossing in North America, the Ambassador Bridge, which connects Detroit to Windsor, Ontario. Rallies have continued to take place across the country, in Toronto, Quebec, and of course Ottawa, with things looking more like a (definitely Canadian-specific) street party than anything else. The truckers have remained steadfast in their committment to holding the line until the mandates are dropped.
Despite widespread support across Canada and growing numbers of protests and rallies (as well as solidarity from American truckers), in Vancouver, a small group of counter-protesters attempted to block the convoy, naturally, on bikes. Regardless of these (rather amusing, typically Vancouveresque) attempts, hundreds of vehicles proceeded onwards, with progressive Vancouverites oddly proud of their defense of restrictions and mandates that have harmed so many over the past two years, particularly the working class and small business owners, who seem completely off the radar of these very compassionate middle and upper class people decked out in hundreds of dollars of MEC gear, saving the world with their reusable water bottles.
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The media, armchair progressives, and Prime Minister Trudeau himself have engaged in endless smears against the convoy and its supporters, in an attempt to convince the public that those who value rights and freedoms in Canada are a “small fringe minority” of white nationalists, Nazis, and shit-disturbers, intent on violent overthrow. Sadly for these desperate (actual) fascists, extensive footage of the rallies has shown tens of thousands of Canadians from a variety of backgrounds and ethnicities celebrating together, with love for their country and neighbours.
I’ve never been particularly patriotic, and indeed in recent years had developed a deep distaste for my country, but man did this change a lot — not just for me, but for all of us.
The truckers created real unity across Canada while our Prime Minister dug in his heels and did the complete opposite.
On Monday, during an emergency debate in the House of Commons, Trudeau said:
“The people of Ottawa don't deserve to be harassed in their own neighbourhoods, don’t deserve to be confronted with the inherent violence of a swastika flying on a street corner, or a confederate flag, or the insults and jeers just because they're wearing a mask. That's not who Canadians are. These pandemic restrictions are not forever.”
In other words, our Prime Minister lied.
While there appears to be one photo taken of a swastika, that no one seems to know the origins of, and one photo taken of a truck with a confederate flag on it, these were both condemned by organizers, and this was in no way, shape, or form representative of the rallies happening in Ottawa or in other provinces across the country.
Even counter protestors have been met with love and kindness. I have seens zero “harassment” in any of the footage online, nor are there reports (like, actual reports, not claims from your friends on social media, without evidence) of convoy participants hurling “insults and jeers.”
One would think, were this indicative of the movement, there would be footage, or reported stories, considering the Canadian media’s desperation to pain the rally participants and supporters as terrorists, extremists, and dangerous, hateful bigots.
Oddly, the leftists insisting the streets have been “taken over by swastikas and Confederate flags” seem unable to drum up a single photo illustrating their claim. Mainstream media appears similarly unable to find footage of all this “hate” either.
Personally, the only anger and hate I’ve witnessed has come from those opposed to the convoy, who have trashed the truckers online endlessly, and apparently hate their neighbours, freedom, their charter rights, and fun.
There have, of course, been reports of and complaints about “honking.” And “inconvenience.” Well, friends, this is what a protest does: it “inconveniences.” It aims to get attention and tends to aim to shut down business-as-usual in various ways in order to do so. Notably, I didn’t hear complaints from Canadian media, politicians, or leftists about the “inconveniences” imposed on Americans in various states whose neighbourhoods were looted and destroyed by Black Lives Matter protesters. Nor was the actual violence and riots that took place criticized.
The glaring hypocrisy and irrationality of progressives’ approach to the convoy fits perfectly with their approach to the pandemic throughout: “trust the science,” but ignore the science if it disrupts the preferred narrative. Trust the media and politicians who have lied repeatedly, changing their minds based on political motives, rather than based on what is true or right. Believe that more restrictions will end the restrictions. Believe that your neighbour is the enemy for daring to see friends and family or not wear a mask, but that Big Pharma is your friend. These people don’t have politics, they have a cult.
Luckily, it seems the majority have enough faith in life and humanity and the truth to have decided to stop playing along. Even members of the ruling Liberal Party have broken ranks.
Liberal MP Joël Lightbound spoke out against Trudeau’s divisive politicization of Covid at a press conference on Tuesday, saying:
“Both the tone and the policies of my government changed drastically on the eve and during the last election campaign. A decision was made to wedge, to divide, and to stigmatize. I fear that this politicization of the pandemic risks undermining the public's trust in our public health institutions.”
He condemned any Nazi flags and Confederate flags saying, “they have no place in Canada” and are “symbols of hate,” but went on to say that he heard an interview with “what seemed to be a very kind grandmother” on Radio Canada, who said she demonstrated for her grandkids. “She looked and sounded nothing like a white supremacist,” Lightbound said. “Nor did the black, Sikh and Indigenous Canadians I saw demonstrating on my way to Parliament these last two weeks or in Quebec City this last Saturday. I have enough respect for my fellow Canadians, not to engage in these easy and absurd labels.”
It should not be too difficult to say “Nazi flags are bad,” but also acknowledge these flags do not represent Canadians or the vast, vast majority of protesters. Yet, Trudeau doubled down on his attempt to tar swaths of Canadians, as did many of the leftists I see frantically posting on social media about the “far right terrorists,” clinging desperately to their narrative.
For what? I can only imagine to impress their friends, who, it should be pointed out, already agree with them. Perhaps they feel a need to signal to their tribe, lest they be ousted. But now, all they have is their narrative and their tribe — a small fringe minority. They lost control. The truckers won. They will have to close their bubbles even tighter in order to ignore the big truths around them, and that will be their loss.
Conservative Party members have begun speaking out also, with MP Raquel Dancho accusing Trudeau of divisive mandates, othering, hypocrisy, and of pitting Canadians against one another. “This is a man who said for six years, ‘Diversity is our strength,’ but if anyone doesn’t agree with everything he says, you’re in the bad books and you don’t have a right to be heard,” she said. “I for one am sick and tired of seeing politicians use this as an evil wedge tool to rip Canadian families apart.”
Dancho also said that Canadians have been through “trauma” in the past two years, and that any MP who claims this is not the case has not been listening to their constituents. And while I tend to dislike the overuse of the word “trauma,” the restrictions imposed on people throughout the pandemic have been enormously harmful to people’s mental health, and truly traumatic for many. Think of the people who have lost their livelihoods, jobs, and businesses they put everything into? Dancho spoke of kids so depressed and anxious they developed eating disorders, of seniors in care homes who “opted for medical assistance in dying rather than live one more month in isolation,” of widowed women who called her crying saying they were so lonely they didn’t want to go on, and of domestic abuse run rampant, alcoholism and drug addiction, and just plain hopelessness — all due to Covid restrictions.
Destroying lives to save life. It makes no sense. And apparently more of us thought so than we’d thought.
This is the trick progressives, their politicians, their media, and their Big Tech has pulled on us: to convince us we are alone when we are not. To convince us to be afraid of one another. To convince us we cannot speak out — speak the truth, speak with authenticity lest we be shunned. To convince us we are a small fringe minority when we are in the hundreds of thousands. Maybe even millions.
The most important thing we can do is speak to one another — speak to our neighbours, our postal workers, the guy fixing your drain, the woman sitting next to you at the bar, the guy serving you drinks. You are not alone and you are not a minority. Your algorithm lies.
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Yesterday, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney announced the vaccine passport requirement in the province, as well as the mask mandate in schools and for kids, would end on Monday. As of March 1st, the provincial work-from-home order will expire, as well as the provincial mask mandate, capacity limits, and restrictions on social gathethings.
Saskatchewan will also be ending its vaccine passport system on Monday. By the end of the month, the mask mandate requirement to self isolate after contracting COVID-19 will end. "We want things to be as normal as they possibly can," Premier Scott Moe said.
Other provinces seem to be loosening up restrictions as well, in light of political pressure, due to the convoy, but more than anything, what’s happening is that people are just… not going along. And once the masses stop participating, there is little politicians can do. We do not comply. That has always been the solution to all of this: refusing to comply.
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It is revealing that some find “honking” more offensive and inconvenient than a loss of freedom — than being forced to make health decisions against your will, than losing your job or business, from being prevented from seeing your loved ones, celebrating, singing, dancing, or meeting new people. What is the point of life without community, family, friends, joy, human touch, and freedom? Just to… exist? May as well give up and join the Metaverse.
I have wondered many times throughout the past two years what exactly is going through the minds of those who support the ongoing restrictions and mandates and apparently are not worried about the possibility of life never returning to “normal,” and it has become clear that, for many, freedom is not a value, but a danger. Freedom means accountability for one’s choices and actions, and too many people prefer the safety of not having to think about one’s choices and actions, and do not want the burden of having to be accountable for a bad choice — or at least one that creates stress, upset, or uncertainty. Captivity is indeed safe — as someone recently pointed out to me, animals in captivity live longer than those out in the wild, but is it preferred?
Canadians have come together, all on their own, despite two years of living under a government that did everything in its power to divide us. Despite multi-billion dollar companies doing the same. Despite being targeted by hateful rhetoric online. Despite media lies and manipulation.
For the first time in a long time, I feel hopeful. Maybe humanity will win out after all.
#HonkHonk is the best hashtag of 2022!
Great piece that captured the same sentiments I had during those glorious weeks.
Then the government crushed the protests, doubled down on the mandates, all to the resounding applause of the majority of Canadians.
There are good people in Canada still but the zombies own the country and they have it in a death grip.