These protestors had very little public support to begin with, but blocking major US-Canada land bridge is completely unacceptable. I couldnt give two shits if these people are made 'whole'
I could respect Pierre for his rational and intelligent debating skills even if I disagreed with his politics.
It seems our current prime minister can't distinguish between protest and terrorism. Must be quite a disappointment to the old man.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_Crisis see Oct 13 in the Timeline section
And we have some of the lowest death rates in the world. Should we just condemn the vulnerable people to death because freedom is more important?
Can you give examples of these "ridiculous" covid measures? Sure for a few months, I couldn't go to the theaters or the gym but those are provincial mandates. If you want to protest those, go to Toronto not Ottawa.
Truckers losing jobs? You know there are domestic routes for the 10% unvaccinated drivers. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-ceo-of-cana...
If you want to talk about harsh/ridiculous covid measures, go look at the stunts they do China. Spewing hyperbole doesn't help.
> bimbo prime minister that has no interest in civil discourse about what measures the federal government should be able to impose on people and is only interested in securing his own power
Why should he negotiate with people whose demands include the removal of a democratically elected government (from a few months ago I might add)? You can't shut down cities and blockade roads just because the party representing your interests lost but I guess we haven't learned from Jan 6.
If the federal mandate (i.e. getting tested after the crossing border) is unconstitutional, the supreme court is down the road. But let's suppose this mandate is dropped, how can these unvaccinated truckers enter Canada when they need to be vaccinated to enter the US first?
Canada has the strictest and most absurd covid policies regarding air traveling in the whole G20. Everyone else has relaxed the measures in 2022, but us.
You must take and provide a negative PCR test at your arrival in Canada, even if you are double/triple vaccinated (with proof from vaccine passport). Other results than PCR are invalid and it must be less than 72 hours. You must also register this information in ArriveCAN system (https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/cor...) 72 hours prior to arrival or otherwise prone to penalty up to $75k or 14 days quarantine.
On top of that, you can be randomly selected for an additional PCR test at your arrival, which you must then quarantine yourself and wait for the results, which in some cases have been reported to take up to 6-10 days.
Sources: - https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/travel-rules-canada-1.63429... - https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/arrivecan-app-troubles-causing-con...
> And we have some of the lowest death rates in the world. Should we just condemn the vulnerable people to death because freedom is more important?
Should we continue to allow children to die from suicide in favour of the mandates? (ex. https://naturalselections.substack.com/p/milas-story )
I think you'll find that most people understand there is a balance to be maintained; nobody wants to see kids die, either because of the virus, or because of the response to it.
> Can you give examples of these "ridiculous" covid measures?
You mentioned the chief one yourself -- people are threatened with losing their livelihood if they don't comply; the ability to work are travel are guaranteed in the charter of rights and freedoms (and the only surviving signatory of that document is suing the government). Many people have been coerced into receiving the vaccines who did not want them.
The measures are not proportionate with the severity of the disease. Everyone was willing to do two weeks to break the curve, but no one signed up for two years of it.
There's no question that China has been insane with their response to Covid.
> > bimbo prime minister that has no interest in civil discourse about what measures the federal government should be able to impose on people and is only interested in securing his own power
> Why should he negotiate with people whose demands include the removal of a democratically elected government (from a few months ago I might add)? You can't shut down cities and blockade roads just because the party representing your interests lost but I guess we haven't learned from Jan 6.
Mr. Trudeau is the prime minister of the entire country, not just the people who voted Liberal. It is his duty to consider what the people have to say. A competent politician would've address people's concerns before they resorted to civil disobedience. Mr. Trudeau says everything is on the table to solve this problem -- everything, that is, except listening to the electorate.
The truckers are not interested in politics. They're not all represented by one party. Indeed, they have the most support from the farthest right and farthest left parties (ie. PPC and Green parties), neither of which have any power.
How many people need to support a position for it to be worth hearing? Do we not make efforts to protect people with extreme minority positions?
> If the federal mandate (i.e. getting tested after the crossing border) is unconstitutional, the supreme court is down the road. But let's suppose this mandate is dropped, how can these unvaccinated truckers enter Canada when they need to be vaccinated to enter the US first?
There are a number of lawsuits in progress from months ago (ex. https://www.mounties4freedom.com). It is surprising how long they take to be heard. It is true that some of the mandates come from the provinces, and some from the USA. The prime minister can address the mandates he has control over and that would help significantly towards defusing the situation.
The resistance has just begun. Extortion works both ways it turns out.
There is broad support in Canada for these protestors. The latest polls provide hard data:
https://leger360.com/surveys/legers-north-american-tracker-f...
32% support (1 out of 3 Canadians) is not "very little public support".
Also this survey is flawed:
> This web survey was conducted from February 4 to February 6, 2022, with 1,546 Canadians and 1,005 Americans, 18 years of age or older, randomly recruited from LEO’s online panel.
Why are the opinions of Americans used to represent Canadian support?
How much would the support change after they know of the actions taken after Feb 6 like the border and airport blockades?
Or the convoy protestors honking _all_ night the first week of the protest. Imagine a resident with a newborn or baby downtown.
Believe it or not, I actually support people's right to choose, with certain conditions/exceptions. However, their actions are out of line and out of hand now.
Activists take that discomfort w/ the status quo & advocate for concrete policy changes. Popular support often starts small & grows.
To folks who complain protest demands make others uncomfortable... that’s the point.”
Blocking an international bridge and disrupting the economy, is that just "making someone uncomfortable"?
There was a satirical article talking about how the government wants protesters to stop shutting down the city, so the government can shut down the city. There are lots of potentially legitimate criticisms of how the protestors are choosing to demonstrate (though personally I think they've been very effective). "Disrupting the economy" is a ridiculous criticism in light of the fact that the government is doing exactly that.