Unpopular with wealthier people who are inconvenienced, very popular amongst what the media like to call 'populists' - ie the people who deliver the rich people's chattels
https://theconversation.com/majority-of-canadians-disagree-w...
It also seems unlikely that, say, the workers at factories who were prevented from working are rich people…
OTOH, this poll https://abacusdata.ca/ottawa-survey-freedom-convoy/ suggests that about 22% of Canadians support the convoy and 67% don't.
Do people like restrictions? No, nobody likes restrictions. Do people like restrictions that save lives? Still don't 'like' them but believe sacrifice is necessary for the greater good.
Do I support people's right to protest? Yes, but... You can't honk all night Block major infrastructure for days Desecrate war monuments Flood 911 with fake calls
Etc.
I suspect how much people support "people's right to protest" is directly proportional to how much they support The Cause. If they don't support The Cause, they want protesters to be as out of the way as possible (ie. "free speech zones"). If they do support The Cause, anything up to and including violence/vandalism is justified, because a few causalities would be canceled out by all the positive effects that The Cause would bring.
Do people want to continue with restrictions that have pushed the opioid epidemic to a new high [1]. Pushed mental health in youth to 'completely unsustainable' levels [2]. Stolen normal development/socialization from children & young adults using restrictions that were not always clearly evidence based [3]. And, all this considering the current outlook of the virus is far more positive than it once was.
The Angus Reid poll phrased their question like this, for anyone interested:
>It's time to end restrictions and let people self-isolate if they're at risk.
[1]: https://bc.ctvnews.ca/deadliest-year-in-b-c-s-opioid-crisis-...
[2]: https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/completely-unsusta...
[3]: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/01/kids-masks...
Abacus never fails to find support for government approved narratives.
Hmm, where I have heard that rhetoric before...
The claim can be proven or disproven with elections. But I think that Trudeau would win rather easily pitted against this extremist, apparently foreign funded fringe.
Even Canada's conservatives don't want to be associated with them anymore.
They’ve just performatively asked truckers to leave, so that they can always point to that later in their election campaign. Why would they want them to leave?they don’t.
This is a wedge issue, and as such they're casting their votes to alienate a huge (likely majority) of voters away from your platform before the leader has even been selected.
Secondly, this protest has been a huge news vacuum attracting non-stop coverage. This is bad for a party that needs to drum up any support for a leadership race to carry them more seats in the next election. By the time this plays out, the conservatives could be half way through their election and most Canadians may not even know the candidates.
Plus, politicians who do vote against their constituents' wishes can run in a district that's more friendly to that vote.