ICYMI - Terry Glavin: It was Justin Trudeau who picked the fight with the 'Truckists'
Roughly 15,000 protesters and 3,000 trucks had begun what has been called an “occupation” of Ottawa that wasn’t broken up until Friday, Feb. 18, when a complex multi-agency police operation cleared the streets. Tow trucks hauled away 21 vehicles, 70 people were arrested, and Justice Paul Rouleau is expected to release the findings of his inquiry into the Emergency Act’s declaration, any day now.
It was to be a “pandemic election” to coast to victory on his government’s fairly successful handling of its various COVID-19 policy prescriptions and remedies. Until Aug. 12, the Trudeau government had gone along with expert advice to the effect that mandatory vaccination is a bad idea, because it’s divisive and less effective than incentives and rapid-testing schemes, and the last thing you should do is politicize vaccination.
But then, on Aug.12, Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc and Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said federal employees, Crown corporations and federally regulated industries like cross-border trucking and trains and airplanes would fall within the new rule: Vaccines would be mandatory. Three days later, the federal election was announced.The lines were drawn.
And there were enough nasty people, misogynists and racists, who were quite happy to rise to the occasion and insinuate themselves into the truckers’ protest leadership. And they did well, exploiting and manipulating the righteous fury and growing frustration of working people who were tired of being lied to and lied about. And there was a good bit of mayhem. Border crossings were blockaded. And life in Ottawa, for a while there, was barely tolerable.
There was also no shortage of hysteria coming from the pro-mandate side, and from the government itself. Here’s NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, a week before the Emergencies Act was invoked: “The intent of the convoy is clear. They want to overthrow the government. And now there is clearly foreign interference. There are many examples of American politicians and other folks that are funding this direct action that is trying to undermine our democracy. … this is not a protest.
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