Is This Really YOUR Convoy?


Dear Trucker,

I feel for you. You’re a regular guy, home-maker, family man, responsible citizen of Canada, and you have a beef with vaccine mandates, especially the one which requires unvaccinated truckers to isolate after they cross the border from the USA. You decided you wanted to register a protest, and you chose to join the freedom convoy. Nothing much wrong with that, so far. I don’t sympathize with your anti-vax stance, but that’s a whole other story. I’m not a big supporter of Trudeau either, but that’s also a whole other story.

You drove to Ottawa and some bad things have happened that you hadn’t anticipated. You didn’t intend to be hostile to citizens of Ottawa because of their race. But that has happened. You didn’t sexually harass women in the streets of Ottawa as they tried to get safely to their workplace, but some people in your group did. You didn’t force shelter volunteers to give you food that was intended to feed the homeless, but some people in your group did. Some Ottawa residents were so uncomfortable that they were forced to leave their homes. But that wasn’t you. You never, ever, would countenance urinating on the tomb of the unknown soldier. But that has happened. You are aghast at the news that someone from the convoy tried to set a downtown Ottawa apartment building on fire after first taping the doors closed. That, too, has happened. And Terry Fox? He’s your hero. For sure, you don’t stand with the people who debased his statue.

Except, you do. You really do! If you’re still there, you are standing with the people who have done those things. And if you don’t disassociate yourself from those people and those acts, then you are condoning them.

You should examine the signs and symbols that are being used around this convoy. We’ve seen Nazi swastikas, US flags, Confederate flags, QAnon symbols, the Gadsden flag (“don’t tread on me”), MAGA signs, Trump 2024 flag, Canadian flags, US/Canadian flags conjoined, Fuck Trudeau flags, numerous signs that call for freedom, signs that protest vaccine mandates, signs that call on God’s help, signs that dispute there is any Covid risk at all. And on and on it goes.

Mr. Trucker, I urge you to look at all those signs and symbols and ask yourself – which of those symbols accurately captures your position?

You should also examine the leaders who have organized and promoted and taken advantage of this convoy. Noted Canadian politicians Derek Sloan, Randy Hillier and Maxime Bernier have all registered their support for the convoy. The first was expelled from the federal Conservative party for accepting contributions from Nazi sympathizers. The second was expelled from the Ontario Conservative party for insensitive comments about autistic children and has been censured for racist comments. And Maxime Bernier leads a racist, right wing party.

One of the main organizers is a man named James Bauder who, according to The Economist, “has spouted anti-vaxx and QAnon conspiracies, questioned the official account of the Christchurch massacre in New Zealand and encouraged rioters at America’s Capitol to “get back up and win the fight”. He’s not opposed to vaccine mandates. He’s opposed to everything and everybody, and is a complete anarchist at heart. He would like to overthrow government – in Canada, in the United States, in New Zealand – on any pretext he can find. Does he speak for you?

Vast sums of money were raised for the convoy by a leader named Tamara Lich, who was, until very recently, the secretary of the Maverick Party, an organization whose stated aim is to separate western provinces from Canada. Money is now being collected by an organization which is the prime money-raising site for fundamentalist right wing Christian organizations. Despite their “Christian” label, many of those fundamentalist Christian organizations are anti-muslim, anti-Jewish, anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ.

A “Plaid Army” organizer named Jeremy Mackenzie warned protestors that he had insider intelligence about RCMP plans to arrest convoy participants. The Plaid Army is a right-wing extremist organization and Jeremy Mackenzie brags that he’s fighting a race war for us.

Mr. Trucker, I ask you – do any of these people speak for you?

It is very, very interesting to observe the evidence of organization around the protests in Ottawa. Who designed and placed orders for the signs and flags that propose an active sex life for the PM? Who organized and paid for the positioning of porta-potties in the downtown core? Who arranged for the tents and food preparation stations that have popped up? None of this, Mr. Trucker, was a spontaneous response to a situation. There is leadership behind all this, and it’s not your leadership. The leaders aren’t truckers, and they couldn’t care less about the trucker’s vaccine mandate. Just look at who they are and what their symbols, signs and flags reveal about their purpose. Judge them for what they reveal of themselves.

I hate to tell you this, Mr. Trucker, but your peaceful protest convoy has been co-opted. You sir, are something of a sheep, but the people at the head of your convoy are not shepherds. They are wolves in sheep’s clothing and they are leading you astray.

Prime Minister Trudeau made vaccine mandates a primary plank in his latest campaign platform. If you didn’t vote in the election, go home. You have no real right to protest the government doing exactly what they said they would do. You had a chance to stop him, and you didn’t take it. And if you did vote, but voted for Mr. Trudeau’s party, I have the same advice. The government is doing what they said they would do and in a solid participatory democracy, if you voted for it, it’s ok to object, but hardly ok to advocate the overthrow of a recently elected government.

If you’re from the United States, or any other country, go home. We don’t need outsiders interfering in our political decisions and processes. I don’t want to see your American flag or your Trump flag or your silly rattlesnake flag fouling the air in my free Canada.

If you don’t really believe in the overthrow of a duly elected government, go home. If you don’t want to separate from Canada, go home. You don’t belong with these people.

If you wouldn’t ever consider putting a bullet in the head of the Prime Minister as a suitable response to the trucker’s vaccine mandate, then go home. You don’t belong with these people.

If you’re NOT a racist, (maybe a religious racist so you can hate everyone with God’s implicit approval), go home. If you’re Not a QAnon whack job, or an anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist, then go home.

If all you are is just a humble trucker who is annoyed at the vaccine, go home and find some other way to protest, because these people are not for you. Politics is just like snack-food – too many nut-bars is bad for you.


14 responses to “Is This Really YOUR Convoy?”

    • Thanks for the comment Pat. I wasn’t trying to steal any portion of Canada from you. The intent was my VERSION of Canada, as opposed to the version espoused by the flag-waving radicals crossing our borders. But your wording would work just as well. I’m willing to share.

  1. You are entitled to your opinion and as long as you are a Trudeau fan then you welcome the globalist direction that we are headed. I don’t agree with everything the freedom group is doing but I support what they want to accomplish.
    If you do some research not from the MSM or so called government experts you should find the other side of the story.

    • Three thoughts to relay on your comment.
      First, I stated explicitly in my article that I’m not a supporter of Mr Trudeau. In fact I’ve never voted Liberal in my life, although I must say that the current direction of the Conservative party is likely to change that.
      Second, I’m curious about your comment that you support what they are trying to accomplish. Please articulate what you believe they are trying to accomplish. What my article says is that it is long removed from the issue of a vaccine mandate for truckers and that their aim is anarchy. Is that the aim that you are supporting? Or have you ignored the whole direction of my article and saying that you believe it’s still really all about the trucker mandate?
      Third, I stand by my research. I use a site called MediaBiasFactCheck to check out information sources with which I’m unfamiliar, and that allows me to understand the factual reliability of any news source and also the political trend that such sources have displayed in the past.

      • Sorry for classifying you as a Trudeau supporter but as I tried to read through you article I just figured you had to be on the far left side of politics.
        I am not very good at writing but I am very good at always checking the other side of the story.
        I watched a 2 hour program on Friday night which the freedom group had arranged to present their facts to the government re the vax mandates. Dr. Tam and two others were invited to discuss the scientific research that 3 Doctors had to present but of course Dr Tam and crew didn’t show. The presentation by the 3 Doctors was very informative and convincing and supported previous research stating the vaccines were not effective.
        The government is not listening to the people but implementing programs that are not required. Spending is out of control, resource development is being phased out for a couple of examples that needs to be addressed. I could go on but I know you are stuck on your beliefs and I also respect you for that as I respect the freedom group (not just the truckers) for the task that they have undertaken.
        I don’t want any part of Globalization!

        • Interesting. On the face of it, this is a protest about a vaccine mandate. Based on the leadership and symbols attached to the convoy I have labelled it a right wing extremist protest aimed at destabalizing government and promoting racist aims. You see it as a fight against Globalization. Please explain how you reach that conclusion.

          • I don’t have blinders on. I see the actual demonstrators, not the few bad apples that the MSM is promoting. I have only see a couple of what you might factor as extremists and these were actually brought to the police attention by the freedom group.
            There is no point in me trying to change your mind as as you obviously just take the MSM garbage as gospel.
            It is a proven fact that the vaccine doesn’t work and some research is indicating that it may be increasing more serious infections.

  2. Comment received by email from Ed:
    It’s not that I disagree with anything you say or with your reasoning. I just refuse to give the protesters any attention or to dignify them with it. Their minds won’t be changed. In believing that we are dupes of our governments, they become dupes of the forces manipulating them and their anger. Each level of government is waiting for another to seize the nettle and lose votes by using force against the protesters. Today’s politics. Today’s polarization.

  3. My response to Ed:
    I admire your forbearance. They just keep pushing my buttons and I have to vent. Someone should create a video of the police clearing the Ambassador Bridge and run it side by side with the Chinese clearing Tiananmen Square.

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