Ottawa Under Siege

Last week I wrote about the invasion of Ottawa by legions of truckers. The convoy’s leaders have produced a manifesto calling for the government to be replaced by their truckers’ leaders who would immediately end all covid-mitigation mandates.

Hundreds of truckers occupy the streets around the Parliament buildings, running their engines 24 hours a day and blaring their loud horns at all hours – causing misery and havoc for the inhabitants of this densely populated section of Ottawa.

Keep reading: Truckers in Canada

Meanwhile, Mayor Jim Watson and police chief Peter Sloly are saying that there is nothing that they can do to put an end to this situation, and it now appears that truckers will be around for far longer and with increasing impunity than had ever been anticipated given police and political inaction. 

In a post 9/11 world, Canadians are right in asking why The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the Ottawa Police Services never seem to have created a plan for protecting government buildings or the federal parliament from a vehicular attack. 

Instead, Ottawa police have stood by while people wearing anti-covid masks or hospital scrubs are verbally attacked, and racial attacks take place given the fact that many of the organizers are white supremacists and neo-Nazis. Indeed, police officers have been seen helping truckers move their stores of petrol and food to rapidly built shelters to sustain the truckers.

Demonstrations have also taken place in a number of major cities across Canada.

How has this affected politics?

Last week, Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole was forced out by right-wing elements of his party. The new interim leader, Candice Bergen, is a well-known Trump sympathizer who has often worn Trump style MAGA caps. She said that “there are good people on both sides” at a recent party meeting discussing the Ottawa. These are the same words Trump used in Charlottesville when describing a white power Nazi type rally there in 2017. 

The front-runner for the leadership of the party and potential leader of the opposition, Pierre Poilievre, went out to meet the truckers to express his support for their cause and actions. He also regularly sprouts talking points straight out of Trump’s playbook.

Indeed, his main campaign slogan is “Freedom from Fear”. He should read the NYT article on perversions of the word freedom: "The ugly freedoms in American politics today increasingly justify minority rule, prejudice and anti-democratic governance. If we don’t push back against their growing popularity, we will have ceded what freedom means to those who support monopolistic rule and furthered the country’s downward slide toward authoritarianism." 

The Canadian movement seems to have been infiltrated by extreme right-wing elements from the United States. Donald Trump expressed his strong support for the truckers’ movement at a mass rally last week, and in fact, a lot of funds raised have come from right-wing organizations from across the border.

What can be done?

Strong action is required if Canada is to avoid the pitfall of U.S. style polarization and divisiveness. 

For democracy to function, political parties with a chance of winning high office must be committed to democratic principles and be committed to defending democracy. 

The Canadian flag, flying beside the Confederate, U.S., and Nazi banners, seems to have been appropriated by the occupiers as their brand.

This must end.

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Keep reading: New Challenges, Old Responses

Edition: Estefanía Cardeña