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February 2022

Could Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have been any less gracious? The recent trucker protest in the nation’s capital was more than just against vaccine mandates, particularly for cross-border truckers; it was more against the restrictive measures that we’ve all been subject to over the “two weeks to flatten the curve” and the politicians who have imposed them on us, including his Holiness himself.

Trudeau had a chance to show some humility and show that he understands the frustration of Canadians. That’s not to say that Trudeau must instantly capitulate to the trucker’s demands, although that would be nice. He doesn’t have to agree with all the opinions expressed by the truckers or Canadians in general, but offering a clear and simple explanation of how truckers have gone from the heroes of the pandemic to the pariahs he’s now portraying them.

Instead he throws gasoline on the fire for purely partisan reasons by continuing to demonize the protesters as racists and white nationalists, because he can’t square the heroes-to-pariah circle. How do you know you’re winning an argument against a Liberal? They call you a racist.

Further, many in the mainstream media have also done their best to demonize and discredit the convoy.

I would question whether the agitators, the few seen waving Confederate and Nazi flags, were paid professionals or agent provocateurs, whose sole purpose is to discredit a legitimate protest, but this wouldn’t be the first time such a thing happened.

On 20 August 2007, during meetings of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America in Montebello, Quebec, it was revealed that three police officers with the Sûreté du Québec had posed as masked protestors. The three were imposing in stature, similarly dressed and in an unbelievable display of chutzpah, all three were wearing police boots, something that immediately caught the eyes of legitimate protesters. One was notably armed with a large rock. They were asked to leave by protest organizers.

How many know that Grant Bristow, co-founder of the now-defunct Canadian white supremacist group The Heritage Front, was an undercover Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) agent? A report prepared by the Security Intelligence Review Committee, who conducted an investigation into the scandal-plagued CSIS undercover operation, “…concluded that Bristow ‘tested the limits’ of what was acceptable.”

I’m not claiming the people at the Ottawa protest were indeed paid agitators or agent provocateurs, but seeing as these people were quickly disavowed and chased away, it’s clear that they weren’t welcome.

There are plenty of other things that I could say regarding the trucker protest convoy, but I think that Toronto Sun columnist Brian Lilley sums it up pretty well in a column that I’ve included below:

LILLEY: Liberals in no position to give lessons of what’s acceptable

Toronto Sun. Author: Brian Lilley 30 January 2022

On Saturday, dejected Liberals didn’t get the riots or the Jan. 6th moment they were hoping for.

The violence didn’t come on Sunday, either, as the protests surrounding the trucker convoy hit their second day.

These barbarians may not have rioted, they may not have stormed Parliament to try and overthrow the government, but they did put a Team Canada hockey cap on a Terry Fox statue, near Parliament Hill, and someone made it look like he was holding a sign saying “mandate Freedom.”

That was enough to get Liberal Twitter acting as if the world was upside down.

“Officials decry ‘desecration’ of monuments during Ottawa protest,” said the headline on a Canadian Press story that ran with a photo of the Fox statue.

Desecration? That’s a bit much.

Stupid yes, desecration no.

Yes, but didn’t you see the people who danced on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier?

Of course, I did. Several people were singing, dancing, waving Quebec flags while one danced on the tomb.

It was revolting, I condemn that. As an Ottawa resident for more than 20 years, this isn’t the first time that’s happened, and it sadly won’t be the last.

Such acts are always universally condemned, which is the good part, and after this video circulated, organizers of the convoy put their own guards at the tomb to prevent any further issues and laid flowers in an act of respect.

That’s not how things go when progressives get near statues and monuments during a protest.WOKE WATCH: MINNIE MOUSE ‘MAKEOVER’ M&Ms Lose Sex Appeal! Harry Potter’s Triggering! Equitable Snow Shoveling?!The Sun’s Editor-in-Chief Adrienne Batra holds court with Brian Lilley, Denette Wilford and Brad Hunter to look Into what happened to Minnie Mouse’ polka dot dress, and did M&Ms candy image need updating? 

When statues are toppled, Liberals nod in agreement or remain silent. While they wail about Nazi flags — always despicable and to be denounced — they say nothing as their supporters compare every conservative leader to Hitler.

They also say nothing when communist flags appear at progressive protests, despite the murderous and oppressive nature of that global movement.

In fact, Fidel Castro has been praised by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who once said he admires China’s basic dictatorship.

You’ll forgive me if I don’t want to take lessons on what is acceptable, at a protest or otherwise, from a movement whose leader defends church burnings as understandable — something Trudeau and his sidekick Gerry Butts did this past summer.

This isn’t a matter of whataboutism, defending the actions of the trucker convoy by deflecting back to what others have done.

I have no stake in the trucker convoy, but like many Canadians, I’m tired of the Liberal double standard and the majority of our media who let them get away with perpetuating it.

If violence and the desecration of statues are bad, why not denounce all of them, instead of giving vocal or silent approval to some while fanning the flames of outrage at others.

If violence and the destruction of property are always bad, then be consistent.

The Trudeau Liberals love to throw around terms like racist, sexist, and misogynist at anyone who opposes them, yet they are led by a man once accused of groping a woman and who has worn blackface more times than he can remember.

The Liberals continue to call the organization for their top donors the Laurier Club, named in honour of Sir Wilfrid Laurier.

Laurier not only expanded residential schools, he increased the Chinese head tax tenfold, he signed an order banning black immigration and designed a policy with the young William Lyon MacKenzie King to stop immigrants from India coming to Canada.

He instituted the most racist immigration policy in Canadian history, and they honour him.

No one should listen to Trudeau and the Liberals on who is and who is not an acceptable Canadian.

Their track record in the past on this front is deplorable, just like their judgment in the present day.

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In a column from 2 January 2022, Editor Emeritus Lorrie Goldstein also made some good points regarding the erosion of trust in our government officials:

GOLDSTEIN: Trudeau and Ford governments fuelled vaccine hesitancy

The vaccine hesitant have every right to feel betrayed

Toronto Sun. Author: Lorrie Goldstein 2 January 2022

The unseemly rush by governments to vilify Canadians refusing to be vaccinated as the root of all evil ignores the fact government actions throughout the pandemic have contributed to vaccine hesitancy.

To begin with, it is a myth to claim everyone who refuses to be vaccinated is irresponsible, reckless, racist, misogynist, throws stones at the prime minister or demonstrates outside hospitals.

As Abacus Data pollster Bruce Anderson wrote in Maclean’s in August after surveying 30,000 adult Canadians on their attitudes toward vaccines, the “typical ‘vaccine hesitant’ person is a 42-year-old woman who votes Liberal.”

Anderson estimated 2.1 million people — 7% of adult Canadians — were hesitant to be vaccinated, as opposed to an equal number who refuse to be vaccinated and will not change their minds no matter what.

“The hesitant are not conspiracy theorists,” Anderson wrote.

“They aren’t angry at the world. They don’t think COVID-19 is a hoax. They aren’t radicals of the left or the right — 61% of them say they are on the centre of the spectrum. Two-thirds have post-secondary education.

“About half (46%) live in Ontario and well over half (59%) are women. A quarter were born outside Canada. Their average age is 42 … If they were voting in a federal election today, 35% would vote Liberal, 25% Conservative, 17% NDP, 9% Green.

“However, compared to the vaccinated, they don’t have a lot of trust in government. They also try to avoid prescriptions, dislike putting anything unnatural in their bodies and 83% say they are reluctant to take any vaccines. Most worry that COVID-19 vaccines haven’t really been tested for a long time.”

Are you concerned about kids returning to school Wednesday amid record-high COVID cases?YesNoVoteView Results

Given those findings, let’s examine how government actions during the pandemic have undoubtedly contributed to vaccine hesitancy.

Before reversing their positions, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ontario Premier Doug Ford adamantly opposed vaccine passports, saying they would be divisive to society.

With the Trudeau government now decreeing workers who lose their jobs because of vaccine mandates will not be eligible for employment insurance — even if they had agreed to be tested every day — the vaccine hesitant have every right to feel betrayed.

Then there is the issue of how governments changed their positions on pandemic protocols, often almost overnight, with little or no explanation for the reasons.

True, some of this occurred because medical understanding of COVID-19 changed over time.

But when the Public Health Agency of Canada originally claimed mask wearing could be less safe than not wearing them before reversing itself, we now know PHAC took that position amid a severe shortage of masks, because the federal and provincial governments had failed to maintain adequate stockpiles of personal protection equipment despite a decade of official warnings to do so.

We also know while the federal government publicly insisted for months that restricting air travel, imposing border controls and mandatory quarantines wouldn’t control the spread of COVID-19 — before reversing itself on these issues — federal officials were privately advising the government it didn’t have the resources to enforce mandatory quarantines and similar measures.

Failing to be open, honest and transparent with the public has obviously contributed to vaccine hesitancy.

Decisions by the Ford government in Ontario to allow big box stores to remain open to in-person shopping while denying this to small businesses, and later allowing increased capacity limits for Scotiabank Arena and Rogers Centre — including eating and drinking during games — while continuing to enforce social distancing requirements for restaurants reinforced the belief big business was calling the shots with the government.

Ontario’s ill-advised decision to allow police to question anyone about where they were going to determine if they had a legitimate reason for being outside — hastily withdrawn after police forces said they wouldn’t enforce it — fed into the belief of those already suspicious of governments that they were using the pandemic as an excuse to increase arbitrary powers.

Inconsistent messaging on vaccines — repeated statements from Trudeau, premiers and public health officials that “the best vaccine for you to take is the very first one offered to you,” followed by the National Advisory Committee on Immunization declaring that no, actually Pfizer and Moderna were preferred to AstraZeneca — obviously contributed to vaccine hesitancy.

Ditto the Trudeau government’s original plan to concoct a deal with China to provide vaccines to Canada — when Canadians had good reasons to be suspicious of China’s actions throughout the pandemic on a number of fronts — undoubtedly fuelled the vaccine hesitant’s distrust of government.

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Sources: Rupa Subramanya: Freedom Convoy dismantles stereotypes about who is opposed to vaccine mandates | National Post, LILLEY: Liberals in no position to give lessons of what’s acceptable | Toronto Sun, EDITORIAL: The need for unity | Toronto Sun, Agent provocateur – Wikipedia, Decades later, CSIS’s white supremacy infiltrator tells his story | The Star, GOLDSTEIN: Trudeau and Ford governments fuelled vaccine hesitancy | Toronto Sun.