Canadian journalist Donna Laframboise. Former National Post & Toronto Star columnist, past vice president of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.
The truckers are organized, disciplined, and magnificently competent. Read a firsthand account from someone who resides in downtown Ottawa.
Truckers’ community kitchen under construction in an Ottawa park. Live video HERE
There’s every indication a giant party is about to take place in Ottawa. More protesting truckers are expected. Many supporters who couldn’t make it last weekend plan to be there.
The truckers are disciplined, organized, and magnificently competent. A contingent (reportedly from Quebec) is constructing a community kitchen partly in response to attempts (by local Ottawa politicians) to deprive them of hot food close by.
Towing companies across the country (who work closely with truckers in normal times) appear to have unanimously turned down requests from the authorities to tow away big rigs – anywhere in this great nation. Additional trucker convoys are beginning to descend on several provincial legislatures. Since many COVID-19 rules are provincially determined, politicians at that level must also be persuaded to change course.
Quebec City has reportedly chosen to prevent protesters from blocking streets with trucks by using municipal trucks to block the street themselves. Hilarious. Battle of the big trucks!
So what has it been like living in downtown Ottawa this past week? Don’t miss this firsthand account by David Maybury, who describes himself as a “data scientist within Canada’s federal civil service.”
In a blog post titled A night with the untouchables, he tells us about a stroll he took Wednesday evening. He’s honest about his initial trepidation, and his occasional moments of uncertainty. Every word of his account is totally worth reading. Here’s how it wraps up:
As I finally made my way back home, after talking to dozens of truckers into the night, I realized I met someone from every province except [Prince Edward Island]. They all have a deep love for this country. They believe in it. They believe in Canadians. These are the people that Canada relies on to build its infrastructure, deliver its goods, and fill the ranks of its military in times of war.
The overwhelming concern they have is that the vaccine mandates are creating an untouchable class of Canadians. They didn’t make high-falutin arguments from Plato’s Republic, Locke’s treatises, or Bagehot’s interpretation of Westminster parliamentary systems. Instead, they see their government willing to push a class of people outside the boundaries of society, deny them a livelihood, and deny them full membership in the most welcoming country in the world; and they said enough.
Last night I learned my new neighbours are not a monstrous faceless occupying mob. They are our moral conscience reminding us – with every blow of their horns – what we should have never forgotten: We are not a country that makes an untouchable class out of our citizens. [bold added]
Should it get censored, you can also read it on Archive.org here.
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