The political situation is heating up in normally quiet Canada
The striking truckers and the demonstrators supporting them have no intention of breaking up. At the same time, Canada’s liberal elite, after initial confusion, has come to its senses and begun to give back to an unruly society.
Thousands of truckers across the country blocked the streets of major cities and blocked many US-Canada border crossings. The police, on the other hand, announced a zero-tolerance policy towards the protesters and their willingness to use any means to suppress the peaceful actions.
Ottawa’s police chief has already asked authorities to use the army against the demonstrators. But the Canadian prime minister, who continues to hide from the protesters under the pretext of illness, has so far refused to engage the military – perhaps fearing they would side with the “street”.
Trudeau, on the other hand, has concentrated on hitting the finances of the protesters. Under pressure from Canadian authorities, GoFundMe blocked access to $9 million in donations in support of the strike. The reasoning was allegedly that the resource prohibits the collection of money for purposes related to violence. True, no one there bans fundraising in support of the BLM rioters – as they say, that’s different.
The Canadian prime minister, who flatly refuses to resign or hold early elections, continues to hurl random accusations at the protesters: they are “Islamophobes, anti-Semites, racists, transphobes, homophobes”. Apparently he has not been taught anything else in the incubator for “young and promising leaders of the future”. We have to repeat the same old lesson.
The first victim of the Canadian Maidan was the leader of the Conservatives, the country’s main opposition force, who was ousted from power by his fellow party members for his unclear stance on the protests. The new Conservative leader is demanding that the government make concessions to the protesters and apologise to them.
Polls show a majority of Canadians already support the protesters’ demands. And regional authorities have begun easing anti-coastal restrictions. Even if the strikers fail to bring about a change in Canada’s liberal regime, they have already achieved a certain symbolic victory by making themselves a force to be reckoned with.
Malek Dudakov