The top job of the Prime Minister is to unify our country; he has failed on all acccounts. What we have now is a response to his inability to admit over 30% of Canadians even exist. HE is to blame for the fallout. Nobody else.
Does it surprise anyone that the government that is busy trying to pass legislation to enable the CRTC to censor all internet discourse, and that labels any domestic opposition as extremists and racist, is now going full dictator mode at the first excuse? The future face of fascism isn’t jackboots - it is a smiling bureaucrat telling you this is all for your own good.
"when a convoy of truckers came to town advertising their plain intention to depose the prime minister and install themselves in the government"
Jesus, where do you get this stuff? Can you cite your source on this? I mean, the reps for the convoy have been saying repeatedly that all they are asking for is the end of the mandates and passports, and occasionally throw on the reference to tracking citizens.
Here. How about we check in with a person journaling the events and statements of people, including interviewing the actual spokespeople from the convoy. A journal-er, if you will: https://youtu.be/JK4KEK7lrNE
@24:33: Question: "For the people who are still saying that this convoy's stated objective is to overthrow the government, ..., what do you have to say to those people?"
Answer: "We don't live in a third world dictatorship, although it sometimes seems that way right now. We'll have an election, whenever the next election comes, and that's when it will be decided. This is exclusively about removing the mandates and passports, and the tracking app, and getting our freedoms back. ... But no, it's exclusively just this. There's no ambition to overthrow any government."
So, why are you still saying things like this? Where did it come from? I've watched their press conferences and official statements and not a word about overthrowing the government and installing themselves? I mean, WTF? Can you cite any source?
If you want to understand why this won't go away, and the repeated misinformation in the media, (I note that National Post is listed among them -- but not The Line), he continues:
"And that's also why, if you've noticed, we've kinda kept the politics out of this. We haven't made it a partisan thing. We've had people from different parties reach out to us and make overtures and we've said, 'Great, but the Liberal government is in power. We know there are people in the Liberal Party on our side. We know there's another 30 Liberal -- I know from people on the inside of the Liberal Party who have spoken to me -- there's another 30 Liberal MPs that want to follow the initial three, and are really, really ticked off with Justin Trudeau and his response, cause they're embarrassed, right. This is going to be their legacy."
"Like, look at it this way. You [David Freiheit] live in Quebec, right. We've both grown up in Canada with this baggage of Quebec separatism and Alberta doesn't like Quebec, and the West doesn't like Ontario -- well, everyone hates Ontario, right? -- but that's been the baggage that we've had."
"And the very first day I was here, I couldn't believe it -- you must have seen this too -- I went to the end of the park behind Parliament Hill and I followed this massive line of tens of thousands of people crossing over into Ontario from Quebec holding Quebec flags and Canadian flags, going up to Parliament Hill to meet their brothers from Alberta. They started hugging each other. I got a couple of pictures of guys -- one guy has a sign that says 'Freedom' and another guy next to him, his sign says 'Liberte'. They couldn't speak to each other but they said, 'Come, let's have a picture and hug each other, whatever.' "
"We went into the Tim Hortons. One of our team ... one of my friends went to Tim Hortons. She came back and she said, 'I couldn't believe it. I was in line and there were these two guys -- two truckers -- clearly they know each other 'cause they didn't just meet each other in line. They were talking, and joking, and laughing, and whatever. But they were using Google Translate, 'cause one was from Quebec and the other one was from Saskatechewan."
"So this is what happens when the media and politicians get out of the way. We all unify and we respect each others' differences and we, in fact, embrace them. It's been the most beautiful experience, and I never ever thought I would see this in Canada. It's been amazing."
And, I'll add, if you bother to watch even a fraction of the 100+ hours of life streamed footage, unedited, that is exactly what is happening. Ottawalks, Zot, and others do a good job of observational videos. Viva Frei (David Freiheit) does an amazing job of walking around for 3-4 hours each time and asking people where they are from, what they are doing there, and what they have to say. It's an amazing display of journal-ish type activities.
You might watch the first 55 minutes for the interview, and they maybe watch the rest for more of the walking around and journal-izering. There's some more interesting tidbits in there, including @43:58 with Q&A about injunction and working with the city. Notably, the convoy is working with the mayor on moving trucks to ensure flow of traffic and he makes corrections to the narrative about the court injunction on noise, noting the province lost almost everything they asked for except for prohibition on certain types of horns in certain areas, which they are respecting.
Like, where is all of this information in the media. Or, if you want to claim he's lying, where is the review of the injunction to see what it actually says and what the province had asked for?
You know, because these sorts of fact matter a lot more than repeating innuendo, rumours, and narratives that come off as sounding like propaganda. Here's an interesting one. Did you know the founders and leaders of the convoy are a Metis woman and a Jewish man? Sounds like just the two to be breaking out the swastikas, eh?
Pick whatever protest movement you agreed with in the last 20 years and imagine these powers being used against them.
We are all here ostensibly because Trudeau and Biden didn’t want to let unvaxxed truckers cross the border anymore. The rule has prevented no covid deaths but it has created this. We should not lose sight of the fact that this is why we are all here.
It sets out the confounding dilemma that many of us share: we don't want to promote an unreasonably heavy-handed federal government, but on the other hand, jeez, some of these guys have gone way too far.
The Line's work is very impressive. I'm upping my subscription from monthly to annual.
What can we do now that we couldn't before? For starters, two main things. 1. The act sets up a watchdog to shut down the alt-right / American funding of this insurrection. That is long-term important. 2. The act tells the big-rig blockaders to get out of Dodge or they can say goodbye to trucking as way of life because 1) their vehicle insurance will be cancelled and 2) their business bank accounts will be frozen. I for one did not see these initiatives coming. To me -- and, I would wager, to most of the bleating sheep in the Ottawa streets -- they were completely unanticipated. I see them as BRILLIANT!
The comments, which used to be worth reading (whether I agree or disagree is neither here nor there) are really mostly abusive rubbish at this point. That’s a shame.
Radio poll this morning (I live on the Left Coast) suggests 81% of people oppose Trudeau invoking the Emergencies Act - and most out here are Green/NDP supporters. Maybe the 19% who support it are our politicians and journalists.
The whole process thus far with the protest getting out of hand falls in the lap of Ottawa and Trudeau. Borders should be open - period and that was being done BEFORE this invocation. What REALLY gets my goat is that now there is the claim that 'foriegn money is funding this issue' yet when 'foreign money' supports pipeline blockades, Idle no more, highway blockades against oil/gas/any development then that 'foreign money' is just fine. Where is the logic there? I am very concerned about the future of Canada if we allow this left wing extreemisim to continue from the Liberal govenment with their NDP sidekicks. This protest could have been solved by better planning adn a simple face to face with Trudeau but ...NOOO we had to make it a crisis.
It is "curiouser and curiouser" that the police did not have a plan when the convoy stated to all manner of public media that they were coming to Ottawa & would be looking to shut down government somehow using the GG & the Senate. That, in itself, I think shows American organization that does not understand that these two institutions are only ceremonial in Canada, not like the US Senate. The fact that police did not enforce even simple bylaws in the City of Ottawa is particularly curious and unsettling.
I was working on Parliament Hill 52 years and one thing was clear: invoking emergency powers instantly takes much of the oxygen out of adult, democratic debate. Hopefully, Justin Trudeau’s tardy timing and the lack of violence so far will mean less drama today. However, the very language we’re using now—foreign money, emergency, fascists, threat to our democracy—threatens civil discourse and healthy scepticism
"So rather than try to pass judgment on the wisdom of the entire decision, which is frankly something we're going to need to reflect on further, we want to try and pull out some specific elements of this, and walk you through what we think it means."
I’m sure that, like many of us, we were awaiting your report on these new developments. Today’s was just an appetizer; can’t wait for the rest of this week.
The top job of the Prime Minister is to unify our country; he has failed on all acccounts. What we have now is a response to his inability to admit over 30% of Canadians even exist. HE is to blame for the fallout. Nobody else.
Matt & Jen, thank you for all of your hard work over the past few weeks reporting on this mess. It has been hard to keep up at times.
As a new subscriber, it is a bit disheartening seeing some of the comments folks leave on these articles.
Anyways, keep up the good work. It is very much appreciated
Does it surprise anyone that the government that is busy trying to pass legislation to enable the CRTC to censor all internet discourse, and that labels any domestic opposition as extremists and racist, is now going full dictator mode at the first excuse? The future face of fascism isn’t jackboots - it is a smiling bureaucrat telling you this is all for your own good.
"when a convoy of truckers came to town advertising their plain intention to depose the prime minister and install themselves in the government"
Jesus, where do you get this stuff? Can you cite your source on this? I mean, the reps for the convoy have been saying repeatedly that all they are asking for is the end of the mandates and passports, and occasionally throw on the reference to tracking citizens.
Here. How about we check in with a person journaling the events and statements of people, including interviewing the actual spokespeople from the convoy. A journal-er, if you will: https://youtu.be/JK4KEK7lrNE
@24:33: Question: "For the people who are still saying that this convoy's stated objective is to overthrow the government, ..., what do you have to say to those people?"
Answer: "We don't live in a third world dictatorship, although it sometimes seems that way right now. We'll have an election, whenever the next election comes, and that's when it will be decided. This is exclusively about removing the mandates and passports, and the tracking app, and getting our freedoms back. ... But no, it's exclusively just this. There's no ambition to overthrow any government."
So, why are you still saying things like this? Where did it come from? I've watched their press conferences and official statements and not a word about overthrowing the government and installing themselves? I mean, WTF? Can you cite any source?
If you want to understand why this won't go away, and the repeated misinformation in the media, (I note that National Post is listed among them -- but not The Line), he continues:
"And that's also why, if you've noticed, we've kinda kept the politics out of this. We haven't made it a partisan thing. We've had people from different parties reach out to us and make overtures and we've said, 'Great, but the Liberal government is in power. We know there are people in the Liberal Party on our side. We know there's another 30 Liberal -- I know from people on the inside of the Liberal Party who have spoken to me -- there's another 30 Liberal MPs that want to follow the initial three, and are really, really ticked off with Justin Trudeau and his response, cause they're embarrassed, right. This is going to be their legacy."
"Like, look at it this way. You [David Freiheit] live in Quebec, right. We've both grown up in Canada with this baggage of Quebec separatism and Alberta doesn't like Quebec, and the West doesn't like Ontario -- well, everyone hates Ontario, right? -- but that's been the baggage that we've had."
"And the very first day I was here, I couldn't believe it -- you must have seen this too -- I went to the end of the park behind Parliament Hill and I followed this massive line of tens of thousands of people crossing over into Ontario from Quebec holding Quebec flags and Canadian flags, going up to Parliament Hill to meet their brothers from Alberta. They started hugging each other. I got a couple of pictures of guys -- one guy has a sign that says 'Freedom' and another guy next to him, his sign says 'Liberte'. They couldn't speak to each other but they said, 'Come, let's have a picture and hug each other, whatever.' "
"We went into the Tim Hortons. One of our team ... one of my friends went to Tim Hortons. She came back and she said, 'I couldn't believe it. I was in line and there were these two guys -- two truckers -- clearly they know each other 'cause they didn't just meet each other in line. They were talking, and joking, and laughing, and whatever. But they were using Google Translate, 'cause one was from Quebec and the other one was from Saskatechewan."
"So this is what happens when the media and politicians get out of the way. We all unify and we respect each others' differences and we, in fact, embrace them. It's been the most beautiful experience, and I never ever thought I would see this in Canada. It's been amazing."
And, I'll add, if you bother to watch even a fraction of the 100+ hours of life streamed footage, unedited, that is exactly what is happening. Ottawalks, Zot, and others do a good job of observational videos. Viva Frei (David Freiheit) does an amazing job of walking around for 3-4 hours each time and asking people where they are from, what they are doing there, and what they have to say. It's an amazing display of journal-ish type activities.
You might watch the first 55 minutes for the interview, and they maybe watch the rest for more of the walking around and journal-izering. There's some more interesting tidbits in there, including @43:58 with Q&A about injunction and working with the city. Notably, the convoy is working with the mayor on moving trucks to ensure flow of traffic and he makes corrections to the narrative about the court injunction on noise, noting the province lost almost everything they asked for except for prohibition on certain types of horns in certain areas, which they are respecting.
Like, where is all of this information in the media. Or, if you want to claim he's lying, where is the review of the injunction to see what it actually says and what the province had asked for?
You know, because these sorts of fact matter a lot more than repeating innuendo, rumours, and narratives that come off as sounding like propaganda. Here's an interesting one. Did you know the founders and leaders of the convoy are a Metis woman and a Jewish man? Sounds like just the two to be breaking out the swastikas, eh?
Pick whatever protest movement you agreed with in the last 20 years and imagine these powers being used against them.
We are all here ostensibly because Trudeau and Biden didn’t want to let unvaxxed truckers cross the border anymore. The rule has prevented no covid deaths but it has created this. We should not lose sight of the fact that this is why we are all here.
Deep appreciation for this dispatch!
It sets out the confounding dilemma that many of us share: we don't want to promote an unreasonably heavy-handed federal government, but on the other hand, jeez, some of these guys have gone way too far.
The Line's work is very impressive. I'm upping my subscription from monthly to annual.
Great precedent for when terrorists attack our pipelines and railways. Liberal cheerleaders need to remember they won't always be in charge.
It's also interesting that *now* we're concerned about foreign funding. Tides foundation, call your office.
What can we do now that we couldn't before? For starters, two main things. 1. The act sets up a watchdog to shut down the alt-right / American funding of this insurrection. That is long-term important. 2. The act tells the big-rig blockaders to get out of Dodge or they can say goodbye to trucking as way of life because 1) their vehicle insurance will be cancelled and 2) their business bank accounts will be frozen. I for one did not see these initiatives coming. To me -- and, I would wager, to most of the bleating sheep in the Ottawa streets -- they were completely unanticipated. I see them as BRILLIANT!
The comments, which used to be worth reading (whether I agree or disagree is neither here nor there) are really mostly abusive rubbish at this point. That’s a shame.
Radio poll this morning (I live on the Left Coast) suggests 81% of people oppose Trudeau invoking the Emergencies Act - and most out here are Green/NDP supporters. Maybe the 19% who support it are our politicians and journalists.
The whole process thus far with the protest getting out of hand falls in the lap of Ottawa and Trudeau. Borders should be open - period and that was being done BEFORE this invocation. What REALLY gets my goat is that now there is the claim that 'foriegn money is funding this issue' yet when 'foreign money' supports pipeline blockades, Idle no more, highway blockades against oil/gas/any development then that 'foreign money' is just fine. Where is the logic there? I am very concerned about the future of Canada if we allow this left wing extreemisim to continue from the Liberal govenment with their NDP sidekicks. This protest could have been solved by better planning adn a simple face to face with Trudeau but ...NOOO we had to make it a crisis.
It is "curiouser and curiouser" that the police did not have a plan when the convoy stated to all manner of public media that they were coming to Ottawa & would be looking to shut down government somehow using the GG & the Senate. That, in itself, I think shows American organization that does not understand that these two institutions are only ceremonial in Canada, not like the US Senate. The fact that police did not enforce even simple bylaws in the City of Ottawa is particularly curious and unsettling.
One query - why is this Trudeau"s fault?
I was working on Parliament Hill 52 years and one thing was clear: invoking emergency powers instantly takes much of the oxygen out of adult, democratic debate. Hopefully, Justin Trudeau’s tardy timing and the lack of violence so far will mean less drama today. However, the very language we’re using now—foreign money, emergency, fascists, threat to our democracy—threatens civil discourse and healthy scepticism
Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act to bolster his support from those voters who stand with Trudeau. It's all about optics.
"So rather than try to pass judgment on the wisdom of the entire decision, which is frankly something we're going to need to reflect on further, we want to try and pull out some specific elements of this, and walk you through what we think it means."
This beautiful sentence speaks volumes.
I’m sure that, like many of us, we were awaiting your report on these new developments. Today’s was just an appetizer; can’t wait for the rest of this week.