I have followed the events of the last few weeks in Ottawa with interest, as I presume have we all.
I read many articles deploring the protesters, or praising them, depending on the bias of the particular publication (Globe, Star and CBC generally against, Post generally supportive).
I was surprised to read recently that foreign money was involved. This appears to be the justification for the declaration of the Emergencies Act. Justice Minister David Lametti thinks so, and knows where this money is coming from.
On February 17, according to the Ottawa Sun, he declared "If you are a member of a pro-Trump movement who is donating hundreds of thousands of dollars, and millions of dollars to this kind of thing, then you ought to be worried".
Millions? He was presumably speaking of the bank accounts of Canadians who made donations since he has no jurisdiction south of the border.
Let’s examine potential sources of foreign money, starting with Trumpsters. Could they be looking for a base from which to commence operations to overthrow the US government and steal back the election? Plausible. Because with the Donald you never know! But how to connect a bunch of trucks and a lot of Canadian flags with a second US insurrection coming from Ottawa is difficult to follow.
So if they are not Trumpsters, who might be these murky foreign money sources be? Can’t be QAnon and Proud Boys types because after Jan 6 last year any money they have left would be earmarked for their defence lawyers.
Who else? Russia? No, otherwise occupied.
China? Maybe. But short of an invasion, the only possible outcome would be a new government. Dippers? Variation on a theme. Conservatives? Give me a break! PQ? They have no money nor do the Greens, being a bunch of socialists at the end of the day, preferring to spend other people’s money.
So, maybe Save The Planet types? Plausible. Lots of money from wealthy US sources such as the Tides Foundation historically, well documented by Vivian Kraus over the past several years. Funding things like pipeline opposers, tree huggers, purchase of professional activists to oppose whatever is being opposed, and other progressive type causes like climate change. Can’t really figure out their end game though, other than returning us to the Stone Age.
Rivals to Canadian hegemony seeking to weaken our global reach? Hmm. Somehow doubt it. The only challenger to Canadian hegemony currently is Denmark in what is known as the Whisky War, being fought over Hans Island in the Kennedy Channel (not that Kennedy).
For those not up on such things, in 1984, Canada provoked Denmark by planting its flag on the island and leaving a bottle of Canadian whisky. The Danish Minister of Greenland Affairs came to the island himself the same year with the Danish flag, a bottle of schnapps, and a letter stating "Welcome to the Danish Island". A restive standoff has remained since with periodic salvos of whisky and schnapps (summer only – the current temperature at the nearest settlement, Eureka, Nunavut, is -39 at time of writing, interestingly the same temperature in Celsius as in Fahrenheit).
That’s it. I’m out of plausible sources. Who are these foreign funders and what is their goal? Or something else? Confusion could play a part.
Here’s where it all started, January 15, when the heretofore front-line heroes (trucker division) for whom we banged pots and pans back in early 2020 were thrown under the bus:
Requirements for truckers entering Canada in effect as of January 15, 2022 - Canada.ca
The US Department of Homeland Security changed their criteria January 22:
Without questioning the wisdom or indeed science behind either government’s actions, a question does arise. Why now? Maybe that question arose in many people’s minds, never mind the truckers, of which apparently upward of 90% in Canada are already fully vaxxed (65% in the US).
Maybe the many non-truckers who had dutifully masked, isolated, flattened the curve, locked themselves down, got vaxxed once, twice then thrice all under government mandates were fed up?
Mark Carney darkly warned us in the Globe and Mail February 7, “No one should have any doubt. This is sedition.” Thanks Mark for your input.
But seditious Oakville people lined the overpasses, cheering and waving Canadian flags in support. Hundreds at the QEW Trafalgar overpass even though the convoy from the west was coming down Highway 400. Maybe Canadians had reached a breaking point. Typical Canadians though. Sedition in Ottawa took the form of hot tubs, bouncy castles, barbeques and live music.
So instead of seeing the Freedom Convoy being the result of un-Canadian nefarious foreign influences, maybe we should apply Occam’s Razor, which is best summarized as “Keep it simple stupid”. Protesters say they are fed up with government overreach during Covid Times. The money donated is from like-minded people. Certainly the simplest explanation, no?
Concurrently it could be an example of Hanlon’s Razor: Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity. On all sides.
Karl Marx once wrote something to the effect history repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce. Pierre Elliot proclaimed the War Measures Act in 1970. The tragedy was the death of Pierre LaPorte. Justin Pierre James proclaimed the Emergencies Act in 2022. Bouncy castles and hot tubs?
Sources:
Canadian 'Freedom' Truckers Protest Vaccines As 90 Percent of Drivers Vaccinated (newsweek.com)
