By Matthew Clark
Canada's national capital city, Ottawa, recently underwent a 3 week occupation (in the words of all three levels of government, and the establishment media) by about 700 transport truckers, and their supporters, who strategicly double parked their vehicles at selected points in the city. Other transport truckers, and supporting protestors blocked border passages, such as the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, Ontario, or Cutts, Alberta, between Canada and the United States.
That such relatively benign methods of protest could become a Existential threat to the nation is an example of how weak, morally, and physically, Canada has become. To break this protest in the nations capital police forces from all over the country made a pilgrimage to Ottawa. Mounted Police from Toronto rammed their horse into a contrarian senior woman, while officers from the Vancouver Police shot tear gas into a retreating crowd. After 3 days of intense effort the truckers, and supporting protestors, were cleared out of the downtown area.
At this stage it would be wise for Canadians to ask-HOW DID WE GET TO THIS PLACE? How could it be that the country whose citizens call it the TRUE NORTH STRONG AND FREE, could become so pathetically weak that its' political and economic structures appeared on the edge of collapse from such a balanced protest. Why was it necessary to use the police, who hasd previously been a model of impartiality through the Covid 19 period ( Far more balanced and impartial than the nations jurists for example) in such an unbalanced fashion.
The answer to the question -HOW DID WE GET TO THIS PLACE I argue, is that the Covid 19 era has seen the domination of an authoritarian cartel throughout all the levels of government among both lawmakers, and bureaucracy. As tends to happen amongst oligarchs ( look at the Communist Governments who controlled Eastern and Central Europe in the 20th century for example), they rule for today. Their common binding philosophy is: Handle the emergency now, long term consequences be damned.
So when Covid 19 first came to the land the political leadership locked down the entire nation with a stated agenda of 2 weeks to flatten the curve. After 2 weeks the curve ( which represented an increase in people who had the virus) was not flattened. So Canadians were locked down for 2 more weeks, than 2 more after that, until the lockdown had lasted over 3 months. After 3 months of a severe lockdown it would seem self-evident that there would be long term consequences. Incredibly when the virus numbers started to increase again later in the year the same short term strategy was attempted again, and yet again after that. Always with the same results. Failure.
As early as the summer of 2020 protests started to occur against the flawed strategies inflicted by authoritarian power on their citizens. It was easily discernible that long term consequences were occurring throughout the nation. A disintegrating healthcare system, poorer education for Canada's youth, crippling shutdowns for business, (especially small business) and a catastrophic rise in public debt. Due to the failure of the short term policies of the oligarchs they had no answer to these growing problems. So they responded the way government which rules for the short term almost always respond. With coercion. Force, the mailed fist, would be the method of rule.
Fortunately there was more than just token resistance to this oligarchial methology. The Ontario Provincial Police did themselves proud when they refused the Provincial Governments demand they stop citizens randomly and make them provide proof they resided in the area they were travelling. Defiance such as exhibited in this case slowed the authoritarian trend. But it did not stop it. When a vaccine, invented in a suspiciously record amount of time, became available to the public, the nations' rulers tried to hammer down anyone who became non-compliant ( the non-compliance being a refusal to take the medical procedure). The preferred tactic was to come up with a vaccine mandate at the citizens workplace so they faced a decision on whether to lose their job, or take a drug they disagreed with.
Finally there was a concentrated , effective reaction to this smothering of individual freedoms. Canadian transport truckers, resisting the vaccine mandates, lead a trek from all over the country into the nations capital. Along the way other Canadians rallied to the cause, until they became a force the whole world paid attention too.
Although they were eventually forcibly removed from Ottawa they have gained a great victory for the pursuit of individual freedom. All the nations provincial governments are quickly backing off the mandates they so foolishly initiated. Meanwhile the federal government , which led the charge for mandates through the use of financial largesse, has now gone into retreat, desperately trying to keep a few of the mandates on the law books. Federal government leaders even had to backtrack from trying to use the Emergency Powers Act to take a stranglehold over citizens financial accounts.
The future is the great unknown, especially after the last couple of years. Adding to the economic and social consequences of the failed public policies is the possibility of food shortages. Corn, and Soybeans, arguably the most important of modern food staples, are in short supply in Ontario, Canadas most populous province.
There is also a chance that the nations lawmakers are losing the loyalty of the bravest of the brave. One of the worst kept secrets of the recent protests was the volume, and accuracy, of both advice and information supplied to the truckers and their supporters from police members, both retired, and still serving, as well as military personnel, both retired and still serving. The way the protests were squashed is likely to have caused disgust amongst Canadas martial forces.
So let us do a quick review of the past two years. Those who advocated for individual freedom confronted Covid 19 with the knowledge that there was tremendous long term consequences to lockdowns and mandates.
Authoritarians did not care about long term consequences. They just mandated and lockdowned to get through the day.
Sweden with the fewest restrictions in Europe has come through the Covid era better than any other European country. In the United States the same was true of the Dakotas viv-a-vis other states.
Those who advocated for individual freedom knew vaccine side effects, where they occurred, would be long (lifelong) term.
Authoritarians offered people temporary safety in exchange for enhanced government power, record profits for pharma and electronic media companies, and both added power and profit for a health industry which is becoming an albatross around the publics neck.
Advocates for individual freedom know more government power means increased public, and private debt, more negative economic consequences, more tyranny, and a breakdown in everyday life.
Authoritarians want the public to give up control of their lives, and to pay today's bills with tomorrows wealth.
As Canadians face the consequences of the last two years political decision making it is wise to remember how we got to this place!
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