Friday, February 18, 2022

The Canadian trucker convoy is an unpopular uprising

 https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/22926134/canada-trucker-freedom-convoy-protest-ottawa

But while the protests are generating a lot of noise and attention, the eruption actually points up a counterintuitive fact: The Canadian far right is weak and ineffectual, especially when it comes to pandemic restrictions.

Canada’s provinces have generally employed strict Covid-19 measures such as school mask mandates and vaccine passports, including during the recent omicron surge. They have enjoyed broad public support in doing so; even the strictest restrictions are less controversial in Canada than in the US. The current demonstration is quite unpopular with the general public, divisive even inside the center-right Conservative party.

This doesn’t mean the movement will accomplish nothing. It has already contributed to a revolt against the Conservative party’s leader and is serving as an important organizing node for far-rightists. The border crossing blockage is putting more stress on the US-Canada supply chain, costing (by one estimation) $300 million a day in economic damage. Internationall

1 comment:

  1. The headline is misleading. While the actual protest has lost support and is now widely unpopular, the principles that the protest are about remain very popular. It's not that the far right (which people like Vox define as "anyone who disagrees with us") is weak and ineffectual. It's just that most intelligent (ie right) Canadians will, while not agreeing with government policy, still go along with it because that's what we do.

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