Who listens anymore?

A small but noisy contingent of truckers and wannabe sympathizers travelled across Canada this past week and settled into Ottawa, our nations' capital. This being the dead of winter, it is not my belief that the participants were headed there to vacation, as Ottawa is noted as one of the coldest capital cities in the world, rivalling Moscow, Helsinki and Ulaan Bator.

Ostensibly the truck convoy began as a protest against a vaccine mandate initiated by our federal government to ensure cross-border truckers entering and exiting the U.S. would help stem the spread of the COVID-19 virus and its various insidious variants. Reportedly, 80-90% of existing drivers are already vaxxed.

Taking umbrage to this onerous undertaking, a vocal contingent somehow migrated the concept of health and safety for all to assume that a direct, dictatorial directive from the PMO was aimed squarely at the last remnant of their entire arsenal of civil liberties, of which we have been generously bestowed for the past couple of generations, thanks largely to a generation of brave men and women who served overseas to help eliminate Fascism and tyranny.

In the minds of the minority trucking contingent, being asked to receive a needle in the arm equates with the boot stomping antics associated with foreign despots, and cannot be tolerated. They took it upon themselves to assume a mantle of justice and oppose the treasonous powers leading our country, forming a convoy that traversed the country and parked their rigs in downtown Ottawa, clogging streets and causing mayhem.

Along the way they were greeted by cheering well-wishers and supporters waving Canadian flags. Fuelled by the "millions" of people who supported them, their anti-vax cause began to unravel quickly. The rallying cry was now about "freedom" (imagine driving four days unchecked across your country to express an opinion and feel that you are being severely repressed) and that the government had to go, nothing short of the resignation of the PM would suffice.

Having secured $8.9 million (YES!) through crowdfunding, their war chest is impressive if they are capable of waiting out the standoff. There is little question who will blink first, the big question is how it will all play out. Media interviews with some of the supporters suggest an unlikely outcome for the organizers of the protest.

With such a narrow agenda and focus, these organizers have been able to attract citizens of this country most likely NOT to be able to lead a stable democracy. Their view is the ONLY view, any question to them or statement slightly unaligned with their mission produces mountains of vulgar, vicious rants which even a 10 year old child has outgrown. Shouting matches and threats seem to be their modus operandi for dialogue.

Confederate flags (in Canada?) have appeared and flags with Nazi symbols. Some (provide your own despicable descriptive noun here) clown saw fit to urinate on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Now that crosses a line.

How does that become part of an anti-vax protest anyway?

Homeless shelter staff were harassed for food since downtown restaurants were forced to close. Is that an anti-vax strategy?

Now we wait. People living downtown are cowed, and rightly so, being prisoners in their own homes, denied services and generally edgy what with all the milling strangers, and being subjected to continuous air horn blasts and fireworks.

Inevitably, our government will throw them a biscuit and both sides will declare victory, and life will go on but not as before. Nothing will ever be as "before". A bear has been nudged and is growling.

But nobody will be listening.

What is next for us?