The Freedom Convoy that has occupied downtown Ottawa since Jan. 28 has proven to be a lightning rod for the underlying pent up anger that has been building among Canadian citizens over the past two years of COVID-19 restrictions.
In the very early stages of the pandemic, Canadians took to the streets to bang pots-and-pans in salute of the efforts and sacrifice being made by our frontline health care professionals and essential workers.
Now we have a nationwide movement-of-protest blaring air-horns in support of a tiny minority of cross-border truck drivers who refuse to comply with a vaccine mandate.
At least that was the initial genesis that prompted the organizers of the Freedom Convoy to bring their road show to the gates of Parliament Hill.
However, it did not take long for that simple single demand to morph into a rejection of all COVID related mandates – vaccines, masks and passports.
It also did not take long for the message of the protestors to escalate from simply fornicating Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to the ridiculous objective of actually overthrowing Canada’s democratically elected Parliament.
Believe it or not, Freedom Convoy leaders publicly called upon Governor General Mary Simon to recognize a new coalition government based on opposition parties, and, um, the unelected representatives of the trucker protest.
Once again, in the interest of full disclosure, I reside with my family in the downtown Ottawa and as such, I have had a front row seat to the horn-blaring occupation since the outset.
It has been irritating and at times inconvenient but thankfully it was at no point to date, personally threatening or in any way violent.
That said, it has also been far too festive to be taken as a serious outpouring of collective anger by the Canadian public.
There were Canadian flags everywhere. Pickup trucks seemingly always sported two flags while pedestrian protestors almost all carried their flags attached to a hockey stick.
Crowds would mill around looking for a focal point which would often materialize in a form of anything from a musical busker to a fervent religious believer shouting biblical passages through a battery powered karaoke speaker.
Some people set up entire club-sized sound systems to invigorate impromptu, alcohol-fuelled dance parties.
Crowds dancing to the rhythms of ‘Ghostbusters’ or ‘Don’t worry, be happy’ would quickly be brought back into focus with shouts of ‘F*ck Trudeau’ or simply the Braveheart movie rally cry of “Freedom!”
To keep the protestors’ collective strength up there was no shortage of free provisions. Barbecues churned out steady streams of hamburgers, hot dogs and sausages, free to all protestors and onlookers. There were also caches of essential supplies like paper towels and even mattresses, all available at no cost thanks to generous supporters.
For the little tyke protestors in attendance, organizers brought in bouncy castles (yes, there was more than one) and hay bales, making this purportedly national political protest seem more like a small town, county fair.
For their adult protestor/occupiers, provisions were made to take away the stress after a long day shouting for the overthrow of the Liberal government.
At the logistics centre established in the parking lot at the Ottawa baseball stadium, Freedom Convoy organizers had set up both a portable sauna and a hot tub.
In other words, this has been a first-world collective wail of mild discomfort, rather than a truly angry mob bent on creating revolutionary change.
In March 1917, when starving Russians rioted in the streets of St. Petersburg their shouted demand was “bread!”. In the ensuring days of continued violent protests the Russian rioters’ slogan morphed into cries of “down with autocracy” which soon resulted in the successful overthrow of the Tsar.
Those angry Russians were motivated by hunger and they sure as hell did not bring their kids along, let alone ensure that they had bouncy castles to jump on while their parents overturned the Russian government.
On the subject of freedom of speech, I am a firm believer that this is a basic tenet of democracy. As a former soldier, I also recognize the fact that our military’s role is to protect our democracy, not to practice it.
As such, there are strict rules in place to prevent service members from making political statements of any kind.
Which brings us to the bizarre case of Major Stephen Chledowski, an artillery officer who posted a nine-minute video online, in which he accuses federal and provincial politicians of being traitors and suppressing the rights of Canadians.
“I am calling on my military and police comrades to now stand up and protect your loved ones against this government’s forced medical tyranny.” stated Major Chledowski on the video.
I will acknowledge that Chlewdoski can have his own personal opinion regarding vaccines and government mandates, however him making a public appeal - as a major in uniform no less – for fellow soldiers to follow his lead arguably constitutes sedition.
It is one thing for the Freedom Convoy participants to play act the role of revolutionaries, it is quite another for a serving officer to incite widespread disobedience in the ranks.
