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Given that the rhetoric coming from Canadian authorities sounds eerily like Democrats on Capitol Hill, it comes as little surprise that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government is targeting Republicans in the United States for supporting the Freedom Convoy.
Canada’s public safety minister joined other Canadian leaders “in pushing back against prominent Republicans who offered support for the protests of COVID-19 restrictions that have besieged downtown Ottawa for more than a week,” the Associated Press reported.
Trudeau regurgitated Democrats’ favorite talking point of late –democracy being under attack — during an emergency debate in Parliament.
“Individuals are trying to blockade our economy, our democracy, and our fellow citizens’ daily lives,” Trudeau said of the protesters he has accused of being racist with little cause. “It has to stop.”
Diane Deans, chair of the Ottawa Police Services Board, went much further, claiming the truck drivers are “terrorizing” and “threatening” the city’s residents.
“We are on day eight of this occupation. Our city is under siege. This group is emboldened by the lack of enforcement by every level of government,” Deans declared. “This group is a threat to our democracy. What we’re seeing is bigger than just a City of Ottawa problem. This is a nationwide insurrection. This is madness. We need a concrete plan to put an end to this.”
Insurrection?
The protesters are demanding that all vaccine mandates and COVID-19 restrictions are lifted and are calling for the removal of Trudeau’s government, the AP noted.
The “prominent Republicans” in mind begin with Gov. Ron DeSantis, from the free state of Florida, who said he would launch a fraud investigation after the crowdfunding site GoFundMe froze $9 million in donations sent to the Freedom Convoy — GoFundMe would eventually relent on an earlier position to announce the all contributions would be automatically returned to the donors.
The site that allowed Black Livers Matter crowdfunding said it cut off funding for protest organizers because their efforts violated the site’s terms of service by engaging in unlawful activity.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, also a Republican, said in a tweet that his state would conduct their own “fraud & deception” investigation:
Patriotic Texans donated to Canadian truckers’ worthy cause using GoFundMe. This BLM-backing company went woke, froze the funds, & failed to deliver Texans’ money. Today I assembled a team to investigate their potential fraud & deception. Texas donors will get Justice! #GoFundMe
— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) February 5, 2022
Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino responded by essentially telling Paxton what happens north of the border is none of his business
“It is certainly not the concern of the Texas attorney general as to how we in Canada go about our daily lives in accordance with the rule of law,” Mendicino said, according to the AP. “We need to be vigilant about potential foreign interference … Whatever statements may have been made by some foreign official are neither here nor there. We’re Canadian. We have our own set of laws. We will follow them.”
Bruce Heyman, a former U.S. ambassador to Canada, took to social media to call on Americans to stop supporting the truckers, putting a liberal spin on the protests by calling them “disruptive activities.”
Under no circumstances should any group in the USA fund disruptive activities in Canada. Period. Full stop.
— Bruce A. Heyman (@BruceAHeyman) February 6, 2022
Heyman also warned the U.S. to be prepared to prevent a similar protest, tweeting, “Don’t think what we have seen happen in Ottawa can’t happen here. We need to make sure we learn and prepare.”
Much like CNN is a mouthpiece for the Biden administration, the network was quick to regurgitate the Canadian government’s talking points.
CNN’s John King, host of “Inside Politics,” referred to the Freedom Convoy on Monday as “a nationwide insurrection.”
“The state of emergency in place in Ottawa where the police chief says COVID protests are ‘a nationwide insurrection driven by madness.’ Thousands of Canadians, you see the pictures there, protesting vaccine mandates,” King said. “It started with the so-called ‘Freedom Convoy’ led by truckers protesting a new mandate requiring vaccines in order to enter the country.”
CNN correspondent Paula Newton then went one better, comparing the convoy to “an insurrection” and a “sedition.”
“And just think of the language. I know it sounds familiar to you. A threat to democracy. An insurrection, sedition. I want to be clear things have quieted down a bit, but that does not take away from the basic truck in, right, the sit-in that’s going in right in front of the national parliament,” Newton said.
CNN finally covered the Freedom Convoy — however, only insofar as to relay Ottawa’s police chief warning American lawmakers that they must not support these truckers’ “unlawful behavior” pic.twitter.com/TkpCgywC4e
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) February 7, 2022
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
Tom Tillison grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills. Tillison also contributes to BizPac Review.
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