Great piece. EXCEPT for the inference Jan 6 was a “move(s) to overthrow the government.” Jan 6 had unforgivable riotous behavior from SOME. But an attempt to overthrow the government? Poppycock. An ACTUAL attempt to unseat the US government—the world’s most powerful nation—would require lots of guns and a very well-organized, highly-motivated group of ANTI-Patriots, anathema to what we actually witnessed. I grow increasingly tired of those that paint a small group of “burn it all down” anarchists as the core, driving force behind scores of peaceful protestors with legitimate concerns about a highly suspect, Cheat-by-Mail election.
Like the one beaten to death by police in the tunnel? Like the Cap Police guy who was claimed to have died after being hit by a fire hydrant (didn’t happen) but was texting his brother that he was fine that evening. Had a stroke the next day. No. The pols & media have been lying to you. Just like they did over WMD in Iraq, like “Russian collusion”. How many times are you going to fall for it?
Only one died as a result of the attempted entry of the Capitol and that was an innocent unarmed female protestor murdered by a Democrat capital police officer with a history of bad behavior.
However, the previous leftist riots left 30 dead and thousands of police officers injured.
Right on - thank you for posting this! The pigeonholing and negative labelling of who is behind this movement is so incredibly narrow-minded. There is a wide swath of Canadian citizenry whose voices, views, concerns, needs, predicaments, etc. are neither recognized nor respected by those in power. Thus the protest, which will only grow larger unless a change in tone and action occurs on the part of the federal and provincial governments. With the latter, this is starting to happen, fortunately. The former seems be stuck on name-calling, bullying, and catering to the close-minded.
I want to add to my comment above that this protest is fundamentally about the freedom of bodily choice around vaccination. It’s a human rights issue that cuts across the categories of class, race, religion, political affiliation, etc., and, as such, it cannot be compartmentalized. Somehow this seems to get lost in all the “noise” and positioning around this debate. Yet it is at the root of it and central to how we proceed as a society and species around the issue of bodily autonomy.
I say the protest should be focused on breaking the assumption that government knows best, that bureaucrats are reasonable and politicians are going to help. our governments have actually pretended to "give us" the Charter wherein they set out rules convenient to their ongoing authority. lacking a clear interpretation this continues. people do not realize that a government that "gives" you rights will take them when the time comes, as is demonstrated today with this pandering child leader of ours. As Pierre P said, THEY work for US, not the other way around. how Liberals have managed to occupy the moral high road is a huge problem. they message us the non sense and eventually folks believe it. like the monstrous falsehood of "government funded programs" ... no such thing! only TAXPAYER funded programs. This protest has to be about taking back authority, clipping their wings and restoring process, oversight and accountability. let me be TOTALY unrealistic and suggest punishment for wrongdoing, incompetence and malfeasance, instead of automatic performance bonuses.
Yes, we all yearn for pre-pandemic times. But do you really want untrammelled visiting to seniors' care homes...when they absolutely have been the most vulnerable demographic and paid the worst price before we figured some of this out? If you're over 70 your vulnerability is about 7-8x that of, say, an 18 yr-old. Fact.
I am 78. My generation had opportunities that the young of today lack. Try buying 10 acres cheap and living in a tipi today. I love life. I would like another decade but if I do not get it you will not hear me whine. I do NOT want to be protected at the expense of the young.
My youngest son is immune-compromised. He should be protected. Would you not agree? I am almost your age and agree with your other comments about the economy but we voted for political parties that made things more expensive.
Not all problems have solutions. Of course your son deserves as much protection as possible, but sadly, a society cannot protect everyone from everything. There are diffcult conversations to be had about tradeoffs and risk/benefit analysis. We can only have those conversations if we have all the data, instead of a narrative.
Agreed, but he should not be protected by increasing the risks to others; the jabs have proven to be the most dangerous injections ever, by far. Masks won't protect him; there is no scientific evidence they are effective against a flu-like virus. Mass inoculations will not protect him, either; the fully "vaccinated" are now becoming infected at a greater rate than the "unvaccinated".
"the jabs have proven to be the most dangerous injections ever, by far" This is completely false. That so many believe it anyway is an enormous tragedy.
Any evidence of your ridiculous statement? Seen the data in VAERS lately? How about the European adverse event data? England's 'yellow card' system? The UD DoD data? The enormous tragedy is that so many are unaware of the deaths and injuries these jabs have caused, while those like yourself spread lies and deceit.
You’re in complete denial. All the data shows you’re more at risk of dying as a result of the experimental bioweapon than you are of dying of SARS CoV2. This has become an undeniable fact. Check out Steve Kirsh’s substack. Data is all there.
What’s tragic is ppl like you who refuse to look at it.
What "expense to the young"? I was talking specifically about visits to long term care homes. Or at least I THOUGHT I was. FWIW, I think the pandemic has been 2-3x more difficult for the young ones (esp young parents) than for us retired folks. No doubt about it. Far more complexity to working from home, child care, foregone social life (me: "what social life"?) But "freedom to visit seniors' homes"? Whose freedom?
How about the freedom of the residents to see their friends, families and loved ones? Shouldn't they have that freedom? Are they in jail or a long term care home? Apparently, you are unaware there are very effective prophylactics to protect the vulnerable: high dose Vit D and C; Zinc; Ivermectin, etc. The failure to protect the vulnerable elderly by the use of cheap, safe and effective prophylactics has been a great tragedy, a mass murder event really.
At almost 78 years of age and a person who has donated 798 whole blood and plasma donor as tion to fellow Canadians and who has never had a single flue shot or covid shot - I lived in my Mazda 5 for 3 weeks in Ottawa ( 95 % of the time without any heat to concerned fuel) and I survived. This whole "Dangerous pandemic" was staged and in reality was nothing more that a bad flue, PERIOD!
Thank you Tara. It’s an important concept to understand but I’m afraid it gets lost on the people whose experience of the pandemic has been either positive or a minor inconvenience of losing out on spring break and pivoting from Europe to Muskoka. My heart breaks for my country right now and I’m in utter shock witnessing the complete lack of intelligence displayed by our ruling class and the media. Thank you for rising above and sharing this essential viewpoint.
I agree totally. The vitriol spouting from Trudeau, Freeland (if only it were!), and many others propping up the horribly biased messaging of this government and the media is utterly appalling.
The picture of the dude holding a sign with an swastika on it is not about Trudeau, Freeland or other political leaders. It is offensive to every veteran of WWII.
How do you know it wasn't about Trudeau? Did you ask him? After all, Trudeau has been acting like a fascist, so the sign may have been in reference to him.
And who, exactly, are these expert epidemiologists of whom you speak? Many of the world's most prominent epidemiologists, from universities such as Harvard, Yale, Oxford, etc. have been diametrically opposed to the government's unscientific course of action. Everything that was done was the opposite of what should have been done.
Not many. Just a few. Others have favoured the strategies.
And the mandates and vaccines have worked very well. Fewer people are dying or being hospitalized and the vaccines are preventing hospitalizations. When hospitalized, people are not as likely as before to go on ventilators. It is still not clear as to why because the OMICRON is supposed to be milder but in my city, the death rate due to Omicron in the last two months has been half of what it was during the last two years. A huge increase in rate in other words.
Furthermore, there are serology studies underway showing that some people fail to develop antibodies even when fully vaccinated which may make them more susceptible to severe illness. The breakthroughs may be due to the vaccines not triggering the production of antibodies in some people. We do not know.
I check the data and follow the science.
I also have done my own analysis comparing countries and regions with deaths due to pneumonia and Influenza combined in the worst season to COVID cases and deaths. Covid has been more deadly with a probability of over 99% than the worst influenza/pneumonia years.
And there was a clear difference between those regions and/or countries and the degree to which they instituted public health measures. Fewer deaths cases and earlier opening of public venues when measures were more strict.
Further, I wish to add that, given the utter failure of everything that has been done so far, from the jabs to the mandates, to the masking, to the lockdowns, to the failure to treat the sick, those epidemiologists of which you speak should have been fired and replaced long, long ago.
So very sorry to hear of your plight. Tens of thousands, if not millions, have been negatively impacted by these unconstitutional, ineffective, counter-productive health mandates.
Herb, it is impossible to say with any degree of accuracy exactly how many died FROM the illness as opposed to WITH the illness. The Ont. Min. of Health says it's 50% of the reported deaths, but who really knows?
You are quite wrong. Since the obvious seems to need explaining here goes.
You can do it two ways.
You look at the average number of deaths from all causes every year prior to COVID and then the average number of deaths during COVID. You apply a statistical analysis using the null hypothesis that there is no difference. If there is a statistical difference you reject that null hypothesis and accept the alternate which is that there IS a difference. If the significance is greater than 95% than it is probable that COVID is responsible unless you have another hypothesis that explains the difference.
The other way is to compare the total number of deaths in the worst influenza + pneumonia seasons and then compare deaths during the COVID seasons with their varying public health protocols. I chose to do this one and compared countries, provinces, and states — namely Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Canada, Ontario, Texas, Thailand, Vietnam, South Korea, China, Japan, India, NZ and Australia. When I applied the statistical analysis I was surprised that the probability of deaths being due to COVID reached above 99%. I did not expect that.
Clearly the data analysis showed that SOMETHING was killing large numbers of people starting in early 2020 that was NOT present prior to that year going back decades when populations were lower. If you have an alternate explanation or hypothesis then perform the analysis and demonstrate it.
The probability that the huge number of additional deaths in the countries I researched above was due to some anomaly other than COVID is not clear to me.
Is it clear to you what caused those massively increased number of deaths?
Herb, it is well known that the number of deaths ascribed to Covid by the various government authorities is ludicrously overstated. The Ontario Ministry of Health, for example, has admitted their deaths-due-to-Covid are half of the reported numbers, which included many who were admitted to hospital for other causes but who happened to test positive for Covid. The story is even worse in the U.S., where hospitals were incentivized for recording as many deaths as possible as being due to covid. Stories of gunshot deaths, cancer deaths and traffic deaths counted as Covid deaths are legion.
As to the statistics on excess deaths, there are many excellent statistical analyses available online from experienced, credentialed statisticians. I urge you to look for them and read them. There are some excellent ones out there on the Canadian stats. As I recall, they show that the deaths in 2020 and 2021 are pretty much in accordance with the trend line of deaths as a % of population from prior years, with some exceptions.
While there are above-trend-line deaths, no doubt some of them are attributable to Covid-19. But it is also apparent that many of the excess deaths are due to the shots themselves. Many others are no doubt due to those who received less than normal health care for other ailments due to the fear-based trauma spread by governments and health authorities. Still others may be attributable to the extreme financial and social disruptions caused by the foolish and unnecessary universal lockdowns.
When you say, "When I applied the statistical analysis I was surprised that the probability of deaths being due to COVID reached above 99%", this statement makes no sense to me. Without detailed knowledge of what these people actually died from, you have no way of knowing whether they died from Covid, from the jabs, or from other causes due to the mess created in health care and in long term care and from societal disruptions at large.
In the U.S., the VAERS system now shows over 10,000 deaths from the jabs in the US alone. With a conservative under-reporting factor of 30, that means there were at least 300,000 deaths attributed to the jabs. The life insurance industry in the U.S. in shock. It is now looking at payouts for a 40% increase in deaths due to reasons other than Covid in persons of working age. A 10% increase would be a 1 in 200 year event, so this is a major financial event for them. Deaths from strokes, heart attacks and resurgent cancers are all off the charts. Unfortunately, we won't know the true number of excess deaths due to the jabs for some time, but I expect the final toll will be shocking. These findings are also confirmed by the U.S. military's statistics on post-inoculation increases in serious illnesses: 300% or 400% increases in heart ailments, cancers and neurological illness and other known adverse effects from the shots.
We are at a point where many independent medical researchers and epidemiologists think the deaths from the jabs now exceed the deaths from the virus. This should come as no surprise, since it is confirmed by Pfizer's own long-term statistics on all cause mortality from their safety trials, where there were more deaths in the jabbed cohort than in the control group.
As to long-haul Covid, it is now known that certain of the long-term adverse effects from the jabs are indistinguishable (the researchers' word, not mine) from those of the virus. This makes perfect sense, of course, since the virus and the shots share the same toxic protein that causes the illness.
Calm down Jason. This type of energy is exactly what we do *not* need in the trucker protest. That's according to what representatives have themselves stated too btw.
When my father contracted TB he was confined to a sanitarium for almost three years and died there. You whinge about minor shit my friend. You have no sense of proportion which is usually a requirement for a good artist.
In my city, I have gone to art shows in local galleries where people made purchases. So maybe your art reflects your lack of intellectual ability and sucks too. Quit feeling sorry for yourself and take a close hard look at yourself.
You know what Tara, come down to the Ottawa occupation and experience it for yourself before trying to give us a rudimentary lesson in free speech. We all know this. We affirm their right to free speech and protest. We do protests of all kinds ALL THE TIME in Ottawa and we get on with it. I detest what March for Life stands for, yet up to 100,000 folks come here peacefully and respectfully and do their thing and we all just get on with it. This Ottawa Occupation is different.
Free speech is not without limits, as you (should) know. Nor is the right to protest: it comes up against lawful behaviour and the rights of other citizens. As women in downtown homeless shelters are checking themselves into hospital to get away from the noise, harassment and menace, who is affirming their rights? They are far more vulnerable than the Occupiers. Is this the elite that you speak of? What about the Shepherds of Good Hope volunteer that got assaulted? Also an elite? You have so easily fallen into the trap of the narrative that far-right has set out. It doesn't matter that the rights of Ottawa citizens have been eroded, because they are elites. Do I have to go Meryl Streep on you and ask 'Why are your freedoms more important than mine?' The Charter also upholds the equality of rights, in case you forgot that part. When it was a protest, the convoy's rights were affirmed plenty. Now that it's an occupation that breaks many, many laws and infringes on the rights of others, the conversation must change.
In the meantime, we know that the events in Ottawa are foreign funded. The self-proclaimed QAnon Queen burned a Canadian flag on the Hill yesterday. That's her free speech, fine. But she also has been directing her followers to kill heath care workers administering vaccines. May I introduce you to a limit on free speech.
PLENTY of people are engaging Joe Rogan on the essentials. His rights are intact. Don't worry there. And besides, he's savvy and he knows the controversy is great for him. Joe Rogan worked in large production TV for years. His podcast production could absolutely be higher-production value, but it's all part of the theatre - theatre you are completely taken in by, clearly.
Finally, what you are conveniently omitting in your righteous bloviating is what this *fight* is over. People are still dying in high numbers from Covid. Hospitals are at the brink. Our health care workers are at the edge and are being actively targeted. (see Q-Queen, above) Does anyone even remember what the mandates are for? It's to prevent the collapse of our health care system. Your analysis is so simplistic: it's a thought discussion of free speech, without limits, in a vacuum.
I subscribed because I thought you might have something interesting to say, but no, it's just warmed over populist drivel. Maybe you're gone from CBC because you can't journalism yourself out of a paper bag.
I live in Ottawa, and I spent some time talking to demonstrators, and to some people who live in the area. They seemed pleased to speak. I got the impression that one of their main wishes was for people to listen to them.
I saw no signs of the behavior of which you complain. One example: Many of the demonstrators self-police, and say that they force people with Nazi symbols or Confederate flags to remove them. They aren't always completely successful, but the vast majority have no patience for that kind of thing. Another thing: The vast majority do not blow their horns after six pm, and try to discourage the few who do. In fact, at 3 pm on a Wednesday, there was more noise coming from construction sites than from the demonstrators, at least where I was (Metcalfe and Laurier).
And yes, I saw plenty of women and people of color. The accusations of misogyny and racism are not very convincing.
I think you will see those kinds of people at every major public demonstration, of whatever kind. It has nothing to do with the protest itself, only with the individuals themselves.
George, good for you for engaging, but you can't mistake your own personal experience for those who may be more vulnerable than you. Please read the statement from Cornerstone Women's Shelter about their experience.
Your comments are your right as well..... and sadly, in a protest that holds these kinds of numbers you will always get "fringe" incidents that you can point to and say what about these people's rights.... yet the purpose of this protest is to cause unrest. Not sure what your stance was on cities burning in 2020 to "peacefully" protest the death of George Floyd.... I would much rather have a truly peaceful protest that we are witnessing in Ottawa right now.
I get that you are pissed I would be too if I lived near by it would be maddening but where is the Prime Minister, where is his responsibility to the millions of people that this protest represents? Why can’t he sit down and give them the forum they deserve, for not only doing a truly essential job for this nation but also and again…..the millions they are representing. He was quick to take a knee for the theater of the GF protest….that I am sure didn’t bother you. Yet you are against theatre it seems when it suits you.
Also…. Having the stones to walk away and expose what every half educated Canadian knows to be true the CBC is state media that pretends to act as journalists yet mimics CNN or MSNBC as the lap dogs for the Democrat/Liberal Party. Not sure where you stand on that.....well I can guess…. but funding to the tune of 600 million buys a lot of looking the other way for the pathetic Liberal party and the joke of leader that heads it. Tara stands for the truth, and weather you want to buy into your own truth……its your right….but look at the coverage of the Trucker Convoy by the CBC and really ask yourself is that what you are looking for….is that real journalism?
More importantly, the Conservative party, in the interest of 'Peace and Prosperity', should have offered to meet with truckers BEFORE the convoy started to take their grievances to parliament and help solve rather than politicize this protest and create division by allowing the noisy minority to have a tantrum and hold a city hostage. Keep in mind, this is not a popular protest - 80% of Canadians have no problem with doing the right thing by protecting their family and neighbours health as well as the privilege of free health care by getting a shot.
The government should have been honest with us from the beginning. There are risks involved in all pharmaceuticals- especially those that have not undergone long term study and analysis. Where there is risk,' doing the right thing' which so many fools parrot, actually means letting everyone decide for themselves whether or not they will participate. I am now seeing a truly alarming increase in all manner of malignancies in vaccinated individuals. People who were previously entirely healthy or who were in remission who suddenly present with stage four cancer at diagnosis and succumb within months - sometimes weeks or even days. Rare cancers, aggressive cancers, glioblastomas, pancreatic cancer, lymphomas are exploding. Young patients, old patients and every age in-between. And of course, I am not the only one. This has becomes a furiously whispered discussion amongst myself and my colleagues because of course, we are not able to sound the alarm for fear of being sanctioned by our respective colleges- which is perhaps the most grievous crime of all. So before you go and slam this movement, go thank these protesters. They may well save some of humanity from what appears to be one of the most alarming health catastrophes in my career.
Thank you, this is one aspect of the whole debate that I feel so strongly about. No one ever seems to question the medical consequences from the vaccines that have led to increased hospitalizations, and yet, from what I have read and heard (many personal stories), as well as witnessed in my own family and friends circle, it is happening and it is deeply disturbing. It is a primary reason why I have chosen not to be vaccinated. Why expose myself to that risk? And for what? Who are these people filling up hospital beds exactly?
Dr. Ryan Cole predicted this a few months ago. He saw a 20 fold increase in soft tissue cancers. The mechanism? I listened to Dr. Tenpenny and perhaps the ingredient used to allow the mRNA into the cell is lowering overall immunity.
Herb, there's this thing called VAERS, the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System, which is jointly operated by the CDC and FDA. It contains PLENTY of data on the tens of thousands of adverse events from these experimental jabs, which have NO safety profile. Granted, it's not a perfect system; it's voluntary and incredibly cumbersome. But it's all we have. It is telling, I think, that the Gov't of Canada did not put into place a mandatory, robust and informative public system for tracking adverse events to the jabs they were mandating. I wonder why?
I should qualify my prior comment to add the US Dept of Defence health database is now showing both cancers and miscarriages are up by 300% and neurological events are up 1,000% post-shot mandates. The US DoD keeps excellent records.
And any adverse reactions that have been reported on VAERS are likely to be a gross underestimation, as I suspect the majority of people who have suffered ill effects have been told by doctors that they are not related to the vaccine, so they go unreported. This is a tragedy of huge proportion and dire consequences that is being largely ignored and invalidated.
Why is this perspective “obviously biased”? Have you taken the time to investigate the issue? No, it seems you rely on broad and simplistic mainstream media reports of the hospital situation.
If the protests offend you so much, there’s a simple solution. End the vaccine mandates and passports, which are completely unjustified, in spite of all this ranting about hospitals filling up, blah, blah, blah. Hospitalizations and deaths are in fact going down throughout the world, and many countries are ending these unnecessary restrictions on people’s rights. You might consider the common sense solution of supporting their termination instead of railing unfairly against the people who are committed to preserving their freedom to choose or not choose vaccination.
what needs to happen is the temporary occupiers of the offices in Parliament need consider complying with the very clearly articulated demands of a LOT of Canadians. PERIOD.
The truckers are now being arrested, which was inevitable. I’ve contributed to their legal defence fund. They made their point and got a lot of people’s attention.
Brian Peckford, former Nfld premier and last surviving architect of the Charter, has engaged a team of six lawyers who have filed a lawsuit against the government.
Now we will have to wait and see whether the courts see the truckers are heroic defenders of our Charter rights, or as fringe extremists with unacceptable views, as Trudeau claims. I’m glad I’m on the side of the truckers.
and I agree with your outlook. it will be interesting to watch as the CBC and CTV networks, as paid lap dogs of the current regime, do their utmost to discredit and vilify these guys.
well I guess the resounding support of 3 likes tells all you need to know about the popularity or agreement the folks have with your views. BTW the health care system was 98% occupied before this crisis. we have a management problem, not a pandemic problem. me thinks it is you who is out of step with reality.
Thanks for making clear that debate is just a popularity contest for you, Frederick, one that I don't care about. My critique was direct to Tara H as an audience of one. I subscribed because I thought that her Substack was going to be much more nuanced and interesting than its proven to be. Instead, it's really just well-worn paint-by-numbers rhetoric ripped from the playbook of the neo-Conservatives. That she's only created an echo chamber for those who want their biases confirmed is only proven by the commentary here.
And I agree with you on the healthcare system. The pandemic has only highlighted all its failings. However that is the situational reality that means that there has to be measures to avoid the total collapse of the system. I hope that's a reality that we can *agree* on.
and i disagree with your analysis of the quality or substance of Tara's work. you may not agree but the labeling of her work as "well-worn paint-by-numbers rhetoric ripped from the playbook of the neo-Conservatives" is the kind of name calling used to denigrate the other's view. I view your comments on her views as the kind of personally insulting Liberal methodology (shoot the messenger) used to discredit someone rather than what they say. BTW you live in the other echo chamber. don't be so sure yours is any better or more correct.
Well, I for one do not agree. Firstly, the fears of overloading the health care system were mostly bunk for 2020, and when high capacity was experienced in 2021, little was done to increase capacity. In Wuhan, the gov't. was reported to have built three new hospitals in very short order. In Canada? We can afford billions of dollars for blue navy warships and attack aircraft to kill poplin other lands, but wee can't afford sufficient healthcare facilities for our own? How sick (pun intended) is that?
And what are those measures you propose? To insist that people who choose not to be vaccinated for their own good reasons must pay the price of losing their jobs and incomes, and remain prisoners in their homes? What a heartless and senseless approach if that is what you are indeed advocating!
indeed we are 2 years down the road and the only thing I could say is there so no more talk of health care cutbacks, laying off of nurses and cutting hospital budgets. perhaps that is progress. but it remains a fact there is no capacity for crisis. we aren't being well served by the finance people who are responsible for the administration of OUR MONEY. remember, there are NO government funded programs, only tax payer funded programs.
Thank you for your views. They have been heard and understood. I strongly disagree with them, but thank goodness we live in a country (at least for now) where we are free to voice our views and engage in public discourse.
Of course, this doesn’t apply to the woke witch hunter phenomenon where, if you’re unlucky enough, you say something that catches the attention of the woke mob and end up figuratively burned at the stake while the mob cheers in glee at the spectacle.
Yes I have. But I also have a family to take care of, volunteer work to do and a small business to run. I can't make it my full-time job to have conversations with people who want to overthrow the government. I've already wasted too much time on this GD forum - which is my own damn fault. If people so badly want to 'get back to work', I wish they would because that's what and 1000s of Ottawans who live here would just like to do. Honestly, the protesters could stay here forever for all any of us care if they weren't persecuting the citizens of this city with their disrespectful behaviour.
Just saw a video of a person trying to use his right to free speech and the protestors ganged up on him and did not let him be heard. They chanted "Freedom" over and over again drowning out the speaker who was deprived of his free speech.
yes putting your head in the lion's mouth proves nothing and is rather foolish. what's good for the goose...the whole reason for the protest is that truckers have been the lone voice drowned out by JT and Teresa Tam of the establishment. so now the shoe is on the other foot. how does it feel? not so nice eh? Democracy isn't the freedom of 2 wolves and chicken meeting lawfully to vote on the diner menu.
They’re making themselves heard no matter how hard the establishment, including the mainstream media, are trying to mute them. It’s an amazing thing to see. However…engaging that person who approached the protest may have been an opportunity to build understanding and depolarize a tiny little bit. “One conversation at a time.”
we are, I believe, at a danger point. both sides are committed and dug in. the government believes they are still in control and can simply enact more regulations to "fix" this. the truckers know they have the establishment by the balls. this is how wars start. inflexible meets inflexible. all it needs is a spark and the two dummies who seem willing to provide it are the Ottawa police chief and Doug Ford. both are imponent but determined to flex their muscle. meanwhile the coward of the cottage says nothing. me thinks that brand is damaged beyond repair.
Not cool. As fallible human beings, we can easily end up on the low road. All we can do is call it out when happens and try to do better. That’s something I like about Tara’s platform. So far, people have “generally” been quite civil and try to discuss issues in good faith.
Where in my comment did you see me say that I condoned any of the behaviour you described at BLM-related occupations? I don't. But those events were POLICED and policed heavily. Much of the violence erupted out of confrontation with police forces. And you are giving only American examples. This is a different country, different laws. Please stick to actual equivalents, if you want to have a real debate.
I am giving the Ottawa police (slim) benefit of the doubt that their methods of not enforcing with the same energy of BLM protests are, as they say, to avoid violence as opposed to a tacit agreement with the Occupiers. Also, it HAS to be said, that there was a huge BLM rally here in 2020, far bigger than this - totally peaceful, not one arrest, but I digress.
Regarding the 'If they are committing the harassment you describe', how can you with any seriousness go all Sherlock about 'something else going on here' (eg. conspiracy of Liberal elites') without doing any primary research. If you are on twitter, may I direct you to Cornerstone Women's Shelter and Shepherds of Good Hope twitter feeds to read their first hand accounts.
Church burnings, railroad blockades, pipeline harassment. All ok for the elite in Canada. Chop the heads off statutes. The majority of truckers are peaceful and there are people who are trying to subvert that with bad agendas sure but the main organization is peaceful and positive
The problem is that the right don't give the same benefit of the doubt to protesters you don't agree with. Look at Candice Bergen had to say about the pipeline protests in 2020 - she said they should be broken up with force immediately. Conservatives invented the double standard.
If we change your sentence to: "The majority of INDIGENOUS ACTIVISTS are peaceful and there are people who are trying to subvert that with bad agendas sure but the main organization is peaceful and positive.", a lot of people on your end of the political spectrum would say we're making excuses. That's not helpful.
Of course they aren't Marcie! That's my point. I agree with the grievance behind that church burning (genocide in residential schools was reprehensible) but I DON'T condone the behaviour. What I am trying to say is that we can affirm the right to free speech while AT THE SAME TIME not support/ condemn the unlawful behaviour that motivates - and if those on all sides of the political spectrum did that, we'd all be better off.
The “elite” normally means those with wealth, power and social status.
In the present political context, it is used in the pejorative to refer to self-righteous virtue signallers who look down upon and sneer at ordinary folks who have different experiences and hold different views. The elite try to devalue these folks by dismissing them as extremists, misogynists, racists, climate deniers, anti-vaxxers, etc., etc., thereby devaluing and slamming the door on even the possibility of public discourse.
This is Trudeau’s strategy for dealing with almost and dissent. He’s a classic elitist.
More than $10 million was raised — a lot of it American and anonymously. That says a particularly elite is behind the convoy with another agenda than freedom since they do not mind interfering with the freedoms of others.
Fantastic. Nailed it. I do not need to agree but I must respect the right. How do I learn? How do I move forward with my life? How do solve problems? If I don’t openly interact with people who have apposing ideas I can’t progress. If we allow our fundamental rights to dwindle it is only a mater of time before you are the one protesting 🤔
Thanks for your point. In public discourse, it's fundamental to listen and at least "try" to understand other points of view. Closing our minds to other views and becoming religiously attached to our own can be disastrous.
So well written. Boils down to elites weeping and wailing because they are losing their power. Trudeau is an idiot for not meeting with the truckers and I agree that he is prolonging this. Who does he think he is? The buck stops with him. Hope this continues to massively backfire on him.
Personally, I hope the Truckers' Convoy will finally bring about a discussion in Canada over neoliberalism, which has been the elephant in the room of Canadian politics and culture for decades now with little to no discussion or debate. Our governments' cancelling of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms has, it seems, awoken many of us to fact of the elephant's outsize presence.
You are correct about Neoliberalism which is the purpose of this demonstration — that is to continue it in the face of mounting evidence that it is a destructive harmful paradigm but you are NOT correct about the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The "vaccines" cannot, repeat cannot, end the pandemic. They are not sufficiently sterilizing; it is mathematically impossible. The WHO, the CDC, Dr Fauci and even Pfizer now recognize this. The only path to ending the pandemic is the way pandemics have always ended, through herd immunity. Now that the virus has evolved to a highly contagious but far less dangerous strain, it appears that everyone will, sooner or later, become infected, acquire natural, long lasting immunity, and the pandemic will end. The "precautions" of which you speak will only prolong the pandemic, not shorten it.
Thanks Tara, for changing the way a story gets told. It is a relief to read (your) articles that consider all sides with such balance and clarity. Liked and shared!
Great new comment from Dr. Robert W. Malone: "It turns out Canadian truckers listening to Joe Rogan know more than many “experts.” Had the truckers been in charge the last two years, the world would probably be healthier, and freer." Just gotta love that man.
Thanks for the article, Tara. I’ve read through the comments and am frankly astonished how many of these readers are framing the truckers’ and Canadian citizens’ protest against vaccine mandates and passports. That’s the issue behind this movement, let’s not forget it, even though nowhere in your article do you mention it, instead choosing to frame it as a “class” issue.
I have been following the protest very closely, and from what I observe, it has been predominantly peaceful and respectful. The people who cannot accept what is happening or have a shred of interest or consideration in addressing the legitimate concerns of the protesters are choosing to focus only on a few isolated incidents that in no way represent the intent of the protest. Vaccine mandates and passports have been dropped now in many countries. It needs to happen in Canada too, and soon!
Tara doesn't believe a word she/he/they's saying. She/he/they know what's coming and is running for cover. The credentialed Left have created a Reaction that is going to make Franco look like Barney the Dinosaur. All that practice hiding the past few years will be put to good use.
Great piece. EXCEPT for the inference Jan 6 was a “move(s) to overthrow the government.” Jan 6 had unforgivable riotous behavior from SOME. But an attempt to overthrow the government? Poppycock. An ACTUAL attempt to unseat the US government—the world’s most powerful nation—would require lots of guns and a very well-organized, highly-motivated group of ANTI-Patriots, anathema to what we actually witnessed. I grow increasingly tired of those that paint a small group of “burn it all down” anarchists as the core, driving force behind scores of peaceful protestors with legitimate concerns about a highly suspect, Cheat-by-Mail election.
Agreed.
Tell all that to the 6 folks that died January 6. Or the 4 police officer suicides that followed in the ensuing few months.
Like the one beaten to death by police in the tunnel? Like the Cap Police guy who was claimed to have died after being hit by a fire hydrant (didn’t happen) but was texting his brother that he was fine that evening. Had a stroke the next day. No. The pols & media have been lying to you. Just like they did over WMD in Iraq, like “Russian collusion”. How many times are you going to fall for it?
Only one died as a result of the attempted entry of the Capitol and that was an innocent unarmed female protestor murdered by a Democrat capital police officer with a history of bad behavior.
However, the previous leftist riots left 30 dead and thousands of police officers injured.
Oh you're insane. probably should have led with that. instead of 3 additional posts.
Yeah, we all did. You're the only one dumb enough to think she lived and the world is lying to you. You're not that special.
Brilliant letter .. author unknown
This Convoy isn’t just for trucker mandates.
It’s for the 30 million people the Trudeau government approved to be allowed to spy on their cell phones.
It is for family members who are prohibited from visiting family in nursing homes.
It’s because of the censorship on all social media platforms.
It’s for all the people who are afraid to speak out for fear of being called a conspiracy theorist.
It’s for people who didn’t want to give up their freedom of choice!
It’s for people who don’t want to go into debt for the next 100 years.
It’s for people who just want answers to the many unanswered questions.
It is for people who are afraid to hug their family and visit friends.
It’s for people who want their lives back.
For hairdressers to cut hair.
For restaurants to serve food.
For the bars to play music.
For the students to learn.
For children to be free.
For people who want to work but are forced not to.
This is for the people.
This is for trying to silence honest and hardworking citizens.
Never in my life have I seen the healthy punished and the sick not treated.
This is for the 300,000 canceled surgeries.
This is for the people who died waiting for their surgery.
This is for the people who died alone in the hospital without being able to hold the hands of their loved ones.
This is for the exhausted nurses.
This is for the doctors who are not listened to.
This is for all the frontline workers…delivery trucks, grocery store employees, PSWS constantly working overtime, etc.
THIS IS FOR ALL OF US
Right on - thank you for posting this! The pigeonholing and negative labelling of who is behind this movement is so incredibly narrow-minded. There is a wide swath of Canadian citizenry whose voices, views, concerns, needs, predicaments, etc. are neither recognized nor respected by those in power. Thus the protest, which will only grow larger unless a change in tone and action occurs on the part of the federal and provincial governments. With the latter, this is starting to happen, fortunately. The former seems be stuck on name-calling, bullying, and catering to the close-minded.
I want to add to my comment above that this protest is fundamentally about the freedom of bodily choice around vaccination. It’s a human rights issue that cuts across the categories of class, race, religion, political affiliation, etc., and, as such, it cannot be compartmentalized. Somehow this seems to get lost in all the “noise” and positioning around this debate. Yet it is at the root of it and central to how we proceed as a society and species around the issue of bodily autonomy.
I say the protest should be focused on breaking the assumption that government knows best, that bureaucrats are reasonable and politicians are going to help. our governments have actually pretended to "give us" the Charter wherein they set out rules convenient to their ongoing authority. lacking a clear interpretation this continues. people do not realize that a government that "gives" you rights will take them when the time comes, as is demonstrated today with this pandering child leader of ours. As Pierre P said, THEY work for US, not the other way around. how Liberals have managed to occupy the moral high road is a huge problem. they message us the non sense and eventually folks believe it. like the monstrous falsehood of "government funded programs" ... no such thing! only TAXPAYER funded programs. This protest has to be about taking back authority, clipping their wings and restoring process, oversight and accountability. let me be TOTALY unrealistic and suggest punishment for wrongdoing, incompetence and malfeasance, instead of automatic performance bonuses.
The rights of the vulnerable to be safe.
You cannot secure the rights of one at the expense of the rights of another. If you want to feel "safe", stay at home; it's your choice.
I think you missed my point. I guess that's on me.
Sorry Junior Baker, but I’m not sure which point you’re referring to.
Hear, hear!
Yes, we all yearn for pre-pandemic times. But do you really want untrammelled visiting to seniors' care homes...when they absolutely have been the most vulnerable demographic and paid the worst price before we figured some of this out? If you're over 70 your vulnerability is about 7-8x that of, say, an 18 yr-old. Fact.
I am 78. My generation had opportunities that the young of today lack. Try buying 10 acres cheap and living in a tipi today. I love life. I would like another decade but if I do not get it you will not hear me whine. I do NOT want to be protected at the expense of the young.
My youngest son is immune-compromised. He should be protected. Would you not agree? I am almost your age and agree with your other comments about the economy but we voted for political parties that made things more expensive.
Not all problems have solutions. Of course your son deserves as much protection as possible, but sadly, a society cannot protect everyone from everything. There are diffcult conversations to be had about tradeoffs and risk/benefit analysis. We can only have those conversations if we have all the data, instead of a narrative.
Agreed, but he should not be protected by increasing the risks to others; the jabs have proven to be the most dangerous injections ever, by far. Masks won't protect him; there is no scientific evidence they are effective against a flu-like virus. Mass inoculations will not protect him, either; the fully "vaccinated" are now becoming infected at a greater rate than the "unvaccinated".
"the jabs have proven to be the most dangerous injections ever, by far" This is completely false. That so many believe it anyway is an enormous tragedy.
Any evidence of your ridiculous statement? Seen the data in VAERS lately? How about the European adverse event data? England's 'yellow card' system? The UD DoD data? The enormous tragedy is that so many are unaware of the deaths and injuries these jabs have caused, while those like yourself spread lies and deceit.
You’re in complete denial. All the data shows you’re more at risk of dying as a result of the experimental bioweapon than you are of dying of SARS CoV2. This has become an undeniable fact. Check out Steve Kirsh’s substack. Data is all there.
What’s tragic is ppl like you who refuse to look at it.
What "expense to the young"? I was talking specifically about visits to long term care homes. Or at least I THOUGHT I was. FWIW, I think the pandemic has been 2-3x more difficult for the young ones (esp young parents) than for us retired folks. No doubt about it. Far more complexity to working from home, child care, foregone social life (me: "what social life"?) But "freedom to visit seniors' homes"? Whose freedom?
How about the freedom of the residents to see their friends, families and loved ones? Shouldn't they have that freedom? Are they in jail or a long term care home? Apparently, you are unaware there are very effective prophylactics to protect the vulnerable: high dose Vit D and C; Zinc; Ivermectin, etc. The failure to protect the vulnerable elderly by the use of cheap, safe and effective prophylactics has been a great tragedy, a mass murder event really.
Sorry, I meant that in general.
At almost 78 years of age and a person who has donated 798 whole blood and plasma donor as tion to fellow Canadians and who has never had a single flue shot or covid shot - I lived in my Mazda 5 for 3 weeks in Ottawa ( 95 % of the time without any heat to concerned fuel) and I survived. This whole "Dangerous pandemic" was staged and in reality was nothing more that a bad flue, PERIOD!
Thank you Tara. It’s an important concept to understand but I’m afraid it gets lost on the people whose experience of the pandemic has been either positive or a minor inconvenience of losing out on spring break and pivoting from Europe to Muskoka. My heart breaks for my country right now and I’m in utter shock witnessing the complete lack of intelligence displayed by our ruling class and the media. Thank you for rising above and sharing this essential viewpoint.
I agree totally. The vitriol spouting from Trudeau, Freeland (if only it were!), and many others propping up the horribly biased messaging of this government and the media is utterly appalling.
The picture of the dude holding a sign with an swastika on it is not about Trudeau, Freeland or other political leaders. It is offensive to every veteran of WWII.
How do you know it wasn't about Trudeau? Did you ask him? After all, Trudeau has been acting like a fascist, so the sign may have been in reference to him.
Stupid point. Trudeau has been following the advice of epidemiologists. As he should.
And who, exactly, are these expert epidemiologists of whom you speak? Many of the world's most prominent epidemiologists, from universities such as Harvard, Yale, Oxford, etc. have been diametrically opposed to the government's unscientific course of action. Everything that was done was the opposite of what should have been done.
Not many. Just a few. Others have favoured the strategies.
And the mandates and vaccines have worked very well. Fewer people are dying or being hospitalized and the vaccines are preventing hospitalizations. When hospitalized, people are not as likely as before to go on ventilators. It is still not clear as to why because the OMICRON is supposed to be milder but in my city, the death rate due to Omicron in the last two months has been half of what it was during the last two years. A huge increase in rate in other words.
Furthermore, there are serology studies underway showing that some people fail to develop antibodies even when fully vaccinated which may make them more susceptible to severe illness. The breakthroughs may be due to the vaccines not triggering the production of antibodies in some people. We do not know.
I check the data and follow the science.
I also have done my own analysis comparing countries and regions with deaths due to pneumonia and Influenza combined in the worst season to COVID cases and deaths. Covid has been more deadly with a probability of over 99% than the worst influenza/pneumonia years.
And there was a clear difference between those regions and/or countries and the degree to which they instituted public health measures. Fewer deaths cases and earlier opening of public venues when measures were more strict.
Further, I wish to add that, given the utter failure of everything that has been done so far, from the jabs to the mandates, to the masking, to the lockdowns, to the failure to treat the sick, those epidemiologists of which you speak should have been fired and replaced long, long ago.
One dude does not represent the protest movement.
You call me retarded yet you cannot even muster an intelligent comment. Look in the mirror friend.
Now, now. Please be polite, and kind.
Sorry everyone, my client is an imbecile.
I am doing just that. Doing well. How about you?
So very sorry to hear of your plight. Tens of thousands, if not millions, have been negatively impacted by these unconstitutional, ineffective, counter-productive health mandates.
Millions have died from the illness. The USA has passed 900,000 deaths. Many others have and will have long-haul COVID.
Herb, it is impossible to say with any degree of accuracy exactly how many died FROM the illness as opposed to WITH the illness. The Ont. Min. of Health says it's 50% of the reported deaths, but who really knows?
You are quite wrong. Since the obvious seems to need explaining here goes.
You can do it two ways.
You look at the average number of deaths from all causes every year prior to COVID and then the average number of deaths during COVID. You apply a statistical analysis using the null hypothesis that there is no difference. If there is a statistical difference you reject that null hypothesis and accept the alternate which is that there IS a difference. If the significance is greater than 95% than it is probable that COVID is responsible unless you have another hypothesis that explains the difference.
The other way is to compare the total number of deaths in the worst influenza + pneumonia seasons and then compare deaths during the COVID seasons with their varying public health protocols. I chose to do this one and compared countries, provinces, and states — namely Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Canada, Ontario, Texas, Thailand, Vietnam, South Korea, China, Japan, India, NZ and Australia. When I applied the statistical analysis I was surprised that the probability of deaths being due to COVID reached above 99%. I did not expect that.
Clearly the data analysis showed that SOMETHING was killing large numbers of people starting in early 2020 that was NOT present prior to that year going back decades when populations were lower. If you have an alternate explanation or hypothesis then perform the analysis and demonstrate it.
The probability that the huge number of additional deaths in the countries I researched above was due to some anomaly other than COVID is not clear to me.
Is it clear to you what caused those massively increased number of deaths?
Herb, it is well known that the number of deaths ascribed to Covid by the various government authorities is ludicrously overstated. The Ontario Ministry of Health, for example, has admitted their deaths-due-to-Covid are half of the reported numbers, which included many who were admitted to hospital for other causes but who happened to test positive for Covid. The story is even worse in the U.S., where hospitals were incentivized for recording as many deaths as possible as being due to covid. Stories of gunshot deaths, cancer deaths and traffic deaths counted as Covid deaths are legion.
As to the statistics on excess deaths, there are many excellent statistical analyses available online from experienced, credentialed statisticians. I urge you to look for them and read them. There are some excellent ones out there on the Canadian stats. As I recall, they show that the deaths in 2020 and 2021 are pretty much in accordance with the trend line of deaths as a % of population from prior years, with some exceptions.
While there are above-trend-line deaths, no doubt some of them are attributable to Covid-19. But it is also apparent that many of the excess deaths are due to the shots themselves. Many others are no doubt due to those who received less than normal health care for other ailments due to the fear-based trauma spread by governments and health authorities. Still others may be attributable to the extreme financial and social disruptions caused by the foolish and unnecessary universal lockdowns.
When you say, "When I applied the statistical analysis I was surprised that the probability of deaths being due to COVID reached above 99%", this statement makes no sense to me. Without detailed knowledge of what these people actually died from, you have no way of knowing whether they died from Covid, from the jabs, or from other causes due to the mess created in health care and in long term care and from societal disruptions at large.
In the U.S., the VAERS system now shows over 10,000 deaths from the jabs in the US alone. With a conservative under-reporting factor of 30, that means there were at least 300,000 deaths attributed to the jabs. The life insurance industry in the U.S. in shock. It is now looking at payouts for a 40% increase in deaths due to reasons other than Covid in persons of working age. A 10% increase would be a 1 in 200 year event, so this is a major financial event for them. Deaths from strokes, heart attacks and resurgent cancers are all off the charts. Unfortunately, we won't know the true number of excess deaths due to the jabs for some time, but I expect the final toll will be shocking. These findings are also confirmed by the U.S. military's statistics on post-inoculation increases in serious illnesses: 300% or 400% increases in heart ailments, cancers and neurological illness and other known adverse effects from the shots.
We are at a point where many independent medical researchers and epidemiologists think the deaths from the jabs now exceed the deaths from the virus. This should come as no surprise, since it is confirmed by Pfizer's own long-term statistics on all cause mortality from their safety trials, where there were more deaths in the jabbed cohort than in the control group.
As to long-haul Covid, it is now known that certain of the long-term adverse effects from the jabs are indistinguishable (the researchers' word, not mine) from those of the virus. This makes perfect sense, of course, since the virus and the shots share the same toxic protein that causes the illness.
Calm down Jason. This type of energy is exactly what we do *not* need in the trucker protest. That's according to what representatives have themselves stated too btw.
If nobody will hang your art perhaps .... never mind.
When my father contracted TB he was confined to a sanitarium for almost three years and died there. You whinge about minor shit my friend. You have no sense of proportion which is usually a requirement for a good artist.
In my city, I have gone to art shows in local galleries where people made purchases. So maybe your art reflects your lack of intellectual ability and sucks too. Quit feeling sorry for yourself and take a close hard look at yourself.
Calling kiddie porn "art" is a stretch.
Love everything you have done since Lean Out began. Please keep it up. Thanks Tara. I'm listening.
Bravo Tara. Well Presented.
Great piece.
You know what Tara, come down to the Ottawa occupation and experience it for yourself before trying to give us a rudimentary lesson in free speech. We all know this. We affirm their right to free speech and protest. We do protests of all kinds ALL THE TIME in Ottawa and we get on with it. I detest what March for Life stands for, yet up to 100,000 folks come here peacefully and respectfully and do their thing and we all just get on with it. This Ottawa Occupation is different.
Free speech is not without limits, as you (should) know. Nor is the right to protest: it comes up against lawful behaviour and the rights of other citizens. As women in downtown homeless shelters are checking themselves into hospital to get away from the noise, harassment and menace, who is affirming their rights? They are far more vulnerable than the Occupiers. Is this the elite that you speak of? What about the Shepherds of Good Hope volunteer that got assaulted? Also an elite? You have so easily fallen into the trap of the narrative that far-right has set out. It doesn't matter that the rights of Ottawa citizens have been eroded, because they are elites. Do I have to go Meryl Streep on you and ask 'Why are your freedoms more important than mine?' The Charter also upholds the equality of rights, in case you forgot that part. When it was a protest, the convoy's rights were affirmed plenty. Now that it's an occupation that breaks many, many laws and infringes on the rights of others, the conversation must change.
In the meantime, we know that the events in Ottawa are foreign funded. The self-proclaimed QAnon Queen burned a Canadian flag on the Hill yesterday. That's her free speech, fine. But she also has been directing her followers to kill heath care workers administering vaccines. May I introduce you to a limit on free speech.
The 'organizers' of the occupiers are insurrectionists. Full stop. Sure, people who are disenfranchised in one way or the other are caught up in this. They are being duped, they are being used. (https://www.trucknews.com/blogs/the-so-called-freedom-convoy-was-never-about-truckers-or-border-mandates/) But that STILL doesn't excuse the unlawful behaviour attached to their behaviour.
PLENTY of people are engaging Joe Rogan on the essentials. His rights are intact. Don't worry there. And besides, he's savvy and he knows the controversy is great for him. Joe Rogan worked in large production TV for years. His podcast production could absolutely be higher-production value, but it's all part of the theatre - theatre you are completely taken in by, clearly.
Finally, what you are conveniently omitting in your righteous bloviating is what this *fight* is over. People are still dying in high numbers from Covid. Hospitals are at the brink. Our health care workers are at the edge and are being actively targeted. (see Q-Queen, above) Does anyone even remember what the mandates are for? It's to prevent the collapse of our health care system. Your analysis is so simplistic: it's a thought discussion of free speech, without limits, in a vacuum.
I subscribed because I thought you might have something interesting to say, but no, it's just warmed over populist drivel. Maybe you're gone from CBC because you can't journalism yourself out of a paper bag.
I live in Ottawa, and I spent some time talking to demonstrators, and to some people who live in the area. They seemed pleased to speak. I got the impression that one of their main wishes was for people to listen to them.
I saw no signs of the behavior of which you complain. One example: Many of the demonstrators self-police, and say that they force people with Nazi symbols or Confederate flags to remove them. They aren't always completely successful, but the vast majority have no patience for that kind of thing. Another thing: The vast majority do not blow their horns after six pm, and try to discourage the few who do. In fact, at 3 pm on a Wednesday, there was more noise coming from construction sites than from the demonstrators, at least where I was (Metcalfe and Laurier).
And yes, I saw plenty of women and people of color. The accusations of misogyny and racism are not very convincing.
In the heat of the night showed a lovely example of uncle Tom.
I have seen pix of protestors holding signs with swastikas and trucks with confederate flags and swastika flags.
I think you will see those kinds of people at every major public demonstration, of whatever kind. It has nothing to do with the protest itself, only with the individuals themselves.
Nope, never seen a swastika or a Confederate flag at any Gay Pride events, Greenpeace protests, or Women's rights marches...
Well, I have. Not among the protestors usually, but they do come out. They just can't help themselves.
Oh - you mean the ones who are protesting AGAINST gay rights, women's rights, and the environment... yes you are right there...
I have been to many protests and demonstrations since 1976 and have not seen swastikas at them until this one.
George, good for you for engaging, but you can't mistake your own personal experience for those who may be more vulnerable than you. Please read the statement from Cornerstone Women's Shelter about their experience.
Your comments are your right as well..... and sadly, in a protest that holds these kinds of numbers you will always get "fringe" incidents that you can point to and say what about these people's rights.... yet the purpose of this protest is to cause unrest. Not sure what your stance was on cities burning in 2020 to "peacefully" protest the death of George Floyd.... I would much rather have a truly peaceful protest that we are witnessing in Ottawa right now.
I get that you are pissed I would be too if I lived near by it would be maddening but where is the Prime Minister, where is his responsibility to the millions of people that this protest represents? Why can’t he sit down and give them the forum they deserve, for not only doing a truly essential job for this nation but also and again…..the millions they are representing. He was quick to take a knee for the theater of the GF protest….that I am sure didn’t bother you. Yet you are against theatre it seems when it suits you.
Also…. Having the stones to walk away and expose what every half educated Canadian knows to be true the CBC is state media that pretends to act as journalists yet mimics CNN or MSNBC as the lap dogs for the Democrat/Liberal Party. Not sure where you stand on that.....well I can guess…. but funding to the tune of 600 million buys a lot of looking the other way for the pathetic Liberal party and the joke of leader that heads it. Tara stands for the truth, and weather you want to buy into your own truth……its your right….but look at the coverage of the Trucker Convoy by the CBC and really ask yourself is that what you are looking for….is that real journalism?
More importantly, the Conservative party, in the interest of 'Peace and Prosperity', should have offered to meet with truckers BEFORE the convoy started to take their grievances to parliament and help solve rather than politicize this protest and create division by allowing the noisy minority to have a tantrum and hold a city hostage. Keep in mind, this is not a popular protest - 80% of Canadians have no problem with doing the right thing by protecting their family and neighbours health as well as the privilege of free health care by getting a shot.
The government should have been honest with us from the beginning. There are risks involved in all pharmaceuticals- especially those that have not undergone long term study and analysis. Where there is risk,' doing the right thing' which so many fools parrot, actually means letting everyone decide for themselves whether or not they will participate. I am now seeing a truly alarming increase in all manner of malignancies in vaccinated individuals. People who were previously entirely healthy or who were in remission who suddenly present with stage four cancer at diagnosis and succumb within months - sometimes weeks or even days. Rare cancers, aggressive cancers, glioblastomas, pancreatic cancer, lymphomas are exploding. Young patients, old patients and every age in-between. And of course, I am not the only one. This has becomes a furiously whispered discussion amongst myself and my colleagues because of course, we are not able to sound the alarm for fear of being sanctioned by our respective colleges- which is perhaps the most grievous crime of all. So before you go and slam this movement, go thank these protesters. They may well save some of humanity from what appears to be one of the most alarming health catastrophes in my career.
Thank you, this is one aspect of the whole debate that I feel so strongly about. No one ever seems to question the medical consequences from the vaccines that have led to increased hospitalizations, and yet, from what I have read and heard (many personal stories), as well as witnessed in my own family and friends circle, it is happening and it is deeply disturbing. It is a primary reason why I have chosen not to be vaccinated. Why expose myself to that risk? And for what? Who are these people filling up hospital beds exactly?
Dr. Ryan Cole predicted this a few months ago. He saw a 20 fold increase in soft tissue cancers. The mechanism? I listened to Dr. Tenpenny and perhaps the ingredient used to allow the mRNA into the cell is lowering overall immunity.
Until I see the data, your obviously biased perspective is irrelevant. Many health care workers are saying quite different things.
Herb, please explain. How is my experience and that of my colleagues, biased? Are we not allowed to make observations and draw conclusions from what we see? We are hardly alone. https://twitter.com/ANMDUSA/status/1488939467402526732 as just an example of physicians feeling obliged to alert. In addition, recently the DOD released their statistics- which are meticulously generated and which record cancers incidence as being 300% higher than prior to vaccine introduction. The tumorigenesis is thought to stem from the suppression of the innate immune system caused by these vaccines. More information is widely available on that now, but here is one of the most comprehensive https://www.researchgate.net/publication/357994624_Innate_Immune_Suppression_by_SARS-CoV-2_mRNA_Vaccinations_The_role_of_G-quadruplexes_exosomes_and_microRNAs
Thanks for posting these links, Camilla!
Herb, there's this thing called VAERS, the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System, which is jointly operated by the CDC and FDA. It contains PLENTY of data on the tens of thousands of adverse events from these experimental jabs, which have NO safety profile. Granted, it's not a perfect system; it's voluntary and incredibly cumbersome. But it's all we have. It is telling, I think, that the Gov't of Canada did not put into place a mandatory, robust and informative public system for tracking adverse events to the jabs they were mandating. I wonder why?
I should qualify my prior comment to add the US Dept of Defence health database is now showing both cancers and miscarriages are up by 300% and neurological events are up 1,000% post-shot mandates. The US DoD keeps excellent records.
And any adverse reactions that have been reported on VAERS are likely to be a gross underestimation, as I suspect the majority of people who have suffered ill effects have been told by doctors that they are not related to the vaccine, so they go unreported. This is a tragedy of huge proportion and dire consequences that is being largely ignored and invalidated.
Why is this perspective “obviously biased”? Have you taken the time to investigate the issue? No, it seems you rely on broad and simplistic mainstream media reports of the hospital situation.
If the protests offend you so much, there’s a simple solution. End the vaccine mandates and passports, which are completely unjustified, in spite of all this ranting about hospitals filling up, blah, blah, blah. Hospitalizations and deaths are in fact going down throughout the world, and many countries are ending these unnecessary restrictions on people’s rights. You might consider the common sense solution of supporting their termination instead of railing unfairly against the people who are committed to preserving their freedom to choose or not choose vaccination.
what needs to happen is the temporary occupiers of the offices in Parliament need consider complying with the very clearly articulated demands of a LOT of Canadians. PERIOD.
The truckers are now being arrested, which was inevitable. I’ve contributed to their legal defence fund. They made their point and got a lot of people’s attention.
Brian Peckford, former Nfld premier and last surviving architect of the Charter, has engaged a team of six lawyers who have filed a lawsuit against the government.
Now we will have to wait and see whether the courts see the truckers are heroic defenders of our Charter rights, or as fringe extremists with unacceptable views, as Trudeau claims. I’m glad I’m on the side of the truckers.
I have a buddy who is willing to pay Don Cherry to bring a gas can to the truckers.
Haha! That’s awesome - and a worthy exercise of our Charter freedoms.
and I agree with your outlook. it will be interesting to watch as the CBC and CTV networks, as paid lap dogs of the current regime, do their utmost to discredit and vilify these guys.
Just a simple choice, end mandates or listen to noise. Haha
The smell of blood is in the water now. Pierre Poilievre just declared his intention to run for PM. Trudeau’s days are numbered.
No doubt about that!
https://youtu.be/5ZaVfEHxs30
well I guess the resounding support of 3 likes tells all you need to know about the popularity or agreement the folks have with your views. BTW the health care system was 98% occupied before this crisis. we have a management problem, not a pandemic problem. me thinks it is you who is out of step with reality.
Thanks for making clear that debate is just a popularity contest for you, Frederick, one that I don't care about. My critique was direct to Tara H as an audience of one. I subscribed because I thought that her Substack was going to be much more nuanced and interesting than its proven to be. Instead, it's really just well-worn paint-by-numbers rhetoric ripped from the playbook of the neo-Conservatives. That she's only created an echo chamber for those who want their biases confirmed is only proven by the commentary here.
And I agree with you on the healthcare system. The pandemic has only highlighted all its failings. However that is the situational reality that means that there has to be measures to avoid the total collapse of the system. I hope that's a reality that we can *agree* on.
and i disagree with your analysis of the quality or substance of Tara's work. you may not agree but the labeling of her work as "well-worn paint-by-numbers rhetoric ripped from the playbook of the neo-Conservatives" is the kind of name calling used to denigrate the other's view. I view your comments on her views as the kind of personally insulting Liberal methodology (shoot the messenger) used to discredit someone rather than what they say. BTW you live in the other echo chamber. don't be so sure yours is any better or more correct.
Well, I for one do not agree. Firstly, the fears of overloading the health care system were mostly bunk for 2020, and when high capacity was experienced in 2021, little was done to increase capacity. In Wuhan, the gov't. was reported to have built three new hospitals in very short order. In Canada? We can afford billions of dollars for blue navy warships and attack aircraft to kill poplin other lands, but wee can't afford sufficient healthcare facilities for our own? How sick (pun intended) is that?
And what are those measures you propose? To insist that people who choose not to be vaccinated for their own good reasons must pay the price of losing their jobs and incomes, and remain prisoners in their homes? What a heartless and senseless approach if that is what you are indeed advocating!
And little attempt was made to mobilize higher capacity, at least in Alberta, they only talked about it.
indeed we are 2 years down the road and the only thing I could say is there so no more talk of health care cutbacks, laying off of nurses and cutting hospital budgets. perhaps that is progress. but it remains a fact there is no capacity for crisis. we aren't being well served by the finance people who are responsible for the administration of OUR MONEY. remember, there are NO government funded programs, only tax payer funded programs.
Thank you for your views. They have been heard and understood. I strongly disagree with them, but thank goodness we live in a country (at least for now) where we are free to voice our views and engage in public discourse.
Of course, this doesn’t apply to the woke witch hunter phenomenon where, if you’re unlucky enough, you say something that catches the attention of the woke mob and end up figuratively burned at the stake while the mob cheers in glee at the spectacle.
Have you been to the trucker protest yourself?
Yes I have. But I also have a family to take care of, volunteer work to do and a small business to run. I can't make it my full-time job to have conversations with people who want to overthrow the government. I've already wasted too much time on this GD forum - which is my own damn fault. If people so badly want to 'get back to work', I wish they would because that's what and 1000s of Ottawans who live here would just like to do. Honestly, the protesters could stay here forever for all any of us care if they weren't persecuting the citizens of this city with their disrespectful behaviour.
Real Journalists don't leave their apartment.
And even then, they absolutely never try to contact the protest organizers
Journalists at work.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FKtCstpXEAQnewY?format=jpg&name=small
Just saw a video of a person trying to use his right to free speech and the protestors ganged up on him and did not let him be heard. They chanted "Freedom" over and over again drowning out the speaker who was deprived of his free speech.
yes putting your head in the lion's mouth proves nothing and is rather foolish. what's good for the goose...the whole reason for the protest is that truckers have been the lone voice drowned out by JT and Teresa Tam of the establishment. so now the shoe is on the other foot. how does it feel? not so nice eh? Democracy isn't the freedom of 2 wolves and chicken meeting lawfully to vote on the diner menu.
They’re making themselves heard no matter how hard the establishment, including the mainstream media, are trying to mute them. It’s an amazing thing to see. However…engaging that person who approached the protest may have been an opportunity to build understanding and depolarize a tiny little bit. “One conversation at a time.”
we are, I believe, at a danger point. both sides are committed and dug in. the government believes they are still in control and can simply enact more regulations to "fix" this. the truckers know they have the establishment by the balls. this is how wars start. inflexible meets inflexible. all it needs is a spark and the two dummies who seem willing to provide it are the Ottawa police chief and Doug Ford. both are imponent but determined to flex their muscle. meanwhile the coward of the cottage says nothing. me thinks that brand is damaged beyond repair.
Not cool. As fallible human beings, we can easily end up on the low road. All we can do is call it out when happens and try to do better. That’s something I like about Tara’s platform. So far, people have “generally” been quite civil and try to discuss issues in good faith.
What is uncivil about this?
Uncivil about what? What did I say was uncivil? I’m not following.
Where in my comment did you see me say that I condoned any of the behaviour you described at BLM-related occupations? I don't. But those events were POLICED and policed heavily. Much of the violence erupted out of confrontation with police forces. And you are giving only American examples. This is a different country, different laws. Please stick to actual equivalents, if you want to have a real debate.
I am giving the Ottawa police (slim) benefit of the doubt that their methods of not enforcing with the same energy of BLM protests are, as they say, to avoid violence as opposed to a tacit agreement with the Occupiers. Also, it HAS to be said, that there was a huge BLM rally here in 2020, far bigger than this - totally peaceful, not one arrest, but I digress.
Regarding the 'If they are committing the harassment you describe', how can you with any seriousness go all Sherlock about 'something else going on here' (eg. conspiracy of Liberal elites') without doing any primary research. If you are on twitter, may I direct you to Cornerstone Women's Shelter and Shepherds of Good Hope twitter feeds to read their first hand accounts.
Church burnings, railroad blockades, pipeline harassment. All ok for the elite in Canada. Chop the heads off statutes. The majority of truckers are peaceful and there are people who are trying to subvert that with bad agendas sure but the main organization is peaceful and positive
The problem is that the right don't give the same benefit of the doubt to protesters you don't agree with. Look at Candice Bergen had to say about the pipeline protests in 2020 - she said they should be broken up with force immediately. Conservatives invented the double standard.
If we change your sentence to: "The majority of INDIGENOUS ACTIVISTS are peaceful and there are people who are trying to subvert that with bad agendas sure but the main organization is peaceful and positive.", a lot of people on your end of the political spectrum would say we're making excuses. That's not helpful.
Yes, the double standard does need to stop. A lot of protests on either side are magnets for unrelated anarchists and radicals
Church burnings we’re not peaceful
Of course they aren't Marcie! That's my point. I agree with the grievance behind that church burning (genocide in residential schools was reprehensible) but I DON'T condone the behaviour. What I am trying to say is that we can affirm the right to free speech while AT THE SAME TIME not support/ condemn the unlawful behaviour that motivates - and if those on all sides of the political spectrum did that, we'd all be better off.
The “elite” normally means those with wealth, power and social status.
In the present political context, it is used in the pejorative to refer to self-righteous virtue signallers who look down upon and sneer at ordinary folks who have different experiences and hold different views. The elite try to devalue these folks by dismissing them as extremists, misogynists, racists, climate deniers, anti-vaxxers, etc., etc., thereby devaluing and slamming the door on even the possibility of public discourse.
This is Trudeau’s strategy for dealing with almost and dissent. He’s a classic elitist.
More than $10 million was raised — a lot of it American and anonymously. That says a particularly elite is behind the convoy with another agenda than freedom since they do not mind interfering with the freedoms of others.
Don't count on it. They don't care what you want.
Fantastic. Nailed it. I do not need to agree but I must respect the right. How do I learn? How do I move forward with my life? How do solve problems? If I don’t openly interact with people who have apposing ideas I can’t progress. If we allow our fundamental rights to dwindle it is only a mater of time before you are the one protesting 🤔
With diversity the best ideas can rise to the top and we can figure out the solution to important problems without being manipulated by one narrative.
Thanks for your point. In public discourse, it's fundamental to listen and at least "try" to understand other points of view. Closing our minds to other views and becoming religiously attached to our own can be disastrous.
Bingo!
So well written. Boils down to elites weeping and wailing because they are losing their power. Trudeau is an idiot for not meeting with the truckers and I agree that he is prolonging this. Who does he think he is? The buck stops with him. Hope this continues to massively backfire on him.
Personally, I hope the Truckers' Convoy will finally bring about a discussion in Canada over neoliberalism, which has been the elephant in the room of Canadian politics and culture for decades now with little to no discussion or debate. Our governments' cancelling of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms has, it seems, awoken many of us to fact of the elephant's outsize presence.
You are correct about Neoliberalism which is the purpose of this demonstration — that is to continue it in the face of mounting evidence that it is a destructive harmful paradigm but you are NOT correct about the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
I don't think you have a very sound understanding of the meaning of the term, 'neoliberalism'.
Ending the pandemic restrictions will not end the pandemic. Vaccines and precaution are doing that.
The "vaccines" cannot, repeat cannot, end the pandemic. They are not sufficiently sterilizing; it is mathematically impossible. The WHO, the CDC, Dr Fauci and even Pfizer now recognize this. The only path to ending the pandemic is the way pandemics have always ended, through herd immunity. Now that the virus has evolved to a highly contagious but far less dangerous strain, it appears that everyone will, sooner or later, become infected, acquire natural, long lasting immunity, and the pandemic will end. The "precautions" of which you speak will only prolong the pandemic, not shorten it.
A well-stated response to an absurd comment.
Thank you for the sane and balanced perspectives. I am enjoying your writings as well as the interviews. Keep up the very important work!
Thanks Tara, for changing the way a story gets told. It is a relief to read (your) articles that consider all sides with such balance and clarity. Liked and shared!
Perfection. Thanks for articulating these points so cogently.
Spot on. Thank you.
Thank you Tara Henley!!!!!
Great new comment from Dr. Robert W. Malone: "It turns out Canadian truckers listening to Joe Rogan know more than many “experts.” Had the truckers been in charge the last two years, the world would probably be healthier, and freer." Just gotta love that man.
Thanks for the article, Tara. I’ve read through the comments and am frankly astonished how many of these readers are framing the truckers’ and Canadian citizens’ protest against vaccine mandates and passports. That’s the issue behind this movement, let’s not forget it, even though nowhere in your article do you mention it, instead choosing to frame it as a “class” issue.
I have been following the protest very closely, and from what I observe, it has been predominantly peaceful and respectful. The people who cannot accept what is happening or have a shred of interest or consideration in addressing the legitimate concerns of the protesters are choosing to focus only on a few isolated incidents that in no way represent the intent of the protest. Vaccine mandates and passports have been dropped now in many countries. It needs to happen in Canada too, and soon!
Tara doesn't believe a word she/he/they's saying. She/he/they know what's coming and is running for cover. The credentialed Left have created a Reaction that is going to make Franco look like Barney the Dinosaur. All that practice hiding the past few years will be put to good use.
https://www.euronews.com/2022/01/30/live-portugal-heads-to-the-polls-to-pick-new-government