The Ottawa Convoy

 

A "Canadian Gadsden flag"

As I write, there is a large convoy of trucks converged on Ottawa to protest vaccine mandates. One hopes everything remains peaceful. The visible organizers seem form on this point. In principle, however, I think even peaceful public protests are anti-democratic, and socially irresponsible. Violence could always break out, innocent people are inconvenienced, and by their nature they tend to subvert the democratic process. They are mob rule.

However, this time, I am more disturbed by the Prime Minister’s response. He said the truckers were a “fringe minority” who “did not speak for Canadians,” and their views were “unacceptable.”

If violence breaks out, I’d say he is more responsible for it now than anyone.

It is not proper for the Prime Minister to declare the views of any Canadians seeking to petition their government “unacceptable.” It is beyond the pale, in a free society, to say that you will not listen to or discuss their concerns. It sounds more than a little like “let them eat cake.”

First Amendment of the US Constitution:

Congress shall make no law … abridging … the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The essential demand of the truckers, as revealed on every sign and banner I see online, is to end vaccine mandates. They object to anyone being fired from their job for not being vaccinated.

It is true that some people associated with the convoy have made wilder demands. I saw a petition online directing their petition only to the Senate and Governor-General, implicitly declaring the House of Commons illegitimate. This nonsense is constitutionally impossible, undemocratic, and serves no purpose. But I feel sure that almost none of the actual participants in the convoy and protest feel committed to this idea. To cite it in relation to the larger protest looks to me like a red herring.

In fact, it is so obviously silly I suspect it is a false flag planted by government agents to discredit the protest.

Ending the vaccine mandates is a perfectly reasonable position. It has been clear for at least the past six months that there is no medical justification for them. We have known since then that the vaccinated could also spread the virus, and that herd immunity through vaccination was not an achievable goal. We also know, incidentally, that cloth masks do nothing against omicron. Accordingly, the government cannot appeal to the emergency to make what would otherwise be an infringement on human rights acceptable.

Moreover, it looks as though the emergency itself is over. Britain, Ireland, and Denmark have now ended restrictions. There is a strong medical argument that the best thing to do is for everyone to go out and catch Omicron as soon as possible after their booster shot. Their case should be quite mild, with omicron, they cannot avoid it for long anyway, and this is the only way to achieve long-term immunity. Best to catch it before the effects of the booster wear off. A doctor in Africa recently called omicron “the vaccine we could not make.”

In other words, it would look as though the government is working against the public interest at this point.

Worse, our supply chain is in tatters. My local grocery shelves are alarmingly bare. I overheard the manager explaining to another worried customer that all orders are behind by at least 72 hours, and getting worse. The government aying down mandates forcing truckers off the roads at just this point looks wildly irresponsible.

One wonders why they are doing it. One fears a totalitarian impulse in our “elites.”