What Happens Next?

 

Daniel O'Connell, the man who invented the modern concept of non-violent resistance.

Whether or not the government clears out all or most of the trucker protest in Ottawa by Monday, their precipitate action suggests they do not have the votes to pass the Emergency Act. If they did before, they are less likely to now: if the convoy is all or mostly cleared out, the claim of an emergency gets weaker: where?  And any scenes of violence by the police will make it politically more difficult for MPs or Senators to support it.

Now let’s say the protestors are driven out.

As I have noted, this is not significant, since they are mobile. The problem may be solved only long enough to kill the Emergency Act. 

Why wouldn’t the truckers, even spontaneously, take a leaf from Daniel O’Connell’s playbook, and subvert the government dictat through excessive obedience?

The government does not want them in Ottawa. They are not allowed to come to Ottawa. Very well. They will not come to Ottawa.

Why wouldn’t truckers now refuse to take deliveries for Ottawa?

Blockade? They are not preventing anyone else from delivering to Ottawa, are they?