Canadian Trucker Strike

 

Last week’s column (02-17-2022) on the Canadian truckers was nothing short of a ludicrous piece of propaganda, vaunting “freedom” above all other values, including that of the public safety in the management of a world-wide pandemic that has required an intelligent response throughout the word, whether in Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, and North America.

 The article is flawed on several counts; in its representation of the press in falsely characterizing the protestors as a “gaggle of racist pinheads,” in presenting the truckers as “ordinary [and, therefore, representative] Canadians,” and in associating Prime Minister Trudeau’s reluctant call to enact the rarely used emergency powers with the exercise of “de facto” dictatorial powers.

 One might wonder what this was all about. “The drivers were protesting new federal regulations requiring truckers crossing into Canada from the United States to be vaccinated against the coronavirus” (NYT, 02-20-2022). In light of the prospect of further outbreaks of the coronavirus pandemic, the vast majority of Canadian truck drivers accepted this sensible policy, 90% of whom have been vaccinated. Beyond that, it is one thing to protest. It is another matter altogether to disrupt trade, the delivery of goods, and to create social disorder in major urban areas for extended periods of time. The right to express one’s views may be sacrosanct until it butts up against the well-being of the national economy and the right of residents to live in peace and safety. The action of the Canadian government to ultimately curtail this strike needs to be seen in this light. The collective action of the Canadian truck protestors was an act of anarchy of the highest order that needed to be stopped by the legal authorities.

 The sad reality is that in both in the US and Canada, the issue of governmental mandates has been politicized, largely by the rabid right. Thus, Fox News propagandist, Tucker Carlson (who is currently rooting for Russia in the emerging war in Ukraine) claims that the truckers were standing up for tyranny in their refusal to get vaccinated in order to transport goods over an international border. It should come as no surprise that anarchists like Sen. Ted Cruz and Kentucky’s finest, Rand Paul, support the protestors, just as they did America’s home grown “liberty-loving” insurrectionists of January 6^th fame. The result of this propaganda is that thousands of people needlessly died from coronavirus related illnesses. Thus, contrary to the depiction of the strikers as ordinary citizens, “the far-right People’s Party of Canada, which has no seats in the federal Parliament, was strongly represented in the ranks of the Ottawa protesters,” as well as supporters of a looney western separatist group, associated with the “Prairie Provinces” (NYT 02-20-2022).

 If youth and adults refuse to get vaccinated but keep their social distance from others, I would not object, even as I question their capacity to exercise common sense. Once they enter the public square, their freedom butts up against the health and safety of countless others and must be countered. Otherwise, anarchy prevails, perhaps to the delight of the letter writer.