A rolling truck blockade disrupting traffic near Edmonton in 2019 (Photo: Twitter).

An online fund-raising campaign organized by a person associated with the Maverick Party and other western separatist causes now indicates it has raised close to $2 million in the week to bankroll highway disruptions by truckers angry at Ottawa for imposing a vaccine mandate on cross-border essential workers.

The “Freedom Convoy 2022” campaign’s GoFundMe page showed donations of $1,911,540 at 9:50 p.m. Saturday. The fund-raising goal was increased at about the same time to $3 million.

When the campaign was reported Friday by TruckNews.com – an online publication associated with a printed trade publication called Today’s Trucking – the campaign was closing in on $1 million.

Former Conservative Party of Canada Leader Andrew Scheer, participating in a blockade of Edmonton International Airport by a group of truckers in 2019 (Photo: Andrew Scheer/Flickr).

Information on the campaign’s GoFundMe page* makes it clear it is motivated by hostility to policies of the Trudeau Government, particularly measures to control the spread of COVID-19. “Our current government is implementing rules and mandates that are destroying the foundation of our businesses, industries and livelihoods,” it alleges. 

While most of the donations listed on the page are relatively small, some as high as $10,000 are included on the list published by GoFundMe. The site identified Raymar Concrete Forming as one $10,000 donor. Many donations are anonymous. 

Despite agreeing with some trucking industry complaints about the vaccine mandate, TruckNews.com’s reporter, James Menzies, expressed reservations about the strategy of blocking critical infrastructure with slow-rolling transport trucks. 

“Such protests rarely deliver results, aside from angering the motoring public and casting shade on our industry,” he wrote, describing such large amounts of money “being thrown at recent attempts to bring commerce to a halt” as disturbing. 

“If these protests do materialize (many fizzle out when it’s actually time to roll), we have concerns about the effect they will have on how the public perceives our industry, the safety risks posed to the motoring public,” he wrote.

In a statement Saturday, the Canadian Trucking Alliance said it “does not support and strongly disapproves of any protests on public roadways, highways, and bridges. CTA believes such actions – especially those that interfere with public safety – are not how disagreements with government policies should be expressed.”

CTA President Stephen Laskowski condemned road blockades and essentially advised anti-vaccine truckers to grow up and get vaccinated. The governments of Canada and the United States, he said, “have now made being vaccinated a requirement to cross the border. This regulation is not changing so, as an industry, we must adapt and comply with this mandate.

“The only way to cross the border, in a commercial truck or any other vehicle, is to get vaccinated,” he concluded.

It was Mr. Menzies who connected the dots between the fund-raiser and the political interests of organizer Tamara Lich, who has what he described as “a history of association with radical groups, including the recently formed federal separatist Maverick Party in Alberta.”

“In her past, Lich was regional co-ordinator for Wexit in Southeastern Alberta, and was member of the board for Wexit Alberta,” TruckNews.com reported. It said she later joined the board of Wexit Canada, which has been rebranded the Maverick Party. 

TruckNews.com Reporter James Menzies (Photo: Truck News).

He reported that Ms. Lich, whom he said has no direct connection to the trucking industry, also had past links to the so-called Yellow Vest movement, which has many documented connections to extremist groups.

Of course, when it comes to cross-border transportation, no prime minister regardless of party would be likely to pursue a policy different from than that of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals – no matter what Conservatives might say in opposition. The United States Government requires cross-border truckers from Canada to be fully vaccinated. 

Beyond that, the campaign raises important questions about the potential use of the GoFundMe site to get around election financial reporting laws for what are clearly intended to be political campaigns attacking one party. 

This is a question that goes well beyond this particular issue and organization – especially given the Conservative Party of Canada’s past connection to these kinds of trucker blockades. 

Ever since a grinning former Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer turned up at a large truck rally that snarled traffic around Edmonton International Airport on Dec. 19, 2019, and then made sure his face was plastered all over social media aboard some of the rigs, the Conservatives have been linked to truck protest organizers in the minds of Canadians.

Whether the federal Conservative Party still supports such efforts to bring commerce to a halt by disrupting highway traffic might be an interesting question to ask its current leader, Erin O’Toole. 

Meanwhile, the question of whether the United Conservative Party Government in Alberta will use its Critical Infrastructure Act to crack down on blockades of highways remains unanswered.

The law was passed in 2020 as a reaction to blockades by supporters of First Nations that were opposed to construction of a pipeline to the West Coast. 

If the Alberta government won’t act, the conclusion the legislation was passed solely to attack opponents of Premier Jason Kenney’s pet projects will be hard to discount.

*Sorry, folks, if you want to see the GoFundMe site, you’ll have to look it up for yourselves. I’m not going to provide a link. 

This story, originally posted at 4 p.m. Saturday, was updated at 9:50 p.m. DJC

Join the Conversation

150 Comments

    1. @jpr would be nice if you were to list the ‘facts’ you think are not straight. Then, ‘facts’ to back up your contentions. Pretty accurate article by DC from what I’ve been reading today.

    2. Nah, regular working folks are tired of this bullshit. Y’all are like the boy who cried wolf, no one cares anymore.

      If outside agitators were able to get any province to leave Canada , it would have been Quebec, not Alberta. Go away, stop wasting everyone’s time already.

  1. Of course, the Kenney government should not use the Critical Infrastructure Act to sanction the truckers participating in the protest for the simple reason that the Act is unconstitutional. However, as we know, Kenney does not care for such niceties when they are inconvenient or are obstacles to pandering to his base. I am sure he would gladly use it against an environmental group protesting pipeline construction.

    As for the trucker protest, that is a great example of cutting your nose to spite your face. We are already having supply chain issues and the highest inflation for years. Slowing down commerce only exacerbates these things. People will notice and they won’t be happy. The truckers are painting a target on their backs. And, let’s not forget that the protests are against vaccine mandates. Most Albertans and Canadians are vaccinated, and many of the vaccinated are unhappy that the unvaccinated are causing the pandemic and its attendant restrictions to drag on longer than necessary. If the unhappy truckers wanted some sympathy, they are not going about it in the right way. They are only hurting their own cause, which is a terrible one to begin with.

    It is unfortunate that the unhappy truckers are also victims of misinformation and right-wing propaganda.

    1. @Phlogiston
      I’m very interested to hear how the pandemic is being caused by those that have chosen to not get the shot? These people who aren’t allowed in restaurants, gyms, movie theatres etc. are the problem? And it’s selfish of them to refuse an new and experimental injection that has zero long term human trials — because you feel it’s the right thing to do for the “Greater Good”? This is the same shot that doesn’t stop transmission or infection you know, right? And certainly doesn’t stop hospitalizations. The hospital overload should have been an opportunity for our government to invest in our hospitals so they could support the need (spoiler alert, the hospital beds and ICU is always overrun—even pre-Covid) not for them to bankrupt the country with contracts for drugs we don’t even know are safe or effective. Imagine what our health care system could have done with a fraction of the money Trudeau has thrown away these past two years.

      This article is pathetic and insanely one sided. The best part is, despite what you want people to believe, this is not a bunch of right wing extremists fighting for freedom, it’s people from left, right and everything in between. It’s people tired of watching our country get destroyed and they’re done being scared, and done with the gaslighting by the media and the government.

      1. nutjob alert!
        Actually a very good example of a fully grown ‘person’ choosing the tactics and behavior of 2 yr old throwing a tantrum.

      2. CJ

        Who is clogging the hospitals while denying covid is a thing?
        Who are burning out our healthcare staff?
        Who are the cause of surgery cancelations resulting in the death of innocents?

        Spoiler alert – when I was in the ICU prior to covid it wasn’t overrun. Healthcare is a provincial responsibility and maybe if the UCP focused on income instead of laying off healthcare staff and providing largesse to corporations we may have been more prepared after the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and probably 5th wave too.

        You clearly believe you’re not a right wing extremist, but you are poorly informed and you are looking to blame others other than those who are extending this crisis through ignorance and selfishness

        1. DJ
          Just to add some facts because you asked.
          85% of all new cases in the Hospitals are vaxed. (AHS stats) The major spreaders these days are the vaxed. (there are more of them) It was vaxed people who brought Omicron here. The unvaxed couldn’t travel!
          What you need to do is stop promoting this hate and divisiveness against a specified demographic of the population. It’s criminal behavior Sec 391(1) and 391(2).
          On blogs like this it is very hard to present all the facts of a complicated problem. The vax doesn’t really work as promised. FACT. The new studies show that after the 2nd dose there is a consistent diminishing return of protection.
          Pfizer’s ARR is only .84% (Their own stat) FACT
          You want to be vaxed go right ahead, your choice.
          But if you think you are protecting others by doing that you are lying to your self and every one around you.
          You probably did it because the VAXpass pretends to give you back some freedom.(as you just bragged about it) So I guess you agree on Apartheid as well.
          As far as the Hospitals are concerned there has been little change in pressure over the last 5 years. In Fact because so many were afraid to go in, in 2020 it was at 85% capacity, and 90% in 2021. AHS stats. Yet in 2019 and 2018 they were over 93%. So the over load story is straight BS.
          Same as the covid bed capacities. AHS flat out lied, and they were caught. There was an article done up on it and I do have the charts.(see Hinshaw’s latest news release on the subject for the latest admission.)
          Death rates have not spiked at all, world wide or here in Alberta, or in Canada.
          So back to the Truckers Convoy. They are promoting Canadian UNITY, not division. (and yes some hate Trudeau, he’s made himself easy to hate out here)
          No Government departments have been listening. We have written 1000s of letters. Sent in hundreds of stats. Peer reviewed studies etc. Got lawyers to use the laws that protect ALL Canadians, yet these draconian policies that protect no one, especially the now vaxed, persist.
          (PS read up on the Antibody Dependent Enhancement happening in a lot of the vaxed). https://www.chop.edu/centers-programs/vaccine-education-center/vaccine-safety/antibody-dependent-enhancement-and-vaccines
          So another VERY Important item left out of the Article.
          These are every day hard driving truckers, a huge portion of them are vaxed, They aren’t fighting the vax, they are fighting the stupidity of the restrictions! The fact that for 2 years the crossing the border was one way now it’s changed as we are entering the Endemic? (Britain is opening up wide, Many states have as well)
          What part of that don’t you people get? These are legal and peaceful protests.
          As far as the Go Fund Me goes, it’s to help these “normal hard working truckers” to cover costs. Fuel alone for what? 40,000 trucks? is like she said close to 170,000 per stop! You figure that out. Canadians are supporting them. Why don’t you report on why they are?
          Am I missing something here?
          These are illegal policies, has nothing to do with vaxed or not.
          WHY don’t you “reporters” report on the fact of how illegal these restrictions and hatefully divisive comments are?
          Do you know when you defend an illegal act, then you are also condoning the crimes they are? And publicly I might add.(see Calgary Mayor hate speech) Did you report on that?
          Why do you not report that if we keep allowing these things to go on we will no longer be free?
          You can read the laws as well as any of us. Start obeying the laws first, then I’ll tackle the mis information on the whole covid exaggeration.
          How can a Nation Stand when the Governments can’t even obey their own laws? Answer that one.

        2. First of all. no hospitals have been built for years in Canada. That is why Emergency room waits are 16 hours when they used to be 2! Can our government be this stupid? For example Ottawa doubled their population with immigrants but no new hospital was built! The ICUs were always full ask any nurses for decades!

      3. “you know, right?”

        Oh, yeah, everybody knows that. No need to cite sources. Now, run along and play with your little friends.

      4. Well I guess any publicity is good publicity so thx for spreading news about the issue. Most Canadians will see that your reporting is slanted. Godspeed to the truckers. I support your body your choice regarding the mandatory vaccination.

        1. NANCY COOK: Nothing is slanted about this blog. This particular blog shows the hypocrisy of the pretend conservative and Reformer types of governments. It’s unsettling to them about railway protesters, and they want action, but with the truckers vaccination issue, they are in full support of it. Can’t have it both ways.

          1. Nancy Cook, I’m guessing it’s okay to you for anti-vaxxers to ‘Choose’ what to do with their bodies even though their choice can injure and kill others, yet when women ‘choose’ it injures nor kills anyone.

        2. My body, my choice?

          Where have I heard that before?

          Oh tes the conservative attacks on women and their right to choose.

      5. CJ, when you make assertions of fact, you must show verifyable proof. People who do not do that are usually just liars.

      6. CJ: Well, healthcare is a provincial government matter. Second, these pretend conservatives and Reformers in Alberta did the most priciest shenanigans for decades, which were worse than the federal government has ever done. That’s why they couldn’t properly fund healthcare. They are not like the true conservatives we had under Peter Lougheed.

      7. My, my. I had not anticipated my anodyne comments to generate such a strong response. First of all, @CJ, if you were considering a change of career, to say, public relations or literary criticism, I would advise against this. It is pretty well established by numerous polls reported in the media that a lot of vaccinated people are unhappy with people who refuse to get vaccinated. I was merely pointing out that making this cohort of people even more unhappy does not help your cause. This observation should not have caused such fulminating rage.

        If you are against vaccine mandates, fine. You have a right to voice your opinion about this, but I suggest you do it with more subtlety, more nuance, and more savvy. Backing your opinions with facts would help a lot too, I suspect.

        Judging by what I saw on my drive back to Edmonton from a lovely day of skiing in Marmot Basin, where vaccine passports were in full effect to get into the ski lodge, the protest could be called a success of sorts. But, that would depend on how you measure success. If you just measure it by the numbers of participants, perhaps.

        I would argue that having a bunch of rural protesters stand by the highway holding up signs that were usually variations of F* Trudeau, sometimes embellished with an obscene picture, does not do much to help your cause. I saw lots of those signs on my drive back from Jasper to Edmonton this afternoon. However, the best sign I saw was one that said, “Roll Coal [sic] for Freedom”. I am still trying to figure out if the sign writer was just an illiterate nut job or a sophisticated lobbyist sending some subtle pro-open pit mining message along with his anti-vax sentiments.

        Now, I am not going to deny that there are not problems with our health care system; that ICU capacity (as measured on a per capita basis) has declined since the 80s; that there are not problems with the distribution, pricing, marketing, and patents on the vaccines; or that the media has not sometimes overhyped the pandemic. However, I was not trying to make any of these points, nor were they the subject of DJC’s blog, which I would characterize as having a point of view and not “insanely one-sided” as you claim (I suspect a wee bit of projection at play here).

        We know that vaccinations do not necessarily prevent your getting Covid. Hower, we know that they are effective at reducing the rates of serious Covid that requires drastic interventions, such as ICU care and intubation. The vaccinations have always been a key part of the strategy to mitigate the risk to the health care system.

        As for the so-called experimental nature of the vaccines. You appear not to be satisfied with both the preceding clinical trials and the fact that hundreds of millions of people have received the Covid vaccines with very reported few side effects – the vaccines are far safer than the disease they protect against, by a significant amount. We don’t fully know the effects of long-term Covid (but they appear to be pretty scary), yet you want to classify the vaccines as “experimental” because we don’t have long-term effects of the vaccines? Now that I think about it, I don’t think you should consider a career in risk management either. And, you should also probably stay away from health management. That seems to be way out of your league.

        Please consider that many jobs and roles we occupy have requirements. In some cases, these requirements are going to include things like police checks (if you are dealing with vulnerable populations, such as persons with disabilities and children) and, increasingly, vaccinations. Most reasonable people do not have a problem with these requirements. We can all make choices, but our choices do have consequences.

        The vaccines are effective and safe. They will mitigate risk to long-term serious consequences of Covid. If you have not been vaccinated, I encourage you to get your jabs.

        1. Rolling coal refers to the people who remove all the anti pollution equipment from their diesel truck and then tune the engine to waste fuel by leaving clouds of black smoke (unburnt fuel) in their wake.

          1. @Baden’s Dad, thanks for enlightening me! I did not know about that phrase. I have observed these selfish and narcissistic yahoos (I mean it in the truly Swiftian sense) in their malodorous, cacophonous contraptions rolling coal and despoiling the immediate surroundings for everyone by assaulting as many of the senses as possible. Well, if these are the kinds of folks that support vaccine mandates, they are not the best role models to advance the cause.

      8. Where do you get your info? mRNA vaccines have been in trials for decades and tested through 4 different infectious diseases prior to Covid. It’s not rocket surgery to know how vaccines work. What are we at now? Over 60% of the world has been vaccinated against a deadly pathogen and people are still beating the “it hasn’t been tested” drum? Listen sis, neither was Viagra, It was a HEART medication. Tested for less than a year. Phizer’s biggest money maker. No one cried foul.

    2. All I heard is Blah…Blah… Blah… Blah,Blah,Blah,…. Blah Blah…. Same old bullshit to keep everyone one in line. Nobody is listening any more. I didn’t even finish reading your comments. lol Heard it all before.

    3. PHLOGISTON
      It would be nice if you guys got your facts right. You are painting the unvaxed (and these truckers) as criminal. Be careful. Public promoting of hate or discourse is a criminal act. Sec 391(1) & 391(2) and coercing for a vaccine, or vax pass or taking something away like a right to enter, travel, or to leave Canada (sec 6 of the charter ) to force it is criminal under Sec 423(1) of Bill C46 the criminal code so be careful, there is a good chance you have no idea what you are talking about. Yet here is our Restaurants, our governments, our hospitals, people like you who agree, all being criminally liable for breaking the law.
      So in your minds eye it’s ok to be a criminal if you agree with the narrative? You don’t like it when some breaks into your house, attacks you on the street? That’s criminal as well! A crime is a crime no matter who commits it.
      Trudeau, on TV, publicly promoted hate. Sec 391(1) and 391(2). He has committed a crime. Get with the program. Crimes are rampant in Canada right now.
      If you look at the vast majority of the truckers that are in the convoy, they are vaxed, probably over 90% yet they are sick and tired of 2 years of restrictions that don’t work, a vax that doesn’t work and the hateful bigotry being foisted on innocent hard working Canadians vaxed or not!
      85% of all new cases are vaxed here in Alberyta. Government stats.
      If you want to live under Chinese type communism, or Russian Communism I suggest you move there.
      In
      the mean time quite promoting division and hate.

      1. More projection from the ignorant and illiterate right wing nut bars who somehow think they have the same expertise and authority of lawyers, doctors, and other authoritative professionals after reading a few Facebook posts that were presented to their eyeballs by pernicious algorithms to further tickle their dopamine receptors.

        1. Phlogiston

          There’s no talking with the ideologically committed.
          Their beliefs are facts, actual facts are your beliefs.
          The conservative assault on education is showing how successful it is through people like Tim

        2. You can tell exactly where people get their news by hearing their position on covid. What main stream media veiwers don’t realize is that the Government owns the media in so many ways and the media will stop at nothing to make sure people are brain washed into the governments narrative. Do yourself a favour and reach out to find both sides of the story, then when your not brainwashed anymore make a smart decision on your position. I was like you 18 months ago till I found both sides of the story. Note; an honest reporter gives sources, credible sources on every story. In the U.S fauci has been found to be a liar on just about everything he has said since the so called pandemic that has a 99,7% survival rate started. That survival rate would be even higher if doctors didn’t have their hands tied. A major news network in the U.S. did a whole prime time on the crime of the century a week ago. Covid is the crime of the century and you’ve been taken.

          1. Mr. Wiebe, as you ironically point out, you can tell where people get their news by hearing their position on Covid. Your assertion that the government controls the media to brainwash the population is risible. Last I checked, Post Media, which controls the majority of print media in this country is owned by a hedge fund. A quick survey of the editorial content, either at the local or the national level, reveals a decidedly conservative, if not downright right-wing, bias. Consider that the execrable David Staple and Lorne Gunter are given positions of prominence within the Edmonton Journal and Edmonton Sun respectively. I am not sure who owns CTV, but it is not a Crown Corporation like the CBC. And, as for the CBC, they do a creditable job of holding local, provincial, and national governments to account. If you run a government department, you really do not want the excellent Ashley Burke snooping around, for example.

            There are problems with all media outlets in Canada. This means we must be savvy consumers of news. Reading DJC’s blog helps me to get a more balanced provincial perspective, just as listening to the Canadaland podcasts helps me get a better perspective of both underreported national stories and the media landscape in Canada, in general. I don’t agree with everything I read or hear from these sources, but they are useful.

            Now, I did a quick Google search for the Crime of the Century documentary you spoke of. The only results I came back with, aside from the excellent Supertramp album, was a documentary on Sacklers and the Opioid crises that aired on HBO. Surely, that is not what you meant. Perhaps you were referring to some propaganda that aired the unhinged, unfair, and unbalanced Fox News?

            BTW, although I am not a scientist, I am curious about science and like to geek out on it. I get my science news from a variety of sources, including scientific journals, if they are publicly accessible. Also, I would highly recommend the podcasts by Dr. Peter Attia, the Drive. He has a number devoted to Covid. In particular, there are a couple where he interviews a personal hero of mine since Covid started, Dr. Peter Hotez, the co-developer of a patent-free Covid vaccine: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jan/15/corbevax-covid-vaccine-texas-scientists.

  2. Obviously, this hit piece is written by an admirer of Trudeau and the Liberals. Please note that the Maverick Party is a legal political party. They are portrayed as being like ISIS or Nazis in cowboy boots. But hey, everyone has an opinion, problem is that apologists for the Liberals try hard to smear anyone who has a different viewpoint. Shame on you, “Alberta Politics”. Try supporting fellow Albertans instead of backing those that seek to destroy the country and have a keen hatred of Alberta.

    Now let’s see how long this post lasts.

    1. He’ll likely keep it up to serve as an example of the ridiculous posts he gets from a very small minority of far right conservative supporters.

      1. I bet u are so proud of this comment, bragging to yur friends/ co-workers about your online banter. I think Alberta should ditch its pride, it helps no one. Party politics especially should be ditched before America uses it against us as Canadians, once again duped by our own media.

    2. Pluralism dictates that folks like the “maverick” party are allowed to register as a party, last I was reading they hadn’t met the obligations as of yet.

      I’m sure Glen will last about as long as he did at innisfail city hall before he resigned in (hasty) disgrace.

      I’m sure the folks who are supplying his funds will continue to believe they should be in control of our destiny just as sure as I am that they won’t be.

      To be honest a lot of this looks like they’re ginning up a “scary” movement so the CPC and the UCP look slightly less insane. I don’t think that will work either.

    3. PETER J LETOURNEUX: You sure have quite the imagination. This blog will remain posted for as long as the author and creator wants it to remain up.

      1. I would assume so… letting the white trash perpetuate itself further and further, better off seperating Alberta, just dont sell yourselves to the poverty pimp south of the border.

    4. I’m not sure where to start unpacking your comment. I’m assuming you mentioned Nazis without irony; please note that the Nazi Party was a “legal political party” too. A pretty rebel maverick one too. Maybe you guys can discuss that salient point on whatever “top-secret” FB group brought you here.

      You won’t find much gushing over the federal Liberal Party or Trudeau here. You probably won’t like the format at all. It’s called journalism and at the end it doesn’t tell you what to think. But hey, some people just don’t like that kinda stuff..

    1. PJP: These comments are very typical of the the response to articles about two of the topics covered in this post – western separatism and COVID-19 vaccine resistance. Also, advocacy of gun control measures or reporting on global climate change seem to have a similar triggering effect with essentially the same group of people. If one is going to report on these issues, one must be braced for this kind of reaction. DJC

      1. Well you article is very opinion based and it appears the only research you’ve done is reading an article from Menzies which is also very biased. As well as singling out one individual organizer’s past infiliations and political beliefs.The words you’ve choosen are deliberately “hostile” and inflammatory. I think you shouldn’t be considering this “reporting”. I know I don’t. Reporting the news involves delivering both sides of the story in an unbiased manner and this is definitely not that. Perhaps you could have spoken to the people organizing it to see what safety precautions are in place. Discussed the fact that the RCMP have been involved and helping plan the routes through all the major cities. Done some calculations with regards to fuel costs for the trucks, which is estimated at $170k per fuel stop at this moment. Perhaps that’s where the money is going-not political party fundraising. I could go on but unlike you I don’t get paid to “report” the news. You should be ashamed of yourself and for God’s sake don’t call yourself a reporter. You write opinion pieces and in my opinion it’s vile propaganda.

        1. another nutjob!
          I can actually see the mouth foaming and spittle flying! Less able to see her point.

        2. Jeannie

          If pointing out facts and reporting the words of Trucking sources is biased to you, then you need to go back to school.

          You never undermined one claim in the piece at all, and that speaks volumes

          1. DJ.
            A comment if I may. You may have used a trucking source, but if I may suggest this. You chose a dissenting voice on purpose. He didn’t present “facts” he presented an opinion. So what facts could you dispute? That only one of the people you could find had a past you dislike? You do know that there is an accounting firm representing the go fund me account?
            Oh Wait, you never checked did you?
            So you made a whole story based on opposition hearsay?
            Could you have not called the promoters of the Convoy and got a “horse’s mouth” comment and opinion? Because you didn’t your opinion piece is very definitely slanted to one side.
            Of course some of these trucking people like the one you spoke with, will side with certain opinions. They almost have to. DOT can be very viscous and often for no reason. I had to get out of the trucking business (I retired) because I couldn’t stand the nit picking by Calgary cops that get 100% of the fines they collect. Nothing to do with safety, or breaking a law. Money collecting, yes.
            Look at this convoy. DOT opened weight scales in Leduc, and in BC, and in a few other places, when they are normally closed. Why not report on that item of unfairness.
            Most of the convoy is empty and all properly insured etc. These are professional truckers that go through scales every day. Their trucks are up to snuff because they have to be. Yet they were targeted.
            so your opinion piece is biased.
            One phone call could have given you the “other” side, yet you didn’t.
            So do you even now know anything about their motives? Or are you really only interested in trashing them?
            I would suggest you didn’t want to take the side of real working Albertans & Canadians.
            These people are very down to earth and easy to talk to. They are Canadians.
            Even American Truckers are coming up to support them. Some from The Carolinas’ yet didn’t report on that either did you? Yes even the American are pissed at their Governments actions over this. Missed that too didn’t you?
            So forgive me If I cry foul, and disagree with your less than objective reporting.

        3. Criticizes the author for writing an opinion piece and finishes off with ..it’s my opinion… you can’t make this stuff up.

        4. It is concerning that they cannot even seem to get the cost of a fill-up correct. The numbers given are 4000 trucks and $170000 total per pit stop. That works out to $42.50 per fill. ROFL, it costs more than that to fill my midsized SUV. Transport trucks have 2 tanks that hold hundreds of GALLONS of diesel. Let’s do some math, we’ll make it easy. 100 gallons x 4.54 l/gallon is 454 litres of fuel. Cheapest diesel out there is about $1.37 a litre ( and much higher in BC and Ontario). 454 L x $1.37 = $622 per 100 gallons. Let’s multiply that by 4000 trucks It would be just under $2.5 million per fill for the fleet. Most of those trucks generously make about 5 miles/gallon. The Go Fund Me account just got drained in 2 fill ups. It’s almost 2800 miles from Vancouver to Ottawa. 2800÷5= 560 gallons of fuel, or almost $3500 per truck IF they get 5 miles/gallon and that doesn’t include idle time. No worries about money going to politicians or any Veterans associations, there won’t be enough to get them through to the Alberta/Saskatchewan border. And that’s being generous with mileage and fuel prices, it’ll probably be closer to $5000 considering speeds, idle times and Ontario diesel prices. Any wonder Go Fund Me is concerned about the distribution of funds when the organizer is so blind to facts?

  3. So, the United States Government requires cross-border truckers from Canada to be fully vaccinated, but no protests about that from Canadian truckers. Once again, its the blame Trudeau for everything crowd, now in alliance with the anti vax crowd.

    We’ll see how well this goes for O’Toole. Perhaps he isn’t so enthusiastic about this, but just feels he has to go along with this kooky stuff (or just not speak up against it) for fear of alienating the more right wing crowd in his party and in order to hold onto his leadership. As I recall, it didn’t achieve anything for Scheer when he jumped on the last truck blockade protest bandwagon other than make him look goofy or flakey.

    I thought O’Toole was a bit smarter than Scheer, but perhaps not. Didn’t O’Toole just lose an election in large part because of his tepid position on mandatory vaccinations?

    1. Pandering to these RWNJ seemed like a good political move at one time. It’s more than a little obvious now that associating yourself or your party with this cohort makes you as kooky as they are. And the political ‘power’ of their numbers is fleeting and transitory. They stand for nothing but their latest grievance which is soothed by another drink or perhaps, just a shiny object.

    2. @Dave
      O’Toole lost the election due to Liberal gerrymandering. Conservatives won the popular vote. Trudeau has no mandate, but he sure likes to try and implement them.

      1. Ryan: It is quite wrong to say that Liberals won the last election because of gerrymandering. The Constitution of Canada requires electoral redistribution every 10 years to reflect changes in population. Electoral boundaries are established by independent commissions in each province. The process is scrupulously fair. The rules favour rural voters, but if there is an argument for an element of “gerrymandering” there, it is in favour of folks with views like yours. Redistribution is now underway, having begun in October 2021. The process is scheduled to be complete in September 2023 and likely come into effect after April 1, 2024. However, it is true as you say that the Conservatives had a slight lead in the popular vote over the Liberals – 34 per cent to 33 per cent. (By the way, the difference in cumulative popular vote between conservative and progressive parties was approximately 53 per cent for progressive parties and 46 per cent for conservative ones. I have defined the Bloc Quebecois as conservative in this, as they are.) But really all this percentage crunching is meaningless because that is not the way our system works. I could have more sympathy with your argument if conservative parties were not the biggest advocates of leaving the first-past-the-post system in place. Mr. Trudeau may not have as strong a mandate as he hoped when he asked for the election to be called, but in the Parliamentary system, he has a clear mandate to govern, whether you or your friends like it or not. An interesting contrast would be that of Donald Trump, who in percentage terms alone, lost the 2016 U.S. Presidential election by 2 per cent and almost three million votes. But Mr. Trump won it in the Electoral College, which operates something like the first-past-the-post system. Just a guess here, but I’d wager that that outcome south of the 49th Parallel didn’t bother you at all. DJC

    3. DAVE;
      You never asked these truckers did you? The Americans are in the same boat and they are protesting as well. Yet that is my point, this is a one sided opinion piece. Not really an “article”
      The stated “facts” are all one sided. Did any one ask what it was all about or did every one here just “assume” what it was. How can you put together an article about what the truckers are doing and never ask them?
      They were always allowed to cross the border on both sides. Vaxed or unvaxed. Most are vaxed any way, but that changed on the 15th of January.
      Didn’t hear that in the article either did you? Both sides of the border apparently changed. Then it took them days of saying yes, then no, then maybe, then finally making up their minds and just saying what ever they did. The yanks only just. SO this was started before that change.
      Yet did anyone here verify that? Nope.
      Funny hey? No one checked on a ton of facts to balance the article. More missing than in it.
      Not my opinion either, just a fact. Many needed facts are not there. Never even mentioned. Never checked on.
      Cheers

  4. Really! That’s all you have to say. It’s a bad thing because you don’t like it.
    Suck it up buttercup!
    You might think you have freedoms and rights by believing Dick face and his cronies but grow a pair of balls and do some actual reporting.
    How about all the deaths from the jabs?
    All the lies from the Govt.
    How ineffective those jabs are
    How many jabs are you willing to take?
    Dance puppet Dance.

  5. Cry of the day from the pro vaccine crowd is “Get vaccinated!”

    Ok, let’s think about that. You bite the bullet and get your first shot and then wait six weeks to get your second. Congratulations, you’re double vaxxed with a vaccine that is basically obsolete and is giving you zero protection. A fact which was admitted by Pfizer CEO the other week when he admitted two doses of the stuff “offers very limited protection if any.” You need a third dose which will give you, in the words of the Pfizer head, “reasonable protection.” But to have that you’ll have to wait another six months. By that time the omicron wave will have passed.

    Is there any medical justification for the the vaccines now? Not really. If you’re older with underlying conditions then booster shots are sensible. Supposedly Pfizer is coming out with an omicron vaccine in March.

    1. If you expect the vaccine to be a foolproof way to prevent the recipient from catching COVID-19, or developing symptoms, then with Omicron you may be disappointed. But the emerging evidence is that triple-vaccinated individuals are far less likely to develop severe illness with the Omicron variant, and that the vaccine tends in most people to convert a potentially life-threatening infection into a mild illness no more severe than the common cold — if they even get sick at all, which many still do not.

      1. JerryMACGP – it is that way even with out the shots or boosters.
        The only thing I’ve read is IF YOU ARE hospitalized it won’t be for as long, maybe.
        And maybe you won’t be hospitalized if you may have normally needed to be?
        Seems kind of iffy, and that ‘s not the topic here any way.
        Funny how vaxed people always do that hey?
        The chances of developing severe illness seems that you have to be vaxed for that to happen. Because if you are susceptible to ADE due to the vax then that’s the only time. The Naturally immune have 38x less chance of it being more than a common cold than the vaxed. The vaxed works best if they were pre infected. The Omicron, if you get it first protects you from Delta. But delta doesn’t help so much to protect from Omicron but omicron is is alkmost never lethal. Only in 1 in a 100,000 and probably due to comorbidities. You confused? Yep same here.
        Omicron was first discovered in Oct/Nov 2020. Was even then said to be not serious, not more than a common cold!
        Hmmmm funnily , that’s what all this really is. So who REALLY knows…lol

  6. When the World Health Org. first reported a global pandemic in March of 2020, it was just a week after I had been in attendance at a Saskatoon Blades hockey game along with over 4400 other fans.

    Before the game and in between periods most people walked around the main concourse, some going last and others going right. There was not a concern in the world about any disease. Sick people don’t go to hockey games in the winter.

    That got me concerned that it was not a health related pandemic, but a World economic Forum pandemic and that was confirmed by the forced closure of small businesses that did not sell food. That broke many businesses including several chain clothing stores because they soon don’t have enough customers. We can see it in local malls where as soon as their lease is up, they close up too.

    1. Covid has proven to be the single greatest idea for a psy-op in history. It dovetails perfectly with the epoch-transforming adoption of an array of formerly left-wing concepts by the capitalist elite, and the acceptance of fantastical claims of all kinds, and instantaneous volte-faces by the same claimants, by most of the population.
      Covid is not a WEF pandemic. There are an aray of forces that have produced this transformational phenomena and the WEF kooks are only one aspect. Although, like anything counter to the global corporatist narrative, it’s dismissed as “conspiracy theory”, the players at Event 201 gave a relatively comprehensive view of what this is all about.
      We’re in an era where “progressives” are aligned with CIA/national security state freaks like Avril Haines, so we’re truly in Lala land at this point.
      But in essence, the speculative finance casino blew up in the summer of 2019. The banks were screeching by September of 2019 and the trillion dollar bailouts began. At the same time the economic war against China was failing and necessitated an assault on the Chinese export economy. All this fit in nicely with the usual gang of corporate scam-artists who are part of WEF and the third-rate clown politicians that attend their “Future Global Leader” program, like Li’l Magus, and Ardren, and Macron and even clots like our own Michelle Rempel.
      The vaccine scam has been building since the initial welfare programs for big Pharma got started in the wake of the first war to save the world from Saddam. All the vaccines in the US, which are the ones we have, have Emergency Use Authorization status. This allows the use of unlicensed drugs to be used without the provisions normally accorded to Experimental medicines. It was first used in 2004 when the US military gravy train for pharma ran into difficulty in the aftermath of the Anthrax attacks right after 9/11.
      Plenty of blame to go around for this insanity.
      While Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine may not have been useful for treating Covid, we’ll never know because in order to implement EUA vaccines, it was necessary that no treatment exist. This gave Rumsfeld’s crooked old outfit Gilead the opportunity to poison the Americans with Remdesivir.
      I voted for Nenshi, Gondek and have cast most provincial and federal ballots for the NDP, with the occasional Liberal vote in the case of a particularly odious Fedral Kon candidate, but these folks are the torch-carrying fascists in this particular operation.

  7. In addition to my last post, I have been a Tommy Douglas supporter, the father of Canadian Medicare for 60 years so I am not a right wing troll.

    The World economic forum and Facebook and google, all billionaires have no medical qualifications but are strong supporters of vaccine mandates but are too clever to get vaccinated themselves.

    Go to globalresearch.ca to read the the other side of the pandemic story that the mainstream media won’t print.

    You would think only doctors contribute to the various medical associations that regulate them but about 44% of the medical associations’ expenses are paid by pharmaceutical corporations who do so in the expectation of immediate dividends and have co-opted many doctors. Those who speak out against them are either fired or have their license to practise medicine revoked.

    A one world government controlled by billionaires won’t allow people to vote and there will be no voting at all. Do we want to be governed by billionaires who are currently ruining many mom and pop businesses by forcing them to close?

  8. Wow, Mr. Blogger, you certainly yanked some serious chain today.
    To those critics who accuse you of “not reporting” and “getting paid for your reporting” and “believing Dick face” whoever he is, I gently point out that you are a blogger. That means that you offer opinions, unpaid except for volunteer donations and a few ads to cover expenses. Anyone is free to start their own.
    It is not necessary to “grow a pair of balls”, just gather a more informed class of reader, Sir.

  9. As I did in response to James Menzies’ original drive-by smear article in Today’s Trucking (trucknews.com), I find it impossible not to reply to your distorted opinion piece Mr. Climenhaga. Over the past 35 years of active engagement in federal politics all I’ve ever requested of journalists is to be fair. Your comments sir, do a distinct disservice to not only your readers, but all westerners. Statements like: “a history of association with radical groups” and, “had past links to” extremist groups.…are clearly written not only as an inaccurate and unjustified smear against Ms. Lich, but an attempt to frighten people away from consideration of the Maverick Party. Like Mr. Menzies, are you alleging that Ms. Lich is a “radical” and an “extremist” by association? Simply because she donates some of her time to raising public awareness through a peaceful protest. If so, have the courage to say it. Maverick is the only party willing to take strong positions to truly represent what’s best for the West. Yes, even daring to talk about western independence! At a minimum we want the same deal in confederation that Quebec has attained. Maverick Party Interim Leader, Jay Hill.

    1. Pretend conservatives and Reformers have nobody else but themselves for the problems that are of their own creation. You’ll never hear them talk about how Alberta would be better off if we had the $575 billion, if Peter Lougheed’s oil royalty rate regime wasn’t altered, by a Liberal, turned Reformer, Ralph Klein,. They also won’t say anything about the $260 billion we would also have, if Ralph Klein wasn’t slack with the oil companies and made them clean up after themselves. Nor will they ever mention what we could be able to do with the $150 billion these pretend conservatives and Reformers lost Alberta, from abysmal tax policies. Add to this billions, upon billions were squandered on the most pricey shenanigans, by these pretend conservatives and Reformers. Somehow, Ottawa is responsible for this? Peter Lougheed, being a true conservative, would oppose these excuses and tactics by these pretend conservatives and Reformers.

      1. Wow! Pretty good comments coming from Anonymous! So interesting you bring up 33 and 40 year old problems on a blog about the truckers! Where were you when we put the Reform party together to fix just that. Or the Alliance Party or the Wildrose? And yes most of them pretty much failed because we let the pretend conservatives in. So should we allow a pretend commentator have a validity?
        I’m sure you mean well, but your name isn’t in the story? I wonder why? Pretend person?
        Are you then any better than your pretend reformers? Or pretend conservative you decry? You are a pretend commentator.
        Anonymous!

        1. TIM CLOW: The Reform Party, Alberta Alliance, and the Wildrose, would have done the exact same very pricey shenanigans, because they are not like the true conservatives, like we had under Peter Lougheed. The true conservative, Peter Lougheed, knew that you couldn’t trust Reformers. He was correct.

    2. Mr. Hill. I was born in Alberta over 6 decades ago and have lived here all my life. You do not represent me, sir, or the aspirations I still have for this province. You are, in fact, the worst kind of Albertan, a thrall to corporate interests and an agent of right-wing chaos.

  10. Idiots will be idiots . Waste time and money to look like a bunch of brain dead sheep following the bottom 10% of our society. Please let the next wave wipe them all out. Give the 90% trucks a raise or tax break for trucking international and 10% can stay in Canada moving goods but give them a pay cut

    1. Frank.
      First; I think you need to read C46 sec 391(1) 7 Sec 391 (2) of the criminal code.

      Second; It isn’t clear who you are spreading your hate at. The bottom 10% are the ones that are defending society, or is it the top 90% in your view of a warped rule? Or is it a self inflicted hate because of where you stand?

      Third; if you are saying the 10% are brain dead and they are leading the rest off the cliff I wonder at that as well. It’s a very small amount of people controlling this false narrative. So is this the one’s you are following? or disagreeing with? The MSM have been spewing untruths for over 2 years are you saying those are the 10%. Or are you saying the 10% are the politicians? Are these the people you are following? Your opinion seems to be pretty vague.

      4th – are you saying our Freedoms are not worth defending and we should follow the majority who bought the lie? If it is a lie they bought and what is it that the “brain dead” sheep are following? Why are they brain dead? or are they actually more alive than you like?

      5th The truckers are not following any one. They are expressing their concern the best they know how. I think you can learn from them. As you need to be more specific to get your point across and you are not.

      the 80-20 rule says that 20% of the people produce what the other 80% enjoy. I am wondering where you think you sit?

      Stupid is as stupid does?

    2. Hum do you now what else is making them fedup? They have to do a pcr test every time they want to return to Canada and quarantine!! Even though they had their 2 shots!!

  11. What a diverse and passionate response to an article! I suppose DJC must be thrilled to know his musings on politics reach such a wide and varied audience – it’s too easy to preach to just the choir. Perhaps one or two conservative minds will be changed after reading the calm and reasoned opinions found here, and Mr C’s responses are invariably polite. What excellent modelling.

    On the other hand, the spittle flecked tirades of the more vocally conservative readers of this blog are always a bit sad. From a writers perspective, bad grammar and spelling indubitably weaken ones argument, and we must dolefully shake our heads at the poor command of English of many conservative writers (who ironically are often at the forefront of moves to restrict the immigration of people for whom English is not their first language). One can just hear the pounding of the keys as they angrily pen their missives, especially the SEND button as they fire off their vitriol. I can hear and see it in my mind’s eye, and I wanly smile. Computers take a lot of abuse.

    The ability to repeat right wing talking points, regardless of logic or accuracy, is a guaranteed bore (although to be fair, there are daily repetitions of tired talking points from other regular commentators in this forum as well – you know who you are!). The demonization of the other side is pretty standard fare. But if one reads history, the only differences between the crazies of a century ago and today, is the advent of social media and the internet, which gives voice to all, and the disappearance of good editors. One weeps at what we have lost, while appreciating the democracy inherent in every perspective being heard. Voices screaming shrilly simultaneously just makes for unintelligible and exhausting walls of sounds – I like my discussions to be be a touch quieter and orderly – I cannot watch TV talk shows any more.

    I find it most interesting how the right has claimed the high ground of blind and blatant patriotism, be it provincially or federally. They argue that only their side cares, and that the left is out to destroy everything while in the secret clutches of (FILL IN BOOGEYMAN HERE. Points will be deducted if you make the easy and tired choices of Communists, Trudeau, Notley, or Soros). According to the right, Canada has been getting destroyed by the left for 150 years. I guess liberals are pretty incompetent, as Canada and Alberta still stand strong, regardless of who is in power. The left does not seem to be be so flagrantly flag waving. They will politely declare Canada is the greatest country on earth, and they will go to the Canada Day fireworks, and perhaps put a flag patch/sticker on their luggage when travelling overseas or the US. It is a patriotism of quiet confidence that one lives in a good place. For right wingers, they seem blind to that fact, and when questioned with which country is better than Canada (or province better than Alberta), they will invariably start humming and hawing – they know they have it good, that it is likely worse somewhere else, and they sound like entitled whiners. Question – who more naturally fits into the global reputation of Canadians – quiet, polite progressives, or angry, loud conservatives? Extolling rabid patriotism, and belittling others for lack thereof, is very American.

    I thank DJC for invariably writing about things from a pragmatically central POV. I don’t always agree with his assessments, but I deeply respect his reasoning. I appreciate the ardor, and the time, it took to pen a viewpoint, both from the writer of this opinion blog, and the replies from those who read it.

    To all those on the outside edges of the political highway – please stop driving like maniacs. We can all drive fast and get to where we are going if we respect the rules, other drivers and pedestrians, and show a bit of common courtesy. Road rage makes no sense – it is a waste of time and energy. IMO, this blog helps keep us out of the ditch, and hence is worth reading.

    1. “From a writers (writer’s) perspective, bad grammar and spelling indubitably weaken ones (one’s) argument, and we must dolefully shake our heads at the poor command of English of many conservative writers (who ironically are often at the forefront of moves to restrict the immigration of people for whom English is not their first language).

      Also, your parentheses were completely redundant and you should have used a comma.

      Pragmatically central? What an absolutely out of touch, arrogant, braindead twat you must be. You and this author are the most hateful and vitriolic wankers on this entire page! I can smell the smug through my phone and it made me throw up in my mouth! Try some self awareness for the love of God. Unreal.

      1. K, you should have used a comma to before the “and” in your last sentence to indicate a coordinating conjunction. This would have created a greater effect for the second independent clause. I might have preferred, though, to use a colon or an em dash to before the independent clause, “it made me throw up in my mouth”, to provide an even greater emphasis. Of course, this observation is sheer pedantry on my part to illustrate a point. Whether Enz should have used parenthesis or not is a matter of rhetorical judgement. I will give the author the benefit of the doubt on this one, based on the skill I see present in the writing. And, let’s be fair. No matter how good a writer you are, you will always need an editor. We all make mistakes with punctuation, spelling, etc.

        Enz’s comment was beautifully written, balanced, and contained perceptive observations, including the fact that many of the conservative commentators tend to have poor writing and communication skills. I can confirm this observation. In fact, your post, which quickly devolved into a crude ad hominem attack, is a case in point. I really love clever and witty insults. Too bad, you could not even muster this in response to the comment. Sad.

  12. There is this statistic going around the US that more Americans have died of COVID with the availability of a vaccine that when Trump was president and there was no vaccine.

    While this claim is, by the numbers, true, there is something very interesting that is being ignored.

    With the election of Biden and the various vaccine mandates and other initiatives to convince unvaxxed Americans, including encouragement from Trump himself, to get vaxxed, the vaccine has become a political issue. There are many Americans, from pretty much every sector and every region, who not only opposed to getting the vaccine, they are going out of their way to, in the pursuit of acquiring the much vaunted natural immunity to COVID by actually getting infected with COVID and taking their chances. Of course, many are claiming that they are impervious to the virus, thanks to, either, being in amazing health and fitness, or being vaccinated by the “Blood of Christ”.

    https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/12/05/1059828993/data-vaccine-misinformation-trump-counties-covid-death-rate

    While this smacks of an amazing conspiracy theory, it a fact that may actually be playing out. So much so that now the once vaccine-skeptical Foxnews is now begging their viewers to get vaccinated, because the fear that the GOP voting base might be killing themselves off.

    Looking to the situation in Canada, and the similar temperament that’s being encouraged, there can be no doubt that the drive to build up the Anti-vaxx tribe in Canada is being inspired and, perhaps, financed by dark-CON money.

    So now truckers are now the weakest link and they are demanding that they are exempt from getting the jab because … they have trucks. My only response to this is great. Go ahead.

    Has anyone seen a long-haul trucker these days? Sitting and not moving for hours and hours on end, for weeks, then months, and then years, has put a toll on their bodies and, of course, their health. Without a doubt, these drivers are not the picture of health, and likely have acquired all kinds of pre-existing conditions that will make a COVID infection that much more aggressive. And there’s also the claim that the Omicron Variant is “mild”. Mild compared to what? Given the twists and turns of this pandemic, it’s the next variant that could be another game-changer that will throw expectations out the window. Again.

    But if this is all about FreeDUMB, go ahead. There’s a place in every hospital parking lot that will be dubbed “FreeDUMBville”. The unvaxxed infected can go there, lay own on the pavement, and enjoy their FreeDUMB.

    In the end, the win is fewer CON voters and that’s something I can get behind.

    1. Just Me – a good name for you.
      Why is it you who believe the VAX cult of it being the “only way” sit there in arrogance and write comments that may or may not be merited factually, yet you cannot resist the spewing of hate at those who you disagree with.

      Your end message is fewer CON voters. Meaning you like the fact that they die. Subtle.

      While this is a blog about honest hard working every day truckers protesting an illogical rule that affects their income. They drive to give everyone the goods on a daily basis, you mock them.

      So you disagree with the fact they are protecting yours and their freedoms?
      Are you upset with them because they are the ones that get all the goods to the stores and you may have to do without?
      Are you thinking only you deserve any rights because all these other people who disagree with your “just me” attitude deserve to die?
      The vax pass makes you fell “greater” than those that don’t have one?
      You enjoy apartheid? Until it’s against you of course. “Just Me”
      Your web choice of data is about as anti trump as they come and doesn’t display any “facts” to support it. Good choice!
      Thinking on what you have said and the way you have said it, you must be a very selfish and self centered person.
      What a wicked web we weave “Just me”

  13. These truckers are not Domestic Terrorists, they are actually heroes for standing up for all Canadians, I am very grateful to them for having the courage to do what they are doing and may God bless them all .

    1. I do believe readers who disagree should have an opportunity to respond. Also, it’s a teaching opportunity for my regular readers now and again to see the quality of thinking on the other side of the chasm. DJC

      1. Holy cows! Those responses, though! Thanks, I guess, for the reveal.
        Way too much emotion for any reasonable thinking to prevail.

  14. DJC, so you must have really hit a sore spot (the truth always hurts) because we were discussing yesterday ,who was behind the go-fund-me ,especially since the rhetoric sounded alot like campaign material from the last election.
    And surprise,surprise, M Bernier has showed up this weekend as well, hmmm??
    You’re also spot on about the fact that consumers are going to be a” wee bit miffed ‘ for any further delays/shortages especially when it’s being caused by the guys that are supposed to be delivering the goods.
    One trucker on Global said he’s not against vaccines ,but he’s going because he’s going to lose his job, no..it means you can still drive in Canada, and with the US mandates as of Saturday, it’s your own personal choice as to whether or not you want to work– just as in having a driver’s license, insurance etc, Regulations for truckers have always been stringent for safety reasons.
    And for Nana , stop watching Fox, listening to Oan , and other “National Enquirer ” news, those little green aliens don’t give a flying bleep about you, no really!!

    1. Welcome to the WRONG side of history. By making a complaint against the freely donated funds toward a push for FREEDOM from nonsensical and immensely damaging mandates that have destroyed health and businesses and lives of millions of Canadians over the past 2 years, you are inscribing yourself in the book of the wrong side of history and of those who would have turned their neighbors in to the Nazis to be killed for choosing NOT to receive an experimental treatment which has no liability on the manufacturers and is being coerced and pushed on everyone all over the world at the same time as it’s been shown to NOT work as advertised and to have caused MORE serious adverse events reported on VAERS in less than 2 years than the TOTAL of ALL Vaccines in the last 20 plus years. These are Crimes Against Humanity that are being committed, with the largest ever run experiment on Humans still playing now with all who have been vaqqed playing nothing more than guinea pigs in a never ending hamster wheel while slowly losing all of their natural immune system abilities. Time to wake up and join the Great Awakening. Take back your health, take back your freedom, take back your life. The end of external authorities is coming. We don’t need governments for our health or for our businesses and they are about to find out how non-essential THEY really are. Good bye government. It’s been a blast –for you. We won’t miss you. #sovereign beings unite for humanity. #medicalfreedom #justiceiscoming #lockthemallup

      1. If everyone wants to have an opinion, then allow others their opinion as well without put downs, or name calling, use your God given brain, and learn from the comments and determine whether they make sense, or if they are factual.
        Name calling does not make one appear to be a smart or anyone who anyone may want to associate with, or even take seriously.
        Why are we getting immigrants from other countries coming here, because they want the freedoms we have, so wake up people don’t destroy what good we already have.

        And if my spelling or punctuation is not correct too bad, nobody will be injured by it.

  15. Have you seen any reports on how many of the “thousands” of trucks are actually on the road? If there were thousands they would have images of them stretching for miles, but the only images I can find only show a couple of dozen.

    I have an idea. Instead of going to Ottawa, why not just CROSS THE BORDER! Imagine the look on the US border folks’ faces when we roll by, honking our horns and giving them the finger!

    1. Disturbed;

      Thank you for your comments. I have always wondered at the intelligence level when the name calling starts. It has now infected left, right, and center thinkers who think with their emotions, not with their brains.
      Yet the vileness of the “woke” amazes me. They always like to get in the “die opponent die” sentiment and at varying degrees try to sound smart.
      I spent days on Notley’s page trying to see where they were coming from but mostly got hate speech. There were a few that had lots of information & links. I can respect that. But he too came out with hate when challenged.
      Sad it was. So thank you! For the most part I am confident in what I say and what I believe. I quote the laws that are being broken, the stats that prove much of this wrong. If the “science” matches the statistics that helps the “science lots”.
      Opinions are opinions and they are fun to share. But if you are pro VAX like me, I’m just pro vax. No Harm intended. I am not PRO MRNA shots yet. And I hate people hating each other over a simple SARS COV 2 cold virus. I have had Alpha and Delta, never even felt alpha, delta knocked me on my ass for 5 days but I’m 66 now and don’t do as well with my liver and rotating skin Cancer. To me it’s still just a cold virus. Been with us forever. It has killed thousands every year but nobody paid any attention to it until some one decided to make billions off covid.
      Life goes on. Thanks again DISTURBED. (I am too!)

  16. Reply to ENZ , Thank you!! One of the reasons why I read this daily is for the insights that DJC and people like yourself have the capability to put things into perspective with wit ,wisdom and clarification …Bravo !!

    1. Strong words, Brian.
      Didn’t your mother ever tell you, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothing at all?”

  17. I can’t understand how an organization like GoFu**Me can get around money-laundering laws. How is this allowed when chartered banks have to report suspicious transfers of $10,000 and up?

    https://www.fintrac-canafe.gc.ca/reporting-declaration/rpt-eng

    Surely the transfer of millions of dollars to an ad hoc group through this entity should trigger an alert. This seems fishy to me. GFM is not a registered charity. Nobody who contributes to these fundraisers has any assurance that the money will go anywhere but into the pockets of whoever organized them. Time after time, we’ve seen fraudulent use of such fundraisers by people with dubious motives. Some fundraisers do what they say they’ll do, for charitable purposes, but nothing is guaranteed.

    As for me, I am beyond disgusted with the kinds of things I’ve seen on GFM, everything from: “Oops, we started renovating our house and now we need money for everything from drywall to insulation to nails (didn’t think we’d need money before we took down the walls, silly us. Donations in kind unwelcome.)”; to, “We need money to stay free of charge in charity accommodations.” What?

    Millions of dollars of dark money: that’s what we have here, in my opinion. We have no idea if the “donors”, even the small ones, are who they say they are, either. It’s the perfect place to wash and rinse ill-gotten gains.

  18. An interesting group of comments today. You’ve really attracted the Maverick Party loyalists. They are providing lots of entertainment through their poorly researched and illogical comments.

    Perhaps one day you could do a blog about how the Maverick Party lost it’s right to use the name ‘Wexit’ through the incompetence of its leaders who failed to properly register the name.

  19. I think it’s wonderful how these senior idiots go around pretending what great conservatives they are while they believe every lie a well known Liberal turned Reformer in Jason Kenney feeds them. Like Ralph Klein the guy has never been a real conservative. It proves to our young people just how stupid they really are. I was asked by a university student about a year ago if I was another one of those stupid seniors who helped Jason Kenney get elected , like his stupid grandparents did.

    As the former conservative MLAs that I knew would point out, it’s easy to tell the difference between a conservative and a reformer. The true conservatives would be collecting proper royalties and taxes like Lougheed did, and running the province properly while these Reformers will be helping their rich friends steal the peoples wealth and forcing the people into a lot more privatization, while spreading their lies.

    None of these MLAs were surprised that all these Reformers had been defeated in elections Preston Manning, Stephen Harper, Brian Jean , Danielle Smith, Jim Prentice , Andrew Scheer and now you can add Erin O’Toole when the people found out what they stood for. We can bet Jason Kenney will be next they said.

    It doesn’t surprise any of the true conservatives in my world that the idiots that support these fools aren’t smart enough to provide any intelligent solutions to any of the messes these reformers have created other than idiotic comments. It’s all they have.

    I hope I have been sarcastic enough I fully intended to be.

  20. If you’ve thought about this for more than five minutes, Alberta will never ever or, be able to separate from Canada. The idea of Alberta separation, only fuels the delusional beer crowd to feel better between rounds.

  21. Well if you can’t find facts you can always use foul language. Very impressive. I am wondering what an infiliation is? Can’t seem to find that in my OED. Anyway, I don’t see Jay Hill offering any counter facts. And Jay, what deal is Quebec getting that Alberta needs. I certainly don’t see Alberta as an independent nation. No unique culture, and an economy to paraphrase the late Rene Levesque, that will become like northern Oklahoma after the oil is gone. Th oil sands will always be uneconomic to mine. Saudi oil is way cheaper. Let’s hope someone figures out how to diversify the Alberta economy before Rene’s prediction comes true. Perhaps the rest of Canada may well hope Alberta leaves, if the economy goes terribly pear shaped. Less expense for other taxpayers. That’s what a fiscal conservative would hope for, I would think.
    Anyway, perhaps Albera could become a state in the USA

  22. No doubt someone or some people will make out like bandits with the GoFundMe monies.

    Not certain what the issue is since Canada’s regulations mirror those of the US. Clearly the trucks have to be able to cross both borders.

  23. So. Is there a concomitant ‘demonstration’ south of the 49th Parallel, funded to a ratio equivalent to population – which would come to some $18.2 millions=$14.5 millions U.S.? As mentioned in many parts and places, the Excited States does not allow Canadian truckers who are unvaccinated to drive into that country. So what is the deal?
    Have to wonder too – were there no vaccines, even if not of the type that have been granted approval throughout the 20th century [Mumps vaccine was the quickest to complete approval and it took 4 years!], how many people, actual human beings, would now be dead compared to present statistics {which persons are not by the way}? Comparing the numbers of persons who are affected poorly, even to dying, by the mRNA vaccines to the numbers of persons who died before there were any vaccines available might be a competent analogy.

    1. A certain junior family member of mine called it the “ignited states” as a youngster. As always, children call it like they see it.

  24. Thnx for your editorial mercy sparing us readers the flame you regularly get in reaction to copy and comments on this excellent site. Can readers assume reaction is unusually piqued by this particular story because you’ve allowed a few more examples than usual today?

    If so, it’s not surprising. Truckers and trucking are important; that’s why they’re also enduring tropes of cultural entertainment—a sub-genre of a sub-genre in Country-n-Western music and on screens silver-n-small—that persist as mythologically as Yankee cannonballs in reconstructed museums of the American Old South, so much so that current affairs should immediately remind that serial reaction has been crossing the scales since White House carls roved the Bush League presiduncial administration almost a quarter century ago and don’t deserve more any attention than that. Culturally, the legendary wagon train crosses history’s longest bi-national boarder in continuous stream and, in tangible increments, in trucks, big rig after big rig, both directions, 24/7/365. It’s ordinarily ordinary and everyday, but when it isn’t, it doesn’t mean the country is being destroyed or that citizens are somehow directed to hate Alberta: it means there’s an issue to raise, debate and resolve.

    And then there’s reality. But what is it? Long hours and low pay, dangerous road conditions, and Covid inconveniences everyone has had to deal with for the last two years? Or another tentacle writhing out of US culture wars: anti-vaxxerism, anti-immigration, anti-choice, and anti-govmint? Both are real, unfortunately, but only one is about reality.

    Typically, info-overloaded citizens are too distracted to much ponder the critical lynchpins of conspicuous consumerism of which trucking is the major player—until, that is, they’re inconvenienced by supply-line interruption. Thus, public perceptions can be easily manipulated and considered opinion be warned that, ‘if-you-can-read-this-YOU’RE TOO CLOSE!” But only as far as it goes (them’s the brakes…)

    Odds are that casual observers will initially confuse sympathy with BC truckers’ protest that mountain-passes are getting too dangerous with this latest trucker headline which, scratched a little deeper, looks suspiciously like ulterior motive its propagandists hope to conceal behind the mythic icon of long haul trucking. It’s as if anti-vaxxer exegetes reinterpret typical truckers’ back-door signage: “if-you-can-read-this-I-CAN’T-SEE-YOU!” —that is, like a toddler imagines invisibility by covering cher eyes. But, now that they have squealed their position, our eyes are attracted to a rather childish-looking stab at avoiding the jab.

    The Soviet collapse delivered my own trucking epiphany: if the movement of goods isn’t secure, an economy becomes parochial to the point of impoverishment as surely as it did in Dark Age Europe when quasi-official toll booths manned by self-appointed goons made the establishment of customary coin currency moot and 99% of the population one of the most abjectly poor in all of human history. (Endurance of this truth is reflected in pervasive impoverishment, attendant corruption, apathy and intoxication in post-Soviet Russia despite happening in the modern era of technology which had ameliorated mass poverty in Europe some centuries ago).

    With Covid, supply-chain disruptions, and rising inflation (most noticeably, food, fuel, &c), ulterior motive infecting legitimate truckers’ complaints isn’t likely to go as virally stealthy as perps would like—not by cherrypicked historiographies, not by pretentious patriotism, not by ad hominem, and not by any pseudoscience. Except, perhaps, the dismal one, in the sense that two days of any lunar month were once deemed unpropitious back in the supposed ‘good old days’ retrogressive conservatives would have us return to: give it a generous one-in-fourteen chance of lasting very long. And even longer odds that it’ll have salutary effect—or, for that matter, any lasting effect at all.

    For one thing, making average citizens even more Covid-miserable by constipating rubber-tire supply lines won’t ever become populist politics: the large majority of citizens have cooperated with pandemic protocols so are even less likely to join any herd that insultingly (and hypocritically) brands them “sheeple.” The barely veiled association with wannabe tRumpublicans in Canda will ship about as well as Harper’s niqab campaign zinger (just before his first and last majority was thrashed at the polls). Headlines last only as long as a splash because the bigger the splish, the more likely audiences are to research factors which clarify the confusion far-right, anti-immigrant bigots like Maxime Bernier want to stitch into the unrelated context of pandemic protocols. For example, the recent truckers’ protest in BC was about road conditions, not border-crossing protocols or anything else; but, on closer inspection, it also featured a large contingency of South Asian-Canadian Sikhs who happen to be BC’s expert truckers whose legitimate complaint about road safety is respected by everyone; it didn’t feature white, pseudoChristian bigots like the ones then-Conservative leader Andrew Scheer endorsed as they parasitized a truckers’ rally in Ottawa, waving placards depicting Prime Minister Trudeau hung by the neck, dead, above blazons of “TRAITOR!” and “TREASON!” (just before Scheer’s CPC was thrashed at the polls). These agents provocateurs are no friends to truckers: they detract from negotiations by which real truckers’ concerns may be addressed. That they focus hatred on the authorities who make the rules suggests resolution regulation issues is not their real goal.

    But, really, allowing “wolves” of Odin in goats-of-Thor-clothing who get pissed on their own vinegar to attend truckers’ rallies of legitimate complaint is about as endearing as tatted goons in runic tunics beating peace officers with flagstaffs of the Lost Cause while their Bros post vids of them blaming Antifa for melting ice-roads. What real trucker ever wants to be forced onto a credibility runaway lane like that?

    Scratch thin hides a tad deeper to see maudlin cant, identity politics, hyper-partisanship and xenophobic misconceptions of freedom, rights, and patriotism (that is, bigoted perversions that freedom is only for the right to be as pure as it wants). Then, just a bit deeper than hype would like, reveal a troubling history which truckers have every right to complain about: the decades-old, neo-right, ideological transition from unionized, in-house trucking to independent contracting which has pushed owner-operators to drive longer hours and absorb more costs less profitably; negative-replacement-rate recruitment; truckers forced to sell their homes and share shifts with spouses just to stay afloat; increasing exposure and sensitivity to economic speed bumps along the way; &c. The cloverleaf at which all these challenges converge is no lucky one. It certainly isn’t truckers’ fault that many take their expertise and value for granted.

    The first skill is to ignore distractions like anti-vaxxerism and rubber-duckyism; then all concerned can get on with purchasing traction on the real issues. When it comes to trucking, “all concerned” means just about everybody—which probably explains why reaction to this article is as sharp as it appears: this issue, probably more than many others, reveals yet more condemnable fallout from four decades of neo-liberal globalization which the confluence of consequences has brought us to these apocalypses. Nonetheless, the still-substantial proportion of people grinding gears does not mean the paradigm shift is a “hoax.” In the circumstance, competition from electric cars is hardly the threat the Flintstones make it out to be.

    Truckers do have very serious, legitimate concerns which citizens should understand and share, not the Phantom 309 drama some truckers have been conned into joining today (no offence to Tom Waits)

    Today you can hug a trucker at a safe distance.

    Beep-Beep! We love you, truckers! Keep on truckin’!

  25. You sir are a tool of the authoritarian state …im hoping these truckers can help return Canada to a free country again …the unvaccinated are getting covid and spreading it while fully vaccinated …wake-up you moron and stop toadying for big pharma ….(and do some research so you get your facts straight)

  26. What a lot of ROT mixed into this article. This is a PEACEFUL protest backed up by millions of Canadians. We have a right to FIRE the illegal Gov’t of Canada. They are unelected and NOT doing a job to support Canadians.
    We do NOT comply to any mandates!!! They are all unlawful!

    1. I expect better performance for my $30-million a year. This is dollar store material. I’d like to talk to your manager at the War Room.

  27. A BIG TRIPLE THUMBS DOWN TO YOU DAVID! Write the FACTS and Truth! Not what you are told you are Allowed to write. Making up sensationalism with this, doesn’t cut the mustard!

  28. Good of you to have opened the comments for this round. It’s important that more people understand just how far gone 20% of the population is. Deluded, deranged, dumb, and hateful with it. They’re dangerous, and all the more dangerous for being unseen. Like termites in the walls. Except termites, I was recently informed, have been reclassified amongst the cockroaches, whereas these people are more like an invasive species of hornet.

  29. Its confirmed here just how under-developed, Albertans are. I think albertans would and could seperate if the opportunity was there. Not the brightest herd, got plenty of family there. “Gitter done Son, just like it has always been”. Easily lulled by America and their politics/ propaganda creating confusion.

    1. Dan, kindly do not lump all Albertans together and tar us with the same brush. While there is definately a “Texas of the north” population which is very vocal, much like Trump supporters, there are also a lot of educated, science based individuals that have opposable thumbs and functioning cortices that are quite capable of individual thoughts and deductions.

  30. there should be 2 things every human has a choice to and that is either you get the vaccine and become imune that way ((witch results are showing lately that you are not immune)) or you chose to take the risk of getting covid and become immune that way. Its called being an adult

    1. There’s a little more to be an adult than making choices. Part B is you except responsibility for the consequences of those choices. The consequences for not being vaccinated is that you can’t cross the border.

    2. I couldnt agree more, but it doesnt matter which side of the fence a person is on, the problem is that there is a fence. Divided, degraded, conquered, under wtf, just waste. Everyone just wants to make rent, off others backs, any loopholes to be found. Dont worry, I am nothing to be proud of, just waste like the rest of you, no better, even if honest work is to be found.

  31. David, it seems the supply chain issues in this country have seriously constrained the supply of aluminum foil from which to construct hats, given the volume & intensity of vitriol this post has attracted.

    One update on the GoFundMe campaign: I saw media reports that the site’s volunteer administrators have frozen the assets in this particular fund while they investigate the campaign.

    1. Good for go fund me. I was wondering where the aluminum foil went. Yesterday I went shopping for curry powder, none to be found. Do these people use it as fuel to stay feverish?

  32. Last comment. Covid 19 is to be sustained like Viet nam, the war is here at home folks. A new industry to be subsidized by your government and most importantly your FEAR. Create new jobs to pay the pensions, to support your country where u Live. We have been gutted of all the sweat-quity this country ever had. War is always the default, so you can choose to be innovative or rely on the old and outdated if you like. There is a childish enthusiasm about Alberta that I sometimes admire but it is unsustainable in the big picture. “Hammer down, hair straight back”, my uncle says. Luvit.

    1. Chantelle: I suspect your opinion is a pretty good summary of the Canadian right’s true commitment to freedom of expression nowadays. DJC

  33. I think most of the red neck hillbilly idiots have voiced their opinion and shown the rest of Canada just how stupid they really are. I can just imagine how many are smoking pot, can’t you? By tying up the highway you can guess how many average Canadians they piss off.

    I remember when the farmers did it here when they didn’t like Notley’s farm protection plan and turned a trip to the airport for some into a nightmare and somehow they though that would impress people when all it did was prove how stupid they were. They had been the ones whining about not having a farm worker protection plan for years and blaming it on our conservative governments, yet when the NDP give them one they don’t want it. Did they ever get one after Kenney cancelled Notley’s .

  34. Bill1 is supported by those on the right? Right? Yet they seem to be supporting a protest on critical infrastructure (Trans Canada Highway). Perhaps the Alberta Provincial Police (nudge, nudge, wink, wink) can round them up on the way back into Alberta in a week or so. Maybe stop them at the “firewall”. That is completed isn’t it?

    1. …..as contrasted by $14,120.00 raised by two moms for respirators for Alberta schools (N95). So there is that.

  35. This is about our rights as Canadians, turn off your television and really look into the B.S. the government is spewing. Have a beautiful day friend.

  36. David Climenhaga;
    Thanks for your blog. I know they are work.
    It was fun. I learned a bit as I always do. Dissenting voices are always s fun if it’s able to teach someone new things.

    In a way I am learning that there is a whole proportion of society that is very opinionated yet really don’t get it. . Keep your emotions in check, but don’t stop them up so much you lose motivation.

    These days you cannot trust almost anything. You need to test it.

    Especially if it’s the “narrative”. The truth is scarce and often over whelmed with propaganda. Keep your eyes open my friend and never forget to be kind and to be fair.
    Cheers

  37. I voted for Justin T in the first election so I would say I am not conservative. However, I donated money to GoFundme as well because I believe in no mandate for any medical treatment. What Justin Trudeau is doing is beyond what human beings would do. Soon, he will try to inject all children in Canada in the name of the Corona virus which is happening in the US. Washington DC passed a bill for the informed decision age to 11 years old so they inject kids without parents’ consent. This is just beyond disgusting (https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/dc-vaccine-minors/2020/10/20/7378801e-12e4-11eb-ba42-ec6a580836ed_story.html).

    Please don’t make everything into politics. Not everyone who donated money has a political agenda.

  38. Questions? ? If the truckers left Prince Rupert on Saturday , collected burs along the way to Ottawa ,to arrive Jan 29th ,weather not withstanding, (and is this a one day affair?)and then travelling back home in supposedly same amount of time, 12- 14 days, appr, are they on holiday time off, do they have backing from their employers for said time off ,even contract workers get dinged for not being available when needed. If they are complaining about losing work, hardships,why are they dragging the families with them across Canada,..
    in January,
    I fail to see the logic— oh, right

    Sidebar: Everytime I see one of these “protesters” dragging the flag upside down, I want to take it away from them and say, ” if you don’t respect it, leave the country– 2 words , and they aren’t Happy Motoring ..

  39. It was nice to see so many people coming out to show support for the truckers last evening. An incredibly diverse crowd, supporting a group that was essential in getting us through the pandemic. The political spin of course that these are right-wing separatists is just that spin. As we see more and more groups that were not that long ago asked to work during the pandemic hit with medical mandates we can only hope they get the same level of support. The narrative is crumbling fast as more and more people wake up. It will become harder and harder to spin this as only fringe groups opposed to medical mandates. It was so disheartening to see Notley, once someone who stood up for working people and public education, tweet demands that AHS be in the schools giving our kids shots they don’t need. A shill for big pharma where once the left had champions who railed against large corporations. This pandemic, if nothing else, has really shown people who our politicians are. Kenney, well we kind of already knew this, is a weak leader who avoids tough decisions and always makes sure there is someone else to blame. Notley’s authoritarian side came out and really only cares about regaining power. Most union leaders are only interested in advancing their own political careers on the backs of workers.
    Last evening did provide hope that we will get through this and can come together as a country. We just have to hope Trudeau doesn’t do anything stupid maybe now would be a good time to run off and go surfing.

  40. If you are vaxed, I want you FUCKED to death.
    No more conversation. ALL I WANT is a fist buried into every last one of your commie fucking faces.

    1. Dear Readers: Contributions of this sort are neither helpful nor insightful and do tend to lower the quality of discourse. As regular readers of this blog know, I do tend to delete comments of this sort. However, I thought in the particular case of this post, which has provoked a number of comments similar to this, it served a useful teaching purpose for readers to see the quality of thought on the anti-vaxx right. I upcoming posts on the same topic I will return to my previous policy. DJC

      1. If only there was some kind of monetary way to show you we appreciate what you do?
        Like a link on the right hand side of the page to an online payments system. /s

  41. My eight year old grandson wants to know why these truckers are such cowards? He and and his ten year old brother got a shot and it wasn’t that scary. They fully intend to get more of them.

    1. Wow what a comment, likely heavily influenced by parents and grandparents no doubt. Does an eight year old really understand the consequences of such a decision? Who are they taking the shot for? So many parents risking the long term health of their children for convenience. We will be out of this at some point and hope and pray the damage to children is minimal.

  42. By the time they get to Ottawa they’ll have been in they’re own little bubble going across the country, by the time they get to Toronto, they end up going full Nazi. This is just an example of how conservatives in this country are waging a war of political intimidation.

  43. For all my Potemkin acquaintances? I have a deep wellspring of tolerance for you and my family, and their neighbours who encouraged their children to make my life a misery. I have tried to find music for you all. Nothing quite https://youtu.be/aA2IRoPFIn0?t=4fits, but my perspective is flawed by your cruelty. Yup. It is what it is!

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