American symbolism bedecks a truck on Wellington Street in Ottawa (Marc-André Cossette, @MarcCossette/Twitter).

Where are Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and his United Conservative Party now that evidence is accumulating the disruptive and threatening “Freedom Convoy” occupation of Ottawa is being funded and supported by far-right activists in the United States? 

Mr. Kenney and his crowd, after all, were the guys who demanded a “public inquiry” into alleged foreign funding of Canadian environmental charities opposed to further development of the Alberta oilsands. 

2020 is 1776? Would a Canadian have made this sign, seen in Ottawa last week? (Photo: Twitter).

But the inquiry by Calgary accountant Steve Allan turned out to be a flop. Last fall, after zero public hearings, it delivered a report concluding the environmental non-governmental organizations had done nothing wrong, which was nevertheless spun into defamatory hot air by Mr. Kenney.

By contrast, the evidence of American interference in the attempt to overthrow the recently re-elected Liberal government of Canada with truck blockades supposedly protesting provincial vaccine mandates is compelling. 

The paw prints of malign actors like former Trump Administration ideologue Steve Bannon are all over the occupation of Ottawa by the “Freedom Convoy” and disruptions of other Canadian cities and transportation corridors by far-right rent-a-mobs. 

Journalist Sandy Garosinno, a lawyer and expert on the Canadian charitable sector, calls the $10.1 million raised by convoy protest organizers’ GoFundMe campaign in the two weeks before the crowd-funding site suspended it Friday “extremely suspect.”

“If you think there’s something extremely fishy about the GoFundMe ‘Freedom’ campaign, you’re onto something,” she wrote in the National Observer. 

For one thing, she said, “the campaign’s donation pattern is wholly unreliable. To any knowledgeable observer just looking at the data itself, the irregularities are a five-alarm fire.”

GoFundMe did not attempt to verify the identities of donors, and admitted accepting foreign donations for a campaign to dissolve Parliament less than five months after a free and fair election in which a clear majority of voters supported parties in favour of vaccine mandates. 

Journalist Sandy Garosinno (Photo: Alex Tetrault, National Observer).

At least a third of the donors were not identified by GoFundMe, Ms. Garosinno said, and the use of fake names and stolen identities was rampant. 

Readers will recall that allowing political parties to use the names of real people without their consent in party nomination elections, with their fees paid by unidentified third parties, is a fraudulent practice that was recently legalized in Alberta by Mr. Kenney’s UCP Government. 

Ms. Garosinno also noted that the massive success of a previously unknown fund-raiser for a political cause that is not a registered charity completely breaks the normal pattern of successful Canadian fund-raising campaigns. “Any Canadian fund-raiser will tell you this number is impossible to achieve organically within Canada,” she stated. 

When California-based GoFundMe shut down the campaign, citing illegal activities by the occupiers, the convoy organizers switched to GiveSendGo, a Delaware-based “Christian” crowdfunding site, which now claims to have collected donations of $3.1 million from about 31,000 donors with a campaign goal of $16 million. 

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney (Photo: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr).

According to the Ottawa Police, as reported by the Washington Post, “a ‘significant element’ from the United States has been involved in the participation, funding and organization of a self-described ‘Freedom Convoy’ that has for several days jammed streets in the capital.” The revelation of U.S. interference in Canadian affairs seems to have been greeted with little concern in the United States.

“This exercise has the hallmarks of an op, complete with the potential for wire fraud and money laundering,” Ms. Garossino said.

Add to this the noisy support for the “Freedom Convoy” among far-right media and politicians in the United States and you get a pretty clear idea of where a large part of the funds originated. 

Former U.S. President Donald Trump and his eponymously named son both pumped the protest, as did billionaire Elon Musk. 

In a statement, the elder Mr. Trump called Canada’s prime minister “far-left lunatic Justin Trudeau who has destroyed Canada with insane Covid mandates,” showing a remarkable level of ignorance for a former head of state about Canadian jurisdictions, the reliable neoliberalism of Mr. Trudeau, and the current undestroyed state of the Dominion. 

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Photo: Justin Trudeau/Flickr).

Apparently also unaware that Canada in a sovereign country, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and state officials in Virginia and Louisiana vowed to investigate GoFundMe for not handing the cash donated by U.S. supporters to the law-defying rent-a-mob. 

Well, to give Mr. DeSantis his due, he’s probably right to say American donors should get back the money now permanently frozen by GoFundMe – if only to help Canadian authorities identify who those donors were. How Americans would pay their medical bills without GoFundMe remains a mystery. 

Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, the notorious white supremacist and Qanon follower, called GoFundMe “corporate communists” and said “they should be arrested” for interfering with the right of Americans to fund insurrection in Canada. 

Right-wing American media personalities also piled on. For example, according to Fox News bloviator Tucker Carlson, “there’s no more fearful despot than Canada’s prime minister.” Lately Mr. Carlson has developed a certain fondness for Russian President Vladimir Putin, the usual recipient of such vilification by the United States, so I suppose someone had to be chosen for the role of scapegoat.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump, now a strong advocate of American interference in Canadian politics (Photo: Michael Vadon, Creative Commons).

There is also wide use of iconic U.S. symbols by the truck protesters in Canada – among them, the U.S. Stars and Stripes national flag, the Confederate battle flag, Trump 2024 flags, and the Gadsden Flag, the yellow “don’t tread on me” banner first used by American rebels against the British Crown in 1775. 

My personal favourite, though, seen on hand-lettered signs among the crowd in Ottawa, is “2022 is 1776.” This is a reference to the year the American traitors to the Crown signed their Declaration of Independence. That led to war with Britain and the eventual influx of about 40,000 Loyalist refugees into Canada. The Loyalists played a key role in the development of this country’s unique national character. 

So, given their past concerns and their obsession with whitewashed colonial history, one would have thought Mr. Kenney and the UCP would have something to say about this undeniable interference in Canadian affairs by our powerful neighbour to the south. 

If nothing else, the occupation of Ottawa and disruptions in other Canadian cities last week has the appearance of a classic “colour revolution” of the sort promoted by Western governments – including Canada’s – in places like Kyiv and Kazakhstan.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who wants to punish GoFundMe for quitting the effort to fund insurrection in Canada (Photo: Gage Skidmore, Creative Commons).

Since it seems unlikely the White House and U.S. security agencies are involved, could this attempt to foment a Canadian Euromaidan be the first freelance colour revolution? 

Could it be, therefore, that Canada’s anti-vaccine convoys really are what Ms. Garossino calls “a dry run for an American uprising”?

One can only hope our Canadian security agencies are paying attention and are not so blinded by the desire to remain part of the “Five Eyes” intelligence-sharing club that they forget the interests of the country they serve.

Whatever Mr. Kenney and the like-minded group now in control of the Conservative Party of Canada might say, a serious Canadian investigation of the GoFundMe and GiveSendGo campaigns should be a national-security priority. 

Join the Conversation

66 Comments

  1. The sudden disappearance of the $10M GoFundme funds and the apparent and rapid decline of the size of the protest group in Ottawa seems to be somewhat related. Though the FreeDUMB Convoy organizers quickly moved to another funding platform, which seems to have no scruples about how its platform is used at all, it looks like the rent-a-mob has walked off the job. No money, no anarchy.

    With the rapid exit of so many protesters, Ottawa police were able to move on the Convoy, cutting off their fuel and food sources, and arresting those who sought to support the protesters. Quebec City, by far, had the most inventive action, by giving every semi-trailer truck coming to the protest a safety inspection. The result was dozens of tickets were handed out to the protesters for any number of infractions — infractions that could shut a trucker down permanently. Once word moved through the Convoy that this would be their fate, many truckers turned their rigs around and skedaddled.

    It is concerning the abundance of evangelicals who are involved in these protests. One wonders about the verity of their charitable status (if any) for their participation in violent political demonstrations. I’m sure the CRA is combing through them right now.

    And there’s the abundance of lawsuits that are landing on the FreeDUMB Convoy’s doorstep, that could stretch into the hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. The organizers surface today and declared they will fight every lawsuit with a counter-suit because of … FreeDUMB!!! Oh, and keep sending money because lawyers are expensive.

    It’s amazing what a difference a few days makes. Skippy Pollivere’s full-throated defense of common people with his endorsement of the Convoy and its foreign dark money donors leaves one wondering if he will pull a DeSantis and demand a parliamentary inquiry into what’s wrong with getting GoFundme dollars from anonymous donors for political actions — what about their right to overthrow a duly elected government and put PMJT in a box? Oh, the injustice of it all.

    Or Pollivere might pivot and say, “Convoy? What Convoy?”

    1. “…by giving every semi-trailer truck coming to the protest a safety inspection.”
      Breaker, breaker good buddies. Smokey Bears are checkin’ our axles. Get your asses outta here!

    2. Just Me

      The pop up safety inspection strategy by Quebec cops seems like a highly inventive and effective way of obstructing the truckers.
      Even though I’ve been following this situation very closely, I haven’t come across any reporting on this particular police action,
      Could you please reference your information source for us?
      Thanks.

      1. It was extensively reported on Radio-Canada and TVA, however, it may a Quebec-specific action and no other province may be able to legally apply it. It’s quite simple, as vehicle safety can be inspected at any time. In Alberta, however, there are bullet-riddled junkers all over the roads because …. FreeDUMB.

        Ottawa police are applying a similar tactic, in their case, ticketing for the improper storage and transport of fuels. The includes instances where police are stopping and ticketing those who are transporting fuels in leaky or unsafe containers, transporting fuels that are not in safety-approved containers, or carrying fuels by an unsafe means, like a child’s play wagon. Police have seized tremendous amounts of fuel. And there are instances where the police have ticketed for the unsafe deposit of fuel, in instances where the fuel has been spilled onto the ground. (they didn’t use a funnel or a hose-pump)

        It’s apparent that these morons haven’t a clue what they are doing, if they are protesting with unsafe commercial vehicles or improperly handling fuels. Wait until they go after the propane storage and the outdoor burning.

        Ticket them to death.

  2. They want to party like it’s 1776? I guess bouncy castles and portable saunas were all the rage then — and trucks! Here I thought that they thought 2022 is 1866, given the location so close to 90 Sparks Street.

    When I read the cries of foul play by GoFu**Me from the Texas Attorney General, it suddenly became clear why horses were added to the script in Ottawa, and way more horses between Milk River and Coutts. Give those cowboys their wild west show! Turn that highway into Bob’s Country Bunker, and show Paul Brandt both kinds of music — country AND Western: https://youtu.be/RdR6MN2jKYs

    What will Amazon.ca do if this foreign siege ends too quickly? They’ll be stuck with a lot of f*** Trudeau merchandise, and Gadsden flags.

    Just another day at the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party on the prairie, in the capital and multiple locations, wherever farmers have tractors and plenty of free time before seeding. I mean truckers.

    So many unanswered questions. So little done about any of it. Is it over yet?

  3. DJC ,I hope you manage to get some R&R ,this week, you are an outlet for the frustration we feel from what we see going on around us

    I concur ,Thank you for articulating all the thoughts running around in my head, I might get some sleep tonight, but it will be with 1eye open….poke the rabid dog……especially if it thinks it’s been tricked
    Question:(this is above my pay grade in “legalize”
    Criminal Code (RSC,1985.c.C-46)
    https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca=acts

    In Canada, sedition which includes speaking seditious words,publishing a seditious libel,and being party to a seditious conspiracy, is an indictable offense ,for which the maximum punishment is of 14 years imprisonment.

    So my question, isn’t that what Tamara and her crew are doing? Re: their letter of “demands” ….etc. and would you know who can lay these charges ,

    1 counter protestor in Vancouver ( who was against the bullies harassing hospitals etc. Lay in the intersection, 4 police carried him off, in Victoria a l’il old lady in a wheelchair tried to stop the convoy heading into the city, police came and moved her, just reading about 3 ladies in Ottawa that had blocked a dump truck & his minions, ..and called them sedtionists …., I think they were absolutely right.

    1. On Saturday in YEG I decided to throw a spontaneous anti-anti-vaxx temper tantrum and sat on my bike in front of a farm corporation machine burning taxpayer subsidized fuel and operating without insurance (i.e. illegally) .

      Some lunatic anti-vaxxer tried to assault my by grabbing my bike basket and pulling me. Luckily, a number of her friends were videoing her assault on me so, hopefully, that incriminating footage will show up somewhere. My brakes held, BTW, and studded bike tires grip better than you all think 😉

      It’s interesting how these anti-vaxx people will not tolerate any speech they don’t like while forcing theirs down our throats.

    2. To the best of my knowledge, sedition has never been used except against leftists in Canada and America. Tried to verify before posting, my google-fu failed me. I would welcome corrections from those more knowledgeable about this. For an example of the moral character of sorts of people who get convicted of sedition, here’s an excerpt from Eugene Debs statement to the US court upon being convicted of sedition:

      “Your Honor, years ago I recognized my kinship with all living beings, and I made up my mind that I was not one bit better than the meanest on earth. I said then, and I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element, I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.”

  4. Yes, definitely something fishy here. First of all the weird reaction when Canadian politicians said they wanted to look in foreign funding, that seemed to prompt Go Fund Me to quickly shut things down.

    Second, some highly placed southern US politicians got quite upset about shut down, as if they had some vested interest in all of this. Oh, yeah Trump and his Trumpkins were also worked up about all of this too.

    Third, Fox and other US right wing media seem all over recent Canadian events although some of what they say is a bit off – no, this is not the Boston Tea Party all over again. Do they do realize English Canada was founded by those against that Tea Party? Probably not, the US right wing seems too self absorbed to pull off something like this outside of their own country smoothly.

    It seems like those that tried to pull off the January 6 US insurrection got bored, or maybe felt they needed to practise and decided to branch out into foreign affairs. What will probably save us, as it did the US, is they really are not very competent about it this time either.

  5. Wow, now that the shoe is on the other foot we are all worried about foreign interference. Brings to mind the uproar over foreign funding of the anti-tar sands movement. It’s like Canadian elites believe the masses below them are incapable of organizing organic protest movements when they are unhappy about something.

    Maybe Trump is merely following the science when he called JT a lunatic. In the past Trump has boasted he was responsible for the vaccines which have “saved millions of lives” and has vehemently urged his followers to get vaccinated. Maybe he has been following the pronouncements of medical experts who say the vaccines are no longer effective against omicron, the latest being from the chief medical officer of Ontario who last week said there’s virtually no difference between a double-vaxxed person and an unvaccinated one.

    For those who are been defending vaccines to their very last political breath it must be discouraging. As a solace, I invite you to view the video below, two solid minutes of Donald Trump singing praises of the vaccine. Add your own music.

    https://youtu.be/hSfeCqKty9o

    1. The difference here is that there was no significant foreign funding of the anti-tar sands (odd choice of words for you to use) movement. That was a manufactured, fictional conspiracy designed to feed the outrage machine to get the useless UCP government elected. In fact, the report that the UCP government wasted our tax dollars on said that there was no significant foreign funding. When Kenney denied the results of the report and kept smearing environmentalists, he became a defendant in a libel lawsuit. Have you not been paying attention to the news?

      In the case of the faux trucker protest that, in one case, left real truckers stranded in dire circumstances (https://thelinkpaper.ca/indo-canadian-truckers-stranded-at-coutts-montana-entry-ask-for-help-in-viral-video/), there is lots of evidence of foreign funding by malevolent actors to disrupt the peace of our country and to advocate the overthrowing of our government, not just the removal of Covid-related mandates.

      1. Discouraging to me that those real truckers concerns were not platformed by any major media, while the swastika-waving criminals seemingly have access to every mic in the West. Is it too soon to point out that if these stranded truckers were white, they would have been seen as ‘worthy victims?’

      2. Some of the protesters I saw only wanted an end to the mandates which is reasonable. Those who are advocating the resignation of JT are out to lunch.

        1. I get the feeling you may be sincerely trying to engage in good faith with this comment, so I will respond respectfully and in good faith.

          We just had an election. The voters have spoken, and elected a government which prioritized the safety of the public over individual freedom. Totally fair to disagree with them and completely normal – I have disagreed with the voting public more often than not in my adult life. However, to attempt to overturn their will is to attempt to overturn democracy.

          I think Neoliberalism is being hoisted by its own petard with this crisis. If we taught history in schools, we would all know that democracy is historically very rare, fragile and short lived. Hell, if we even taught logic, the Kenneys and Pollievres of the world would never have gotten anywhere near public office and most of us would not be in debt from purchasing things we don’t need that won’t make us happy.

          The best solution I can find is for working people to come together in good faith and talk about what are problems. I think if we weren’t kept separated by racism, classism, sexism, party affiliation and pointless culture wars, we would realize that a lot of our problems have the same causes, and the same solutions.

        2. As Corey Hogan pointed out in a Strategist podcast last week, if you are in a meeting with 4 people and a Nazi shows up to join the meeting, you are in a meeting with 5 other Nazis. And, unless you leave the meeting, you are the 6th Nazi.

          Whether ending mandates is reasonable or not can be an acceptable subject for debate. What is not acceptable is being bullied by a bunch of thugs who are holding commerce and democratic institutions hostage.

      1. @Ken, Thanks for this! Excellent read. Some of the paper is worth quoting at length.

        Regarding one of the Omicron mutations, a “surface modification on N370, a glycan reside attached to that asparagine, which can also help with the immune evasion as it sits in the binding footprint common to many antibodies.”

        “This helps to explain the number of “breakthrough” infections of Omicron in previously-vaccinated people, but as soon as you say that you have to follow up with the fact that the vaccines also have done a remarkable job of keeping people out of the hospital, not to mention the ICU or the morgue. In country after country where these data have been collected, the previously unvaccinated have had remarkably greater chances of ending up with a serious infection from Omicron. We have been fortunate that the immune response brought on by vaccination has performed that well against a variant like this one that has a really long list of mutations compared to the original vaccination version of the Spike. Remember, when you say “immune evasion” you’re not saying “total immune evasion” – I think many people have been confused by that point. Vaccination (and prior infection) raise a whole host of different antibodies, some of which are rendered less effective by Omicron’s mutation profile and some of which aren’t. People who have had the actual coronavirus can get up to even higher and more effective immunity by getting vaccinated on top of that.”

        So, vaccinations work, even against Omicron. And, if you have been previously infected, you get an even stronger immune boost by getting vaccinated.

        Note that the article later points out that the mutations of Omicron make several monoclonal antibody treatments less effective. So, if you get a serious illness from an Omicron infection, there are fewer effective treatments for you. As the author states, “Omicron is now over 99% of all the coronavirus infections in the US, and these exact monoclonal antibodies are useless against Omicron. That ship has sailed. ”

        The point of the vaccine mandates is to encourage people to get vaccinated to help reduce the spread of infection and to keep our hospital capacity functional. The vaccines are safe and effective. Causing this level of disruption over the issue of vaccine mandates is stupid, dangerous, and unwarranted.

        1. Most of those ending up in hospitals are elderly with other health problems. Those are the ones who need vaccines. The vast majority of those who are younger and healthy will only have sniffles and a cold from omicron if they have any symptoms at all.

          1. RONMAC – You should try talking to the many younger healthy people who have had Covid/Omicron who won’t agree with your assertion that their experience was just ‘sniffles and a cold’ as you claim.

          2. RONMAC: Sorry, but omicron isn’t a cold, and it most definitely isn’t a flu. There are people who know that, because they have it.

    2. I do wish you would go away.

      Again with the false equivalence, as DJC pointed out? There was no “foreign funded” anti tar sands campaign. What are you even talking about ?

      Two different instances where Canadian conservatives tried to gin up outrage because they have evaporating electoral support? Ooooh you got us bud.

      What do I care if Trump supports the vaccine !? Vaccines aren’t partisan, they are apolotical. This campaign to politicize them is madness and idiocy.

      You’re so concerned with proving everyone else wrong you just own yourself over and over and over, give it up.

    3. Kenny’s flop of an inquiry found zero wrong doing, zero crimes.

      This gofu*me is mired in fraud red flags, money laundering activity and undisputed foreign interference. This anti-vaxx stuff is criminal.

      Left wing = legal.
      Right wing = criminal.

      See the difference?

  6. Excellent post, Dave. Movement conservatism, like evangelical Christianity (to the extent there’s any longer a difference), runs north-south.

  7. So, Tamara lich and her cohorts are holed up in their nice fancy rooms at the “Marriott” hotel ,probably ordering room service ,because they don’t want to encounter MSM , ( i noticed none were wearing masks in the elevator) isn’t that in violation,?? While in the meantime the poor schmucks being duped ,sleeping in their trucks, but hey they’re being taken care of with TP and I noticed lots of paper towels, -must have been donated from those people from abroad–Puerto Rico maybe?? Another conundrum ??

    Went to bed with this information loaded into the old Commadore , and unfortunately it spit out the info on the floppy disk at 4am ,I hate when it does that…

    So Tamara & the back street bullies ,said the funds were going to fuel and lodging,to be specific they didn’t say whose , so what’s the going rate for the Marriott these days, will have to look that up. They are being “represented” by the “Justice centre for yada yada”,Keith Wilson as lead counsel. Sounds like a legitimate name— the same ones representing all the pastors breaking covid restrictions , the same ones who hired a PI to ” spy” on the judge in Manitoba, — oh that “lawyer ” did it on his own, yada yada. Nothing to see here folks, move along.
    Sorry for the preamble, on the floppy disk was : this group for all their legal posturing,when you listen to what & how they say things, seem to have only one lawyer …..OMG ..you know what we have here ,it’s the Canadian version of Rudy Giuliani…running here – file motion ,running there file motion etc. etc
    If I wasn’t so scared of what their intentions are ,I’d be laughing my head off.

    Side bar : the ” Justice Centre ,headquarted in Calgary,just a happy central location, says on their site ,that their —-Legal Stauus : is ….wait for it .
    A Charitable Organization .

    Sure makes you wonder ,doesn’t it ??
    I wonder, if there’s any chance I can go back to sleep, Darned Technology $#$%$

    1. I am as astounded a you that the right-wing millenarian Christians like Carpay and friends at the Justice League of Righteous Canadians, or whatever it’s called, are actually the sane people in the Covid fiasco. Maybe they’re right and it is Armageddon.
      “And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, And the leopard will lie down with the young goat, And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little boy will lead them.”

      But more likely, what’s going on is something related to this:
      https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/reports/2006/R412-1.pdf

      “A plan devised by the Canadian Joint Operations Command relied on propaganda techniques similar to those employed during the Afghanistan war.”
      https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/military-leaders-saw-pandemic-as-unique-opportunity-to-test-propaganda-techniques-on-canadians-forces-report-says

      Conspiracy theory! Or is it misinformation? Superspreaders?

      1. Jesus Murph, if you must troll these pages can you at least pretend that you actually read the article and are posting to the relevant topic?

        If you need a soap box to prove to the world how smart you are why not just start your own blog?

      2. Murphy, read the Ottawa Citizen article . . . scary stuff
        methinks Canadian soldiers hanging out with ‘murican soldiers too much

        ever heard of The Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC), formerly known as the School of the Americas, a United States Department of Defense Institute located at Fort Benning in Columbus ?

  8. My unfavorite sign was being carried by one of the rabble in Victoria:
    Drain the BC swamp …Dr Bonnie Henry, John Horgan, and Lisa Phelps ( she made the list for being an openly gay mayor I guess)

    Talk about showing your ” true colors “,so any odds on MSM ,investigating these people, seems only the Anti Hate group are,makes for insightful reading, bet that’s not programmed into Alexa & Siri,

    1. This post gave me an epiphany – in Canada, the term ‘MSM’ has no meaning at all. Postmedia owns something absurd like 90% of Canada’s non-CBC media. Their CEO has gone on record stating that he wants it to be more conservative. So when we are talking about “mainstream media” in Canada, we are talking about two organizations – CBC and Postmedia, and because CBC is farther left than Postmedia, and because Postmedia gets to set the agenda, CBC is constantly defending against being “leftist” when a more accurate charge would be “centrist, but farther left than Postmedia”. That doesn’t sound very “mainstream” to me, it sounds like one individual has a gigantic megaphone and one beurocratic entity has a much smaller, but still very large megaphone, and us peons can’t be heard at all over their deafening drivel.

      Copy/pasted from wikipedia:

      The creation of the Postmedia Network effectively concentrates more than 90 percent of all Canadian dailies and weeklies in one company, a fact lamented by J-Source, a Canadian media watchdog, in a 2015 online article.[24]
      […]
      In October 2018, it was reported that CEO Andrew MacLeod had declared the company “insufficiently conservative.” That resulted in Kevin Libin, who had played an active role in defeating a union drive at the paper earlier that year,[26] taking charge of all political reporting and analysis in Postmedia newspapers to ensure the newspapers became more “reliably conservative.”[27]

  9. What’s going on here isn’t a surprise. Not at all. There are also Albertans who think Alberta should become part of America, which is utter nonsense. This foolishness by these trucker protesters will have to come to a halt, at some point. In Quebec, with this trucker protest group, the provincial government is trying to stop things from getting out of hand. They are successful in that. In other parts of Canada, it’s being enabled. These pretend conservatives and Reformers are fueling it.

  10. Certainly the protests we see are not at all about what we are led to believe. However, the funding and the intent is the important question. Could it be that they are trying to tie up Trudeau so that he cannot get anything done about climate change mitigation and might the support and pressure be coming from the industries that would be harmed by such actions and this support is funneled through our ex-PM and the IDU?

  11. This is not rocket science. Now that the funds are frozen, all that needs to happen is a forensic audit. Trace back the funds, print he names and watch the lunatics run for the shadows.

  12. DJC, Thanks for your post and for giving Ms. Garosinno’s column some visibility here. She and you make some great points.

    The only thing Kenney apparently cares about is negotiating with the terrorists (sorry, insurrectionists (sorry, faux trucker protestors)) holding up traffic and supply chains at Coutts who are demanding the immediate removal of the lifting Covid vaccine and mask mandates in such a way as to make it appear as if there is no link. A delicate balancing act, to be sure! When the mandates are lifted ahead of schedule and traffic starts flowing again (and presumably hospitals start filling up again as a result), most Albertans should, I hope, understand that there is a causal link, regardless of the efforts to make it appear as if there is none.

    At least Kenney will not be waving a worthless piece of paper aloft as his spiritual mentor, Neville Chamberlin (it would appear), did so many years ago as a photo op.

    We know that Kenney is craven in his pursuit of power and will forsake good governance and other principles he should, as the leader of the province, hold dear to grasp as tightly as he can whatever shreds are left. He is more concerned about his leadership review in Red Deer that, from the looks of it, is not likely to be attended by a constituency that is in favor of protecting public health by using science-based evidence.

  13. Some guy they had on CBC radio mentioned the possibility that the occupations could become long term, but I still haven’t seen anyone besides you mentioning Euromaidan. I guess that is outside the Overton window, too much cognitive dissonance?

    I’m surprised there have not yet been any copycat convoys in the US. If nothing else, grifters must have noticed the ease with which they raised $millions.

  14. The number of times that conservative politicians and commentators have projected their own unsavoury tactics onto their political rivals, especially in the Trump era, has been well documented. The sickly mind that opines “We’re doing it, so they must be too” is obvious. To expect Kenney to acknowledge that US dollars are flowing into the Freedumb Clownvoy, after being embarrassed by Mr Allen’s findings, is probably too much to hope for.

    And so, we continue to wait for timely, well reasoned, effective methods to shut down this nonsense. The police response has been so disappointing. In a capitalist country like ours, the answer is obvious – hit them in their pocket books. As DJC has documented in earlier posts, the pending lawsuits are a tactic that may effectively punish the protestors. However, it does nothing now to alleviate the blockades. The police should aggressively ticket these people for parking and traffic violations and noise infractions – just pile the citations on for EVERY contravention – let the protestors rack up huge bills. I’m sure that some of these people will be accumulating hundreds if not thousands of dollars a day in fines. I’m betting that while pushing against the Federal Govt is fun and easy (especially when the response is so tepid), fighting City Hall is another matter. It’s not the big idea – it’s a trivial traffic ticket. And if they choose to ignore them, all the better – we now can issue warrants for their arrest, and confiscate their vehicles if they refuse to pay. They have aggravated us with laughably inane demands – aggravate them back with a potentially large loss of cash, and spending time fighting charges that are easily proven in court (with footage from their own phones). I’m betting many will in short order, as a matter of practicality, choose to lay off the horn, and go home. If the the Ottawa police and RCMP had done this from Day 1, we would not be talking about this now.

    Laugh at these clowns, mock them, and throw figurative rotten fruit and vegetables at them. Nickel and dime them. Harass and aggravate them. Show all the other bullies out there that the rule of law means something. We know Kenney won’t enact the Critical Infrastructure Act because he is a scared little bunny. But the cops handing out tickets is easily done, and if one of these jokers assaults a police officer doing his duty, they irrevocably lose the battle for public support – lets see a UCP MLA support a physical assault.

    1. The thing is, many, if not most, of the protetors are corporate entities expressing political speech. They publically advertise themselves and willingly invite public contact.

      1. Except when that public contact is from pissed off people who want them to stop harming society. Then they whine about cancel culture and pretend they care about free speech, and the next two days of the news cycle is culture war drivel and then another corporation or billionaire is doing something horrible and we’re off to the atrocity du jour. Rinse and repeat.

  15. Quebec figured it out, hit them in the pocket book and don’t let them get a beach head.Mind you they had advance warning but still.
    I was thinking along these lines for the Coutts blockade. Remember the Old Timer’s saying ” a driver’s licence is not a right it’s a priviledge”. Start revoking the driver’s licences of these blockading “truckers”. Our insurance company’s could be helping as well by cancelling their insurance. Vehicle Registration?
    These CPC politicians are as guilty as an egg sucking dog. Jason Kenney is either complicit or useless or both. Probably both. Paul Brandt did a poor remake of the song ” Convoy ” so he provides’ material and moral support.
    Almost 4000 deaths from Covid everyday in the US of A. Everyday. And these crybabies want their FreeDumb. When the Pandemic started ONE death was front page news.
    Almost 6 Million dead so far in the world. That number is most certainly low. We all know that the right wing in America
    has been grinding an ax over the Pandemic restrictions because of the MAGA following trying to make political capital.

    1. You hit the nail on the head, there, champ. One death was news. In fact, the pandemic was news on this blog before there were any cases in Alberta. You could see Falun Gong-generated “news” in which people just fell dead in the street from Covid in China. It didn’t quite work like that here, where early in the pandemic over 50% of deaths had dementia, and the majority were trapped in long-term care being subjected to unprecedented abuses in the name of protecting them.
      With regard to US deaths, they had a massive problem with influenza-like illness long before Covid, because they have a massive economic precariate who rely on massive vast amounts of antibiotics every year because they are in such poor health. This problem exploded, with the US the only country in the world with marked excess mortality during Covidmania. The poor, fat people who were already compromised were attacked economically with the restrictions, and then put on ventilators and left to die of ventilator-induced pneumonia without antibiotic treatment when stress-induced Covid sent them to the hospital.
      While I’m curious about the funding for the protest convoy, the real investigation that I would like to see is the inquiry into the kill-offs in long-term care in Canada as a result of the restrictions. There have been 338119 “cases” in Alberta among those with no comorbidities, resulting in 166 deaths over 23 months. There have been 30198 “cases” in Alberta among those with three or more comorbidities, resulting in 2636 deaths.
      There has been no greater political capital than that gained by pandering to the population terrified by a global psychological warfare campaign, resulting in parents begging to have their children abused with masks and useless, potentially dangerous vaccines.

      1. “. . . global psychological warfare campaign, resulting in parents begging to have their children abused with masks . . .”

        Over 900, 000 Coronavirus deaths in the United States alone, is a “global psychological warfare campaign”? That statement in itself is simply foolish and childish disinformation. Further, how are children being “abused” with masks when it is a known scientific fact that the main route for Coronavirus infection is airborne transmission?

        “Coronavirus disease (COVID-19): How is it transmitted?”

        https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/coronavirus-disease-covid-19-how-is-it-transmitted

        1. It is somewhat pointless to try to engage Murphy in a dialog that is 1) on topic, 2) adheres to facts, 3) is intellectually honest, 4) well-reasoned and sensible, etc.

          Murphy is an endless recycling fount of the same disinformation and conspiracy theories repeated ad nauseum. He apparently thinks he is smarter and more well-informed than others who comment here, including our blogger. And, he likes to push people’s buttons.

    2. You expect the insurance companies to help? I doubt it. They are the ones who want to destroy medicare and this is their golden opportunity to move into Canada.

  16. While this may be the first freelance maidan time will ultimately tell. FWIW I am not convinced there’s no state involvement, I bet there’s a cable or two at the least. While there are instances of American billionaires running wild and going off on their own script, it’s more often a plausible deniability thing in my experience.

    What’s really interesting is the timing of this happening during the Olympics, there is a high coincidence of colour revolutions popping off during the Olympics historically.

    Oh, you know, and our deputy pm being who she is.

  17. I wonder what kind of parking tickets some of these folks could have racked up. Kind of hard to renew your vehicle license it you don’t pay them.

    As one of the other posters mentioned about the Quebec City protest – time for your safety inspection. Maybe they can be inspected when they leave.

  18. Seen on the Facebook page of a Coutts business that is supplying the border block-a-deers:

    “…that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

    Abraham Lincoln”
    (November 19, 1863;
    Gettysburg Address)

    Given that in another now-disappeared Facebook page, the business owners were speaking about slavery, it’s not much of a leap to think that they are settling in for a civil war.

    How will Jason Kenney get the worms back into the can he opened?

    As a descendant of actual civil war soldiers on the Union side, I say Coutts is nothing of the sort. This is a delusion that has captured the minds of a faction in southern Alberta. However, it is unlikely these people will back down any time soon. We should have believed the national convoyeurs when they said they want to cut off the nation’s food supply, and overthrow our duly elected government. These deluded people have begun calling themselves freedom fighters. That sounds like escalation to me.

    The Coutts blockade is not about vaccines, mandates or trucks. It’s about a perception of slavery by a delusional group who answer to their God. This will end, later if not sooner, but it will not end well.

  19. Also not recommended: the intergenerational trauma and radicalization that will inevitably ensue for the children, currently being used as human shields by those with persecution complex.

    Intergenerational trauma is not a new thing.

  20. Read an article the other day about Canadians posting memes to Facebook saying things to the effect of “if you disagree with me about my interpretation of the trucker convoy, go ahead and unfriend me.” Very disheartened to see the family splitting level of polarization coming north of the border.

    Sadly, it is quite easy for me to understand someone saying, “I don’t want people in my life who tolerate white supremacy and racism.” Much harder for me to understand the decision to trade real relationships with friends and family you’ve known for years for the ability to sniff Tucker Carlson’s farts and partake of the moral outrage du jour on Fox news.

    Perhaps “free speech” isn’t supposed to mean “Rupert Murdoch gets to push whatever absurdities he wants with no consequences but nobody else can be heard over the deafening noise of his multinational privately owned propaganda empire.”

  21. I guess when creating chaos abroad gets boring, Canadian and american politicians pay to have it happen here. What goes around comes around?

  22. Hard to keep track of the spookery, but I would hesitate to liken the Kazakhstan oppression with the NATO coup in the Ukraine in 2014. The Empire is quite content with the operation in Kazakhstan for now. The people there were in revolt against neoliberal domestic energy policies. Pooty-poot is on the cusp of becoming the overseer of the most valuable natural gas cache in the world as the Imperial LNG project dries up like a well-fracced Permian Basin duster. The last thing he or the Empire want is a socialist revolt in the heart of the Caspian treasure trove.
    The biggest threat to the globalists’ digitized economic transformation is populism. This is the result of a tremendously successful campaign to villify and destroy any kind of equitable socio-economic structure in the world. Which means that the old “Strategy of Tension”, used by NATO from Nairobi to Naples, to paint socialist movements as a threat to public safety, is now being used to manage populists.
    The whole point of these things is to drive the population to demand state intervention to protect them. That’s why the ridiculous “insurrection” in the states was no such thing. Rachel Maddow was screeching that it was a US “Benghazi”. But of course, as always, the Proud Boys and the OathKeepers turned out to have informants in their organizations at the highest levels. This comes from the French, UK and US counterinsurgency program of “gangs and countergangs”, going all the way back to the Algerian crisis and the British atrocities in Kenya.
    So the same people who got kettled in Toronto in 2010 are now clapping for the police and calling for the Army to be sent onto the streets in Ottawa. Fun stuff!

  23. Sorry, did it bother you that we crowd funded the ability to do this convoy, and that Americans contributed? Because that is the extent of it, the rest sure sounds like tinfoil hattery to me!

    We didn’t think you lefties would mind… as we learned the tactic from you!

    Maybe if you don’t like foreigners funding your political opposition… your side’s causes shouldn’t accept foreign funding either? Because since you do, it’s fair play.

    1. MIKE BEGLEY: Kind of like the UCP’s Steve Allan inquiry. How did that end up, other than the UCP ending up looking like fools, while wasting a lot of money in the process? What did it conclude, besides absolutely nothing?

  24. First we had the Ottawa police chief admitting that he isn’t going to do anything about this revolt and now from the CBC we hear Matt Skof, president of the Ottawa Police Association say that removing the trucks would be “incredibly logistically difficult” and not an effective solution. The police escorted the “truck” convoy to the border at Coutts. It sounded too much like a conspiracy theory at first, but I’m starting to think the police sympathize with these people.

    It may be that the police moving on the support camp at the baseball stadium has more to do with today’s emergency council meeting than actually doing anything effective.

    Cordon off the area, remove anyone not entitled to be there, and start impounding vehicles. Yes it will probably involve injunctions and sure it will take some time but they clear crashed semis off roads all the time. And no you don’t just give the guy his truck back so he can blockade somewhere else. Here in BC we had 3 major highways washed out or buried in landslides yet they managed to rebuild enough for traffic to flow in three months – in the mountains, in the middle of winter no less.

    Having said that, we are at this point largely because the politicians are just hiding and have made less than no effort to de-escalate the situation or show leadership. It seems only Jagmeet Singh wants to do something, a debate in the House of Commons at least.

  25. I see that I have again touched the proverbial “third-rail” of Covid discourse. So perhaps questions can be asked that don’t constitute “vaccine disinformation”?
    Here are some:
    Where did you people get the idea that the Covid vaccines were indicated for the prevention of hospitalization?
    Where did you get the idea that the vaccines are indicated for anything other than prevention of Covid-19?
    What evidence do you have that the vaccines prevent Covid-19?
    With 28.6% of “active cases” in Alberta among the triple-vaccinated, and 19.93% among the unvaccinated, does this constitute evidence of the efficacy of the vaccine?
    With 25.1% of hospitalized “cases” triple-vaccinated and 40.27% double-vaccinated, does this constitute evidnece of the efficacy of the vaccines?
    Given that 80% of active cases are vaccinated, making it far more likely that a person with Covid in a public space is vaccinated than unvaccinated, what specifically is the purpose of the vaccine passports?
    Asking for a friend.

    If I could just thank our highly honest sponsors in Brussels:
    “One current priority is combating the spread of harmful, false and misleading narratives through disinformation. To bolster this effort, the British Army will be deploying two experts in countering disinformation. They will advise and support NATO in ensuring its citizens have the right information to protect themselves and its democracies are protected from malicious disinformation operations used by adversaries. NATO can play a key role in the international fight against COVID-19, and Allied solidarity is more important than ever to ensure both the security and the health of our almost one-billion citizens.”
    https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/77-brigade-is-countering-covid-misinformation/

    If there’s one group of people I know I can count on for accurate Covid information, it’s the people who blew up Iraq.

  26. The preventative tactics used in non-Ottawa cities are ‘policing101’ which Ottawa City police could have done themselves. The difference? First, there’s only one national capital and if you’re gonna have a protest widely covered, this’d be the best place to do it. Protest is also covered by the Charter Rights of assembly, association, and speech (and probably mobility, too but, in this case of intentional traffic jam, including it seems too perverse); if a federal government wants to assure citizens it respects those rights, it’d be contrary to prevent the protest from happening, especially in the most appropriate of all demonstration fora.

    Participants in the “Freedom Convoy” quickly blew any pretence of cross-border truckers’ ostensible beef about mandatory vaccinations or quarantines. Whoever they are, they rather demonstrate conspicuous ignorance of the Charter’s very first statement under the heading “Rights and freedoms in Canada”: rights are in fact limited. If a government ever wanted to inform Canadians about their Constitutional rights, this’d be an excellent time to do it because protesters themselves generously provide a perfect example—as loud as they can! (A viral pandemic is also a perfect example of what “reasonable limits” might consist of.)

    Respecting Charter rights up to reasonable limits by allowing protesters to assemble in the capital is pretty important for a government to show Canadians, especially when the trials of national emergency cause many to question what they probably should already know, demand absolute rights they don’t have, make ultimatums so impossible to meet they seem to conceal ulterior motives—or reveal intent to overthrow not only the current elected government but also any government a peeved minority doesn’t like. Since the government has demonstrated it respects any group’s right to protest and protesters themselves have shown Canadians what the limit should be, is there any point in government allowing unreasonable excesses to continue when it has the authority and power to stop it?

    Well, there’s history, and history’s always good to review lest we repeat it. The lesson here covers two and a half centuries from 1763’s Quebec Act to the rebellion of the Thirteen Colonies and concurrent attack of Canada in 1775, on to the Republic’s attack of British North America in 1812-14 and numerous, US-based insurgencies (skirmishes on the Maine border, Fenian raids on the two Canadas, US whiskey traders trespass in the Northwest Territory for examples), and to regular threats of “Manifest Destiny” which eventually inspired BNA colonies to confederate defensively, starting in 1867—which, naturally, every Canadian kid learns in school.

    But it’s worth review, especially when more recent US history has increasingly concerned Canada, including infiltration of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s-30s, the immigration of 100,000 Americans evading Vietnam War conscription from 1965-75, American violations of Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic Archipelago, pressure to participate in a US show-war in Iraq in 2003. Of course concerns also involved proliferation of American far-right militias and neo-Nazi hate groups since the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. Since 2011 when Donald tRump propagated “birtherism” (a false conspiracy theory that the first Black Presidency was illegitimate), racial violence in the US has increased —encouraged by tRump whose bigoted demagoguery appalled most Canadians when he won the presiduncy in 2016. And we’ve only been more appalled ever since as increasingly unabashed white supremacy raises its ugly head while aggressive, anti-science evangelism, anti-government and absurdist anti-democracy seethes throughout Republican regions of the USA—and its own Capitol on January 6, 2021.

    Of course many Canadians have been alarmed at the adoption of tRumpublican tropes by Canadian politicians of the right, the tRump-like dismissals of the Covid pandemic, unrestrained hate-speech aimed at partisan rivals encouraged by Conservatives, and their disturbing political recruitment of anti-immigration bigots and radical SoCon stooges. But if mass shootings, F—K Trudeau rallies attended by elected politicians , full-patch racist gangs, and increasing racist violence isn’t enough to remind Canadians of their grade-schooling, of our longstanding, wary relationship with every “twitch and grunt” of the American beast, and of mindless, militant, US-style anti-vaxxerism, then maybe—just maybe— seeing the Stars and Stripes, Gadsden, Confederate and Nazi flags parading around the Canadian capital during this supposed “truckers’” rally will sufficiently educate Canadians and the government will then swing into action. Is there anybody in our country who hasn’t had too close a gander at this phenomenal infiltration of tRumpublicanism into our fair capital?

    Okay, so government can be fairly sure by now that we get how it respected the right to protest, what the limit of rights is about and when it’s exceeded, that we’ve been reminded of our close but distinctive culture by historical review and, by this, that far-right American reactionaries, replete with bigoted radicalism, have been infiltrating our country to recruit fifth columns and subvert our sovereign democracy. So why is this rally allowed to fester any further like a weeping, infected wound? What more do we need to know or see?

    One has to wonder if the government which, after all, is controlled by a partisan political party, one which has been relentlessly vilified for years by its disintegrating Conservative rival, is tarrying—not dithering— because every day the Conservatives dig their political grave deeper by aligning themselves with a protest Canadians disapprove of more and more every day.

    Now that it’s plain the rally is nearing maximum public opprobrium, is it really necessary to let it discredit the party that’s by now exceeding its own maximum public opprobrium? Well, now that Pierre “The Puke” Poilievre has jumped right into the mire, it must be pretty tempting to let the show go on.

    But surely there’s a risk that tarrying further might backfire—yet, when you look at the other federal parties, ain’t nobody crying at the Cons’ humiliation—hell, even some Cons themselves have had enough! Maybe it’s all worth it, after all—but this we’ve yet to see. Just how long can this go on?

  27. DJC – I assume moderating has been very time consuming for you this past couple of weeks. Thanks for what you are doing. I really think it is valuable for people who see things differently to be able to politely share ideas in good faith, and the internet makes that both very easy and very, very difficult.

    Can anyone recommend a good forum for talking politics with a variety of Canadians who are (mostly) speaking in good faith? I don’t care where they are on the spectrum if they’re willing to make a reasonable effort to engage with basic facts. I feel like there’s a really important conversation happening right now, and too much of it is taking place in echo chambers.

  28. To Neil Lore , I thought you WERE on a very good forum talking to other canadians , I’ve found reading through ALL the replies to DJC’s “subject” of the day — illuminating, head scratching, eye rolling ,sometimes quite amusing ,at times disheartening , but all in all a good perspective of what other people are thinking .
    To : Scotty on Denman , 2 thumbs up, I agree, education is very important and the ” lack thereof ” shows in the US ,and since they changed curriculums is starting to show here…dumb them down, they can get all their answers from Alexa without actually learning, and you end up with a group of people who qualify into the ” you can’t tell a Heinz pickle nuffin—-
    I thank DJC for giving us this sounding board ,he’d give my favorite Social Studies teacher a run for his money!!☆☆☆☆☆

    1. I agree, this is a great forum, I just want three more like it. I think right now there is an important conversation happening, but it’s hard to hear the voices of the reasonable adults over the noise of a few very loud jerks.

  29. I’m surprised there not saying more about the separatist connection and funding I wouldn’t be surprised if someone like Peter Dowing was involved consider In August 2020, Downing launched the Alberta USA Foundation, along with high visibility billboards in Edmonton and Ottawa, bearing the image of US President Donald Trump, asking the question, “Should Alberta Join the USA?”

  30. It was interesting how fast money was “donated” to the truck protestors. Concluded it wasn’t all Canadians donating. We’re generous when it comes to helping people, but its usually for some major incident. $10M and more is a fair amount of money and could do some good for school food programs, housing for the disabled and elderly, but no they want to spend it on over throwing the duly elected government of Canada. Whether people like Trudeau or not, he is the P.M. and a group of truck drivers and their hangers on don’t get to decide he has to be replaced by the G.G., them and other parties in parliament. Don’t these people read the Constitution or understand how government works in Canada. They appear to be a bunch of dummies. They look like a bunch of dumbies to me. Honking horns all night disrupting the lives of thousands of others, they carry on as if they’re either high or drunk. Arrest them for noise infractions, child endangerment–yes some of them have their children in these trucks, illegal parking, etc. Might want to seize those trucks also if they don’t move them. Enough is enough.

    Those truckers and their supporters want to have all the mandates removed by the federal government. What idiots, its the provincial governments who implemented them in most cases. I personally like those mandates. Kept me alive

    Do have to laugh at these protestors wanting “their freedom”, but they haven’t really said what that means. Last time I checked here in B.C. we have lots of freedom and given we’re part of Canada and all the provinces are covered by the Constitution, we’re free, well except people of certain faiths in Quebec.

    The various police departments had better get their acts together and stop this nonsense. Wonder what they would be doing if the protestors were Indigenous People doing the same thing in an attempt to acquire decent housing and clean running water or enviornmentalist trying to stop mining or over fishing or over logging.

    I’ve really had it with these protestors. They are ruining the qualify of life for far too many people. They deserve freedom from the truckers and their protests.

  31. Teamsters Union is the mechanism used by Bannon, Orange bastard, and the right-wing. Teamsters Union own all the truckers and they all do as they are told by management. Criminal historiography of the Teamsters Union is well researched.

    Trump is a New York City Real Estate scion that has used unions for his entire career to force his will upon contract negotiations.

    Yes, Bannon has his mitts all over this colour revolution and assault on our political commons as well as economic commons.

    RW

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