The series of events between Ottawa and the trucker convoy reveals a lot about the true nature of Trudeau and the Canadian government in general.
February 14, 2022
By: Bobby Casey, Managing Director GWP
This dates back pretty far. The most indelible is seeing Benito Mussolini on the cover of Time Magazine in 1923.
I think both China and Russia have toggled several times on the whether they are good or bad guys. Russia was an ally to the US in World War 2, then came the Cold War and all the media told us to watch out for those commies.
Then Russia was overshadowed by China. China went from great economic partner to great economic threat.
Now we have partisan good and bad guys. Conservatives see China as worse than Russia… while liberals see Russia as worse than China. Meanwhile, China and Russia are in league with one another.
Justin Trudeau was the political darling of Canada and even to many Americans. He was charming, multi-lingual, young, and idealistic. But recent events suggest his intestinal fortitude is not nearly as admirable.
While Trudeau is still a political favorite, how he handles the truckers will decide his political fate. In the interim, US politicians and the media are running interference.
When the trucker convoy first hit Ottawa, a thrice jabbed Prime Minister Trudeau tested positive for Covid-19, and was indisposed for four days before he finally addressed the nation about the convoy. He surfaced only because of the incessant taunting he was getting from the Conservative members of the Parliament.
The efforts to get the truckers to leave have failed so far, but they absolutely show the power struggle at play.
This went from being a protest to being declared an “occupation” to being a “state of emergency” all within a span of a few weeks.
It was hardly coincidental that around the time that the trucker convoy started drumming up substantial financial support on GoFundMe, was also the time when they went from legitimate protest to illegal occupation.
GoFundMe froze nearly $10 million in donations because that line of demarcation was crossed, citing: “the promotion of violence and harassment” on the streets of Ottawa. This prompted other crowdfunding platforms to step up.
In addition to Tallycoin, which raised 21.95 BTC or close to $930,000, there is also Flipstarter that raised 100 BCH, worth just over $33,000. Both are crypto based crowdsourcing platforms.
There is another digital fiat platform called GiveSendGo that has so far collected $6.3 million offering to provide humanitarian aid to the truckers such as fuel and food.
Ontario took several measures:
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Ontario Police seized the diesel fuel from the truckers. Trucker supporters were seen bringing containers of fuel to the truckers afterward.
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Ontario Courts ordered to end the honking. The truckers complied.
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Trudeau tried sending in tow trucks to haul them away. If the truckers were totally cooperative and wanted their trucks towed, it would take anywhere from a half hour to as much as an hour per rig to get set up. But they aren’t cooperative. And they don’t want their rigs taken. So even if they just didn’t interfere, their air brakes would lock the wheels. Moreover, this isn’t one truck pulled to the side of the road. It’s a veritable parking lot of trucks parked at odd angles. Not only does this require the cooperation of the truckers, but obviously requires the cooperation of the tow companies. They have unilaterally refused to take any of these requests to haul away participants of the convoy.
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Trudeau seems to be working an angle to target the children who have joined their parents in this protest. The article focused on the “welfare of the children” and then Trudeau put a particular emphasis on “the children” in his Tweet from February 3rd at 2:03PM:
Make no mistake: The border cannot, and will not, remain closed. Every option is on the table. So, if you’re participating in these illegal blockades that are taking our neighbourhoods and our economy hostage, it’s time to go home – especially if you have your kids with you.
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Ottawa Superior Court ruled in favor of the Ottawa government to freeze the distribution of crowdfunded donations. However, GiveSendGo believes it is unenforceable and is even willing to take this to court:
“Canada has absolutely ZERO jurisdiction over how we manage our funds here at GiveSendGo,” the company wrote on Twitter. “All funds for EVERY campaign on GiveSendGo flow directly to the recipients of those campaigns.”
And now this has happened:
Toronto-Dominion Bank has frozen two personal bank accounts into which C$1.4 million ($1.1 million) had been deposited to support protesters fighting the Canadian government’s pandemic measures, a bank spokesperson said on Saturday.
TD applied to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on Friday to take the funds, which were sent through GoFundMe and bank transfers, so they can either be sent to the intended recipients or returned to the donors “who have requested refunds but whose entitlement to a refund cannot be determined by TD,” the bank said in a statement.
This is what government is capable of doing. Here’s what government is not capable of doing: opening a dialogue to understand the grievances of the protesters. Protests in the United States over police brutality are met with platitudes which is why the protests keep happening.
A bunch of epithets and finger-wagging are all the truckers have received so far. Justin Trudeau has accused the truckers of “hate, abuse, and racism“, and has called the convoy “a fringe minority“.
This isn’t fostering trust or goodwill. Nor is threatening them with criminal records, loss of their jobs, or activating the Child Protective Services on their families. Retaliation is a bad look for Trudeau. The truckers’ supporters are greater than just the protesters at the border, as evidenced by the amount of money they’ve raised.
A lot hangs in the balance here. These truckers are a significant chunk of the supply chain. If the ports and the truckers are down, goods are not flowing between Canada and the US.
There are several major issues at play here. But two that stand out are:
- It’s pretty clear that the government is civil as long as what you are doing poses no threat to their agenda.
- Your money, your wealth, your assets right down to the fuel in your cars are vulnerable to seizure. Your control over your property is at the discretion of the state so long as they can access it.
Things like this eventually take a toll on everyone. If you are looking to put your assets offshore, in a trust, into crypto, or just need some ideas for how to prepare for or avoid things like this, let’s talk.
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