Modern Vespa

Anyone following the truck protest in Ottawa? They are calling for an end to all mandates concerning covid. It is interesting. Certain news organizations are equating them with white supremacists causing damage and others are reporting about how peaceful it is. I listened to 5 of their Zello channels last week and didn't hear any of them discussing anything violent. In fact, one of the main ideas I heard was urging people to remain peaceful and not to enter any building even if they are invited. They even used Zello to organize clean up crews

I am curious about what Canadians here think about it. Do they have a lot of support in Canada? Are they considered a nuisance? I like first hand information which is why I listened to their Zello channels and why I am asking here.

Please keep politics out of any responses. I am not interested in political responses and it will get you booted out of this thread at the very least.

A little background please?
Why truckers?...Could this lead to refusals by pianists as well?
What's their unique beef?
O.S.

From what I understand it started when the Canadian government mandated that all truckers crossing the US/Canadian border must be vaccinated. It quickly morphed into a protest about all covid mandates. It started out west with a convoy set on riding to Ottawa. Other areas of the country also formed convoys and even some truckers from the US headed up. I have no idea how many but video I've seen shows quite a number. They are really blocking up the streets of Ottawa right now. So much so the mayor has declared a state of emergency since they outnumber the police force according to the BBC.

It has also sparked similar protests in other countries but I have no idea of the magnitude.

I also saw some chatter on the Zello channels that if this lasts until spring there are a number of bikers prepared to ride in though I have no idea of the numbers. It is hard to see this lasting until spring as well.

Google Freedom Convoy (that's what they call themselves) and you will find a number of articles on it.

No Canadian ties, but from what I've been hearing, the rank and file Canadians aren't particularly happy with any of this. And the local Ottowans just want their city back.

Interesting that a lot of funding for the protest has been from outside the country...

Yeah following the money is sometimes very enlightening.

Occupy Wall street, truckers in Canada, etc. All it does is turn innocent bystanders lives upside down, then fades away.

Those pesky truckers. Who do they think they are not wanting the
government controlling them. Goodness gracious, get in line and shut up.

Just like old Ben Franklin said, there may be some worthwhile info on
both sides of a story.

Mrs Silence Dogood
Minnesota

Well, so far some opinions but no input or observations from Canadians. I thought that is what sticky was asking for?

From the reading I've done, every non-us citizen entering the US must prove they are vaccinated and (I think) that includes truckers. Protesting to the Canadian gov't is not going to make a difference to the US vaccination mandate on them.

Miguel

Well, here is a Canadian response.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/07/canada-ottawa-truckers-protests-arrests/

From what I understand the Canadian mandate went into effect a week before the US mandate did. This is what the initial protest was about. They quickly changed it to encompass all covid mandates in Canada I guess to keep the movement from dying because of the point you made. I don't know that last part for a fact though.

It's not that certain news organizations are doing the equating, it's that prominent far-right figures are making it so, as well as who the truckers are using for publicity and funding.
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/02/06/ottawa-truckers-convoy-galvanizes-far-right-worldwide-00006080?cid=apn

Yeah maybe "equating" was not the right word. Maybe focusing on is more correct.

The discussion about whether truckers should be vaccinated is where it started, and 70-80% of truckers are already vaccinated. So a small minority of members of the Canadian truckers association started a "go-fund-me" and a "Freedom Convoy". That's their right to protest. The Canadian Truckers Association asked not to be linked to it, as they are complying with the government legislation, and the majority are vaxed.

The problem is all the people that glommed onto the protest as it crossed the country added their 2 cents and social media accounts. Soon it was about everything under the sun. (ie-throw out the government that was elected 4 months ago, appoint a former American Prez as Canada's Prime Minister, Blah-tin-foil-hat-Buh-Blah.)

How do I as a Canadian feel about it? Well,
I am tired of covid, just like most people.
I am fully vaxed, just like most people.
I know people are still dying in hospitals of covid.
I know people who don't have covid are dying because they can't get into hospitals because they are full of covid patients.
I know I have almost completely stopped watching the news.
I quit social media a decade ago. No FakeBook. No Twitsberg.
Just Modern Vespa these days. I also quit a leather-crafting forum that was too full of poison.
I think the people that are protesting in Ottawa have made their muddled point about how unhappy they are, but need to shut it down, go home, and get vaccinated.
I think the people blocking the border to shut down the already disrupted supply chain will probably all get arrested, have their trucks seized, and then get audited by the federal government.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ What can you do when you, when you ride a two wheeled shoe?

Thanks for the reply Spacedog.

Good no nonsense response, complete with true facts and no political slant, as far as I can see. I don't like how they are attracting all kinds of outside money that sees a chance to magnify the problem just for more attention. Let the CANADIANS deal with it, they are right THERE! Did you know this kind of stuff is old hat in Greece? Government does something unfair to them, they just shut down the major highways with hundreds of trucks, ain't no big deal...And the farmers like to do it as well when they are unfairly treated by the taxman.

Voodoo,

I also think France is historically famous for protesting against taxes.
Whole towns would barricade themselves and not let tax collectors
in.

Bob Copeland

Really? You must be kidding. Maybe you should tell the US Border Patrol in Texas and Arizona about this requirement.

From the US Government:

If you are a non-U.S. citizen who is a nonimmigrant (not a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, lawful permanent resident, or traveling to the United States on an immigrant visa), you will need to show proof of being fully vaccinated against COVID-19 before you travel by air to the United States from a foreign country.

this subject has the potential to spin wildly out of control and veer dangerously into politics and discussion therein.

please keep in mind the posting guidelines before engaging. anybody that would like to make a show of disregarding this or disrespecting other people will be addressed deftly.

you have been warned. there will be no second chances.

xo
-g

A bit ironic quoting Ben Franklin, as he was part of a delegation to Canada to convince Canadians to join the revolution against England. A bit of a rabble rouser himself! He might have supported the rebellious truckers!

https://allthingsliberty.com/2015/01/franklins-failed-diplomatic-mission/

Kinda nice to see Canada struggling with dissent; they've been 'looking down' (pun intended) at the US without experiencing the diversity of people or opinions with which the US has had to struggle. Trudeau could learn a bit about listening by this. We'll see.

Well, the reasons behind the Great Canadian Pianist Revolt of 2022 were not as black and white as one might think. It had been looking like A Major movement, but at the last minute the musicians' key negotiator was benched, and their demands went up on the Chopin Bach. The government staff softpedaled, which put a damper on things, and the situation was laid to rest.








(What did the Mandalorian say as he sat down at the piano? "This is the Steinway.")

They aren't actually right above us, despite how it looks on a map. And I'm pretty sure the country as a whole is more diverse than we saw in Dudley Dooright cartoons.
Canada has had considerably more protests, and serious efforts to break up the country, than the US in the last few decades leading up to the pandemic. Everyone didn't suddenly wake up last week with their toque on fire over covid mandates.
Like so many protests about this topic of late, this one seems more about raising money for the people ginning it up on TV and social media, than about effecting serious change or making the protestor's lives better in any measureable way. It's almost like watching a cosplay protest, and a lot of people who have nothing to do with Canada or the trucking industry are making serious money over this. People in government who were against the introduction and widespread use of self drive trucks are probably rethinking that position right now.

An odd sentiment at best.

Well, then Canadian truckers and anyone crossing by car or on foot or by boat should be fine then.

canadian here. it is a small group of truckers that have chosen to make a life saving vaccine a political issue and cry the victim. the rest of the country and the rest of the entire trucking industry think they are all idiots. the blockades will be done soon as anyone providing gas or supplies to them will be arrested, and here in toronto we only put up with their *#&$ for less than a day.. they will be back to their little facebook groups in no time.

Interesting that other than spacedog we're devoid of Canadians on this thread.

Wondering if they're just laying low or all off in Ottawa.

Hummus2 checked in

This "basket of deplorables" dismissal didn't work so well the last time it was used; a "silent majority" analogy might be more appropriate. A rather large cohort of Canadians have glommed on to the trucker protest in sympathetic support, because of the shambolic administration of government at all levels, and on many issues, over the last half-decade or so. An explanation of the full motivation for the protest would be largely political, and therefore blocked in rather short order.

So, why don't we all just call "shenanigans" and move on.

I like that!

so not an easy subject to comment on without getting political because for some reason something like a vaccine, which should not in any way get political, has become so political. So my comment on this, and I am sorry if it gets too long, I personally am not a fan of long posts.

First accept that I am an MD so my knowledge base on this virus is better than most. While retired I did work under Covid for over a year and my daughter who is also an MD has worked under it for all of the pandemic and continues to work under it. While new drugs and treatments continue to come out, the best thing we can do to stop this is to get vaccinated and boosted and likely need to get boosted again in the future. While the vaccine is not 100%,(then again no vaccine is 100%) if vaccinated and boosted it significantly reduces your likelihood of getting Covid, but is even better at preventing significant illness if you get it. If you have been vaccinated and boosted and get Covid, it is extremely unlikely you will get very sick, need to be hospitalized, or die. I think that is very significant. In addition by getting vaccinated and boosted and wearing a proper mask, the proper way(covering mouth and nose) when indoors or in crowds, we can reduce the likelihood of getting or spreading the virus which is the only way we can get this under control, it is the right thing for the person and the right thing for society.

Now I know that people are talking about their "rights", but when we live in a society, even a free society, we still have rules we have to live under. There are many things you can't do just because you want to: driving, owning a firearm, practicing medicine, nursing, being a barber, being a truck driver, etc. We have rules on how to drive which we have to follow, something those of us on this forum are acutely aware of as not following those rules puts our life at risk being on 2 wheels. In addition getting vaccinated is nothing new, think of polio, smallpox, measles, mumps, rubella, tetnas, diphtheria, pneumonias, etc. All of these have been around for many years and are quite effective and safe. The Covid vaccine while very new does have a long track record of being effective and safe.

So lastly this protest by the truckers is irritating for those around it and in my opinion silly. I hope I was not too irritating or political with this.

LarryMK, Thanks for your post. +1 👍
Miguel

Just for the record, Canada is more diverse than the US.

I happen to love Canada I have a number of Canadian relatives and my wife's mother is Canadian as well as aunts and uncles and cousins so we have been there many times and I do find the people there so nice. We went to Calgary for a birthday party in winter. I had a rental car reserved. When I went to get it a storm was rolling in. The rental dealer told me to take a four wheel vehicle that was still there instead of the car I had rented to be safer and no extra charge. Pretty sure that would not happen in the US

I'm decided right wing so any comments I make will be deleted. It's the modern Vespa way.read this quickly.l

if your comments violate the posting guidelines, then yes, absolutely they will be deleted and you'll be bounced from the thread and may earn yourself a little time out along the way.

but, your undercurrent of suggesting that MV is running some type of leftist agenda is absurd at the lowest level and laughable from there on.

it's kinda like saying: oh, this restaurant won't serve me because that's just how they are; when in reality you were a jerk and that's why they won't serve you.

There was a pretty informative article about the protests in the NYT this morning.

The problem is those who refuse without medical reason to be vaccinated. They overwhelm the ICUs, and life saving surgeries are postponed. People are free to refuse vaccines. But the impact on public safety of this 'freedom' protest, and the disruption of hundreds of blaring airhorns through the night preventing people from sleeping is beyond protest. It is not acceptable in a civilized society. They are calling for the overthrow of the government. They are comparing police officers to budding SS. The whole thing is beyond juvenile.

Enough said.

They are bilingual at least.
South Africa has eleven official languages.
Trucker isn't one of them.

If I want to visit Canada I have to be fully vaccinated.
Why should they be different?