At least 50,000 truckers in a 45-mile long ‘Freedom Convoy’ are heading to Ottawa to protest the Canadian government’s mandate for drivers crossing the US-Canada border to have the covid vaccine – and they’re being cheered on by Elon Musk.
Truckers left from British Columbia on Sunday and will be met in the nation’s capital on Saturday by other protesters driving from the east and the south of the country. The convoy has been joined by US truckers.
‘It’s 70 kilometers long,’ Benjamin Dichter, a spokesman for the Freedom Convoy 2022, told the Toronto Sun after it passed Calgary heading west on Wednesday.
‘I have seen footage from an airplane. It’s impressive.’
Elon Musk also tweeted praise for the truckers, saying: ‘If you scare people enough, they will demand removal of freedom. This is the path to tyranny.’
He’d earlier tweeted that ‘Canadian truckers rule’.
In September 2020, the Tesla CEO said that he and his family would not be getting vaccinated because they are not at risk. Two months later, he said that he most likely had a mild case of covid in November.
‘I’m getting wildly different results from different labs, but most likely I have a moderate case of covid. My symptoms are that of a minor cold, which is no surprise, since a coronavirus is a type of cold,’ Musk wrote in a tweet.
Canadian Trucking Magazine publisher Dave Mackenzie, who is a working long-haul trucker, told West Standard Online that some US truckers are driving from North Dakota to Portal Saskatchewan, where they intend to cross the border and join the group.
The Canadian federal government instituted vaccine mandates for cross-border truckers throughout the country. But as many as 32,000, or 20 percent, of the 160,000 Canadian and American cross-border truck drivers may be taken off the roads due to the mandate, the Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) estimates.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has characterized the protesters as a ‘small fringe minority who are on the way to Ottawa who are holding unacceptable views.’
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50,000 truckers are making their way across Canada in a 45-mile-long convoy in protest of vaccine mandates that would prohibit truckers from crossing the US-Canadian border without proof of vaccination
Canadians gather on a bridge over Highway 400 in Vaughan, Ontario, to support the Freedom Convoy
Truckers left from British Columbia on Sunday and will be met in the nation’s capital on Saturday by other protesters driving from the east and the south of the country. The convoy has been joined by US truckers
The Toronto Sun estimated that up to 50,000 trucks could be participating – this convoy could exceed the existing record for the world’s longest by 10 times if it stays intact until its intended destination
‘It’s 70 kilometers long,’ Benjamin Dichter, a spokesman for the Freedom Convoy 2022, told the Toronto Sun. ‘I have seen footage from an airplane. It’s impressive’
In a list of demands, the organizers of the Freedom Convoy are calling for an end to vaccine passports and for the federal government to respect the rights of the unvaccinated
Hutterites have shown out in numbers not just greet the truckers with signs as they drive by, but to keep them fed
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (pictured) has characterized the protesters as a ‘small fringe minority who are on the way to Ottawa who are holding unacceptable views’
But the convoy has picked up steam and supporters as it travels along the snow-filled TransCanada Highway.
The longest convoy in history was just five miles long, consisted of 480 trucks, and took place in Egypt in 2020, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.
The Toronto Sun estimated that up to 50,000 trucks could be participating – which would exceed the existing record by 10 times if it stays intact until its intended destination.
In a list of demands, the organizers of the Freedom Convoy are calling for an end to vaccine passports and for the federal government to respect the rights of the unvaccinated.
Trudeau hit the brakes on their demands.
‘What we are hearing from some people associated with this convoy is completely unacceptable,’ he said.
‘We know the way through this pandemic is to get everyone vaccinated. The overwhelming majority, close to 90 percent of Canadians, have done exactly that.’
‘A lot of people are trying to say that these type of things are done out of anger, but this is actually being done out of frustration towards the things the government is imposing upon Canadian citizens,’ a man named Trevor told Global News when the convoy passed through the Balgonie area, declining to give his surname
The Freedom Convoy left from Vancouver to Ottawa on Sunday in protest. They intend to hold a protest in Ottawa upon arriving on January 29
A GoFundMe initiative has already raised $6,365,040 towards the protest since it was launched on January 14, with organizers saying that the money will go toward the gas, food and shelter of the participating truckers
But supporters of the convoy disagree, with one driver saying that ‘the amount of trucks involved and the amount of people showing up here, this shows the frustrations of Canadians and it’s going to continue to grow.’
‘A lot of people are trying to say that these type of things are done out of anger, but this is actually being done out of frustration towards the things the government is imposing upon Canadian citizens,’ a man named Trevor told Global News when the convoy passed through the Balgonie area, declining to give his surname.
On Thursday night, Elon Musk tweeted: ‘If you scare people enough, they will demand removal of freedom. This is the path to tyranny’
He also praised the protesters, tweeting on Thursday that ‘Canadian truckers rule’
Musk stated in September of 2020 that he and his family would not be getting vaccinated because they are not at risk, and said he most likely had a mild case of the virus in November
The U.S. also has a vaccine mandate for truckers coming from Canada. American talk show host Stew Peters said that American truckers are joining the Freedom Convoy, or amassing on the roads in solidarity, in numbers.
‘Colorado, 420 trucks, Georgia, 675 trucks, South Carolina, 650 trucks, California, 19,000 trucks,’ Peters said.
A GoFundMe initiative has already raised $6,365,040 towards the protest since it was launched on January 14, with organizers saying that the money will go toward the gas, food and shelter of the participating truckers.
The Freedom Convoy left from Vancouver to Ottawa on Sunday in protest. They intend to hold a protest in Ottawa upon arriving on January 29
Canada has enacted some of the most strict COVID-19 protocols worldwide. Ontario will only closed its restaurants, gyms and movie theaters early this month, and will only reopen them at the beginning of February
But GoFundMe has frozen the raised monies until Tamara Lich, the secretary of Canada’s Maverick party and the fundraiser’s organizer, provides a ‘clear plan’ for how the money will be spent, according to Canadian outlet Global News.
Hutterites have shown out in numbers not just greet the truckers with signs as they drive by, but to keep them fed, Mackenzie said.
‘Some drove all the way to Ontario to feed the convoy,’ he said
Canada has enacted some of the most strict COVID-19 protocols worldwide. Ontario will only closed its restaurants, gyms and movie theaters early this month, and will only reopen them at the beginning of February.
Vaccinations were mandated in for federal workers last year, and the premier of Quebec announced plans to penalize unvaccinated residents that don’t have a medical reason not to get the shot.