# Canadian 'dopers, Freedom Convoy? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [February 10, 2022, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-dopers-freedom-convoy/959186 "2022-02-10T00:07:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 16
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-dopers-freedom-convoy/959186/301 "2022-02-16T16:46:58Z")
Best article I’ve read yet on what’s going on behnd the scenes, driving this, as it were. Excellent, comprehensive, laying it all out… > **[Behind the Fractious Collaboration Steering the Canada Protests](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/15/world/canada/canada-protests-ottawa.html)** > > The organizers include former law enforcement officers, military veterans and conservative organizers who are steering unrest that has sent shock waves throughout Canada. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-dopers-freedom-convoy/959186/302 "2022-02-16T16:56:08Z")
Wait a minute, they’re glad Sloly resigned? I thought he was resigning due to criticism that he hadn’t thrown them out of there: in other words, that he’s been way too easy on them, and has effectively been on their side. Is the issue just that they want anyone in any government position gone, no matter who it is or what they’ve been doing? Or am I misunderstanding something? ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-dopers-freedom-convoy/959186/303 "2022-02-16T18:05:42Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > Is the issue just that they want anyone in any government position gone, no matter who it is or what they’ve been doing? Or am I misunderstanding something? I’m starting to think the underlying goal is simply chaos in Western countries, timed just right for an impending invasion of Ukraine. Or maybe I’m just paranoid. Hard to tell. ---
**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-dopers-freedom-convoy/959186/304 "2022-02-16T18:09:57Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > Is the issue just that they want anyone in any government position gone, no matter who it is or what they’ve been doing? Or am I misunderstanding something? The goal of those on the ground is to trigger/own libs. End of story. How other interested parties leverage that is of course varied. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-dopers-freedom-convoy/959186/305 "2022-02-16T18:51:09Z")
> [@leahcim](#): > > Out of curiosity, I have come to understand that the average “truck” these people own is a pickup truck rather than a big rig, and that the connection to the kind of truckers that have real transportation jobs and are actually potentially affected by the mandate is tenuous at best. Is that accurate? This is pretty accurate. One of the things that’s been pissing of Ottawa citizens is that, during the week, we only have the hard core of a few hundred (at most) “truckers” who have parked their rigs downtown. The huge crowds you see on the news are largely a weekend party crowd of the pickup truck and SUV people who come in from out of town to bolster their numbers. We keep wondering why the cops don’t sweep in at like, 4AM Wednesday to arrest the few truckers that are there, and then seal off the area so the party people can’t get in on Friday. This seems like it should be entirely possible. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-dopers-freedom-convoy/959186/306 "2022-02-16T18:54:06Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > Wait a minute, they’re glad Sloly resigned? I thought he was resigning due to criticism that he hadn’t thrown them out of there: in other words, that he’s been way too easy on them, and has effectively been on their side. The narrative I’ve heard them using is that Sloly resigned in protest at Trudeau’s plan to crack down on the convoy. So now he’s totally one of them! ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-dopers-freedom-convoy/959186/307 "2022-02-16T18:58:57Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > I’m starting to think the underlying goal is simply chaos in Western countries, timed just right for an impending invasion of Ukraine. I don’t think that was an “underlying goal” from the beginning of this. I think the timing was more driven by their realization that the mandates were likely ending soon anyways, and they wanted to hijack that to make their faction seem more powerful than it really is. But I’m also pretty sure that Russian troll farms have latched onto this bunch of useful idiots, because the timing was just so good for them. Like with Trump in 2016: They don’t actually care about the convoy, they just see an opportunity to exploit them for their own purposes. Had this convoy not occurred, they’d have latched onto some other stupid thing, like the the book burning stuff in the US this month. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-dopers-freedom-convoy/959186/308 "2022-02-16T19:49:00Z")
> [@Mallard](#): > > Sects have been found with large caches of guns and ammunition obviously prepared for violent confrontations. It all started as a “truckers protest” having to show vaccine passports to get into the US. Actually, I heard it the other way around - that the truckers were protesting Canadian requirements to either be vaccinated or to quarantine on return to Canada. I suppose some could be protesting requirements on both sides of the borders. > [@leahcim](#): > > Out of curiosity, I have come to understand that the average “truck” these people own is a pickup truck rather than a big rig, and that the connection to the kind of truckers that have real transportation jobs and are actually potentially affected by the mandate is tenuous at best. Is that accurate? Some truckers do, in fact, own their own rigs. Many more drive for someone else who owns the big truck they drive for a living. I’m assuming all (or nearly all) of the big semis actually in the convoys are driver-owned because I just don’t see a corporation wanting wanting their hardware involved in something like that, and in fact I don’t recall see any company logos on any of the blockading trucks on video or stills. Said driver-owners are no doubt provided various sorts of support by non-owners, some of which undoubtedly do own and drive pickups. Among other things. There have also been reports of RV’s and the like showing up, too. There are also a hell of large number of truckers who wanted no part of this protest and who were/are made that they were prevented from doing their jobs during all this. > [@wolfpup](#): > > There are many legitimate reasons for owning a pickup truck and I have no quarrel with those who do so for those reasons. That said, if I were to draw a Venn diagram of pickup truck owners, and another one of redneck assholes, there would be a substantial overlap. As a liberal, left-leaning pickup owner myself… I feel compelled to say I agree with that assessment. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-dopers-freedom-convoy/959186/309 "2022-02-16T19:54:34Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > > [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > > > I’m starting to think the underlying goal is simply chaos in Western countries, timed just right for an impending invasion of Ukraine. > > I don’t think that was an “underlying goal” from the beginning of this. I think the timing was more driven by their realization that the mandates were likely ending soon anyways, and they wanted to hijack that to make their faction seem more powerful than it really is. It may not be specifically connected to what’s going on with Ukraine; but I suspect the underlying goal is, indeed, chaos. Most likely both the organizers, and the deluded crowd that they’re using, think they’ll come out comfortably on top of the chaos. I think they all ought to go read some history books. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-dopers-freedom-convoy/959186/310 "2022-02-16T20:06:11Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > read I think I see a problem with your suggestion. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-dopers-freedom-convoy/959186/311 "2022-02-16T20:07:02Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > Most likely both the organizers, and the deluded crowd that they’re using, think they’ll come out comfortably on top of the chaos. I think they all ought to go read some history books. Not much evidence of “thinking” in any of this, from what I’ve seen. Their goal was to “shut down Ottawa” until the government gives into their demands, or just collapses entirely. During a pandemic in which the vast majority of government employees, and members of parliament, have been working remotely for almost two years now. Let that sink in. I’m a government employee in Ottawa, and they haven’t stopped me from doing a minutes’ worth of work yet. And I’d bet good money that’s true for almost all the other people like me. Maybe if they’d done this three years ago when most of us were still going to our offices, they might have had an impact, but now? Nothing. And these morons _still_ haven’t figured this out. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-dopers-freedom-convoy/959186/312 "2022-02-16T20:10:00Z")
They can read; they got their drivers’ licenses. Whether (and what) they will read is of course another question. ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-dopers-freedom-convoy/959186/313 "2022-02-16T20:14:01Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > And these morons _still_ haven’t figured this out What they also haven’t figured, or don’t, won’t, or can’t figure out, is just how much of a minority voice they are and how grossly unrepresentative of the various populations that they actually are. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-dopers-freedom-convoy/959186/314 "2022-02-16T20:18:05Z")
> [@velomont](#): > > What they also haven’t figured, or don’t, won’t, or can’t figure out, is just how much of a minority voice they are and how grossly unrepresentative of the various populations that they actually are. I love how they keep trying to flip the tables on us. Pat King, the racist organizer of a lot of this, said on Facebook today that the group of people who blockaded the convoy on Sunday were all “bussed in” to the city from outside, to make it look like the people of Ottawa opposed the convoy. Which is pretty rich coming from the crowd that _actually did_ bring in people from all over the country to try to shut down Ottawa. Local Ottawans have produced, entirely organically, at least two local protests that far outnumbered the fucker convoys, but yeah, _we’re_ the minority. ---
**Author:** ![FinsToTheLeft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finstotheleft/32/2930_2.png) [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-dopers-freedom-convoy/959186/315 "2022-02-16T20:19:45Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > Or maybe I’m just paranoid. Hard to tell. Is it still paranoia if they really are out to get you? ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-dopers-freedom-convoy/959186/316 "2022-02-16T20:20:21Z")
These people don’t operate in a reality based world. Just ask the self-appointed Queen of Canada, Romana Didulo. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-dopers-freedom-convoy/959186/317 "2022-02-16T20:21:50Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > I’m a government employee in Ottawa, and they haven’t stopped me from doing a minutes’ worth of work yet. Oh yeah? They got you to spend time posting about them rather than working. 🙂 > [@Horatius](#): > > _actually did_ bring in people from all over the country to try to shut down Ottawa And from outside the country. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-dopers-freedom-convoy/959186/318 "2022-02-16T20:24:30Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > And from outside the country. Any cites for how many of these nutters were from outside the country? I would hope that they’ve been identified, and can now be deported and refused entry to Canada for the forseeable future… ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-dopers-freedom-convoy/959186/319 "2022-02-16T20:26:37Z")
And, as a vet, if I had a magic wand, I would stop pension payments to any CAF veteran participants. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-dopers-freedom-convoy/959186/320 "2022-02-16T20:37:56Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > The people organizing this just wanted to use the truckers as cover for their more nefarious nonsense. It appears that there is a significant gap between the people actually at the occupation, who are pretty much running it themselves, and the people who organized the Gofundme and other “fundraising” activities, who are almost certainly running one or more grifts. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-dopers-freedom-convoy/959186.md?page=15) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-dopers-freedom-convoy/959186.md?page=17)