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© Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.Canadian truckers' bridge blockade forces shutdowns at auto plants
By ROB GILLIES and TOM KRISHER TORONTO©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.
56 Comments
Jay
One person is responsible for this mess and that is Justin Trudeau - he caused this mess by attacking Canadian citizens and taking away their freedoms. While other countries are opening up, Trudeau is hunkering down, and out of spite and personal pride, refuses to lift these unjustified and unscientific restrictions. If he would only do so, then the truckers could get back to work, the protesters could go back to their lives. everything in Canada would get back on its feet, and people would have control of their own lives again.
Kobe White Bar Owner
Vive le revolution!
Yukijin
People in positions of authority have continually over stepped their mark.
People just don't like being told what to do.
To manage a good democracy, please just show facts and let the individual make their decisions. If that doesn't work for you, then maybe democracy just isn't for you.
Yrral
Their ability to drive truck should be suspended,and should be prosecuted for interfering with interstate commerce
Peter Neil
They could sit at home and not drive. Disrupting the lives of people who had nothing to do with their beef is selfish.
bass4funk
Well, said. And this is only going to get worse. The people have had it.
bass4funk
I disagree, with the midterms around the corner the Dems are bailing on pretty much all of their draconian measures and fast, so I personally don’t think that will hold water at this point.
FizzBit
Just making stuff up this morning?
I’m a little surprised by this comment since that’s how protests have worked for over 2000 years.
https://www.historytoday.com/history-matters/womens-march-rome
Sanjinosebleed
Fringe minority??? yeh right!
People have had enough of the covid fear and scare campaigns and now most have had the mild omicron strain they have realised they have been lead up the garden path by big pharma and their puppets in the govt!
Happy Day
NOW these frauds are concerned about the economy?
Next thing you know, they'll start advocating for child development.
Khaos
That's what happens when governments make unacceptable laws. If you can't accept it, what are you supposed to do, just disappear?
That's the cost democracies have to pay, until they cease being democracies.
bass4funk
We know.
Yes, but once again, now that the midterms are around the corner, the last thing the Dems want is more blame and more controversy, they’ll ease up on the vaccination rules. Look how fast the mask mandates are just being dropped like a hot potato.
GreenPeas
It's not about the vaccination, the truckers protest is about removing the mandate which states that they need a vax to cross the border. Some of the truckers are vaccinated, yet they support their non-vaxxed colleagues because they are averse to the govt's overreach. So it's really about freedom and the right to do one's job without govt forcing a jab on them.
Sanjinosebleed
zichiToday 09:01 am JST
GreenPeas
the truckers need to be vaccinated to enter America so they can not leave Canada anyway.
They have to start somewhere! This will and is reverberating around the world. Alot of people have had enough of the 1984 style govts have been pushing for the past 2 years. The US will follow suit quick smart
bass4funk
You just said that.
They so, but they don’t care or want to get vaccinated.
That will change as well, since all these draconian measures are coming to a rightful end.
I could care less. I’m not buying into this crap, especially with this new variant and with the herd immunity the world pretty much has reached. If the Dems want to force all this on the people, they should, it makes it much easier for the GOO to take over and bring sanity back to the nation.
GreenPeas
zichi
I understand where you're coming from but the point is the mandates. It's a slippery slope to full-blown totalitarianism if the Canadians allow their govt to keep on taking liberties like this. Remember 2 weeks to flatten the curve? Regardless of whether the truckers can cross the border or not, oppressive and coercive mandates need to be revoked. They are unlawful.
Haaa Nemui
I think he mistyped… but yeah basically.
lincolnman
And the far-right kooks continue their campaign of obstruction and lawlessness...now putting hard working blue collar workers out of their jobs due to their selfishness...
Americans will remember the party that is cheering on these deluded fools, and vote accordingly in 2022/24...
Unfortunately for them, most of these fringe truckers won't be around in 2022/24 to vote, on either side of the border...
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/592289-cdc-study-hospitalizations-23-times-higher-for-unvaccinated-than-boosted
Haaa Nemui
Absolutely not… although I know a lot of them think of themselves as some sort of omnipotent beings.
OssanAmerica
Covid19 negatively impacted the global auto industry by forcing shutdowns of semiconductor factories. Just try to get a new car today of any brand without being told there will be a 6 month or more wait. This in turn has had a negative impact on car dealers, suppliers everywhere. So now these truckers are creating a further cause of delay because they are protesting measures to stop Covid19. They can protest all they want but what they are doing is working towards eliminating the need and demand for their own trucking services.
Haaa Nemui
And start blocking access to Canada by any company whose trucks can be identified as part of this. Things would start to clear pretty quickly.
Jimizo
Oh, please.
There is a worthwhile discussion to be had on this topic but I think the totalitarianism/1984 febrile nonsense is just unhelpful.
Not a commie, mate. Relax. Too much coffee in the morning?
Matt Hartwell
Still support the truckers, but they should reorientate their tactics back to targeting the political elite in the provinces where the mandates still exist. There needs to be clear rationale for the protests to maintain ongoing support and also to present a way out for that same politcal elite. If you present a way out for the politicians, the public will recognize that and heap pressure on those politicians to back down so life can get back to something like normal
Factory workers in auto plants arent your enemy.
Desert Tortoise
Your freedom ends when what you do or refuse to do can hurt others. Wear a face mask, keep your distance get vaccinated and quit acting like selfish babies. You might not be symptomatic but you can make someone else deathly sick, and you emphatically do not have a right to do that. I am so sick and tired of people being stupid in the face of a pandemic that has already killed almost 1 Million Americans. The stubborn stupidity of the deniers is literally killing people unnecessarily.
bass4funk
I already answered that, next?
Every single one of those deaths are all Covid related? How would you discern that? Can you prove it? Based on what? Let me guess, the CDC, WHO or Fauci?
At that time we didn’t know anything and now we know a lot more, maybe that’s why people are not in a panic with the drugs and understanding how this virus works, the fears have been subsiding.
Yeah, you don’t know what I can or cannot do or where I can go, so just rest with the guessing.
yakyak
Leftists: "Workers Unite!"
Truckers and Farmers: "Don't mind if we do."
Leftists: "No, not like that!"
Rodney
Heroes.
bass4funk
You can get around them, it is not that hard to do.
Wrong.
rainyday
They need to start hauling these truckers off to jail. I’m from Ottawa and used to live in the neighborhood they are occupying, its a disgrace what they are doing to residents. They aren’t protesting, they are just trying to make everybody else’s lives as miserable as they can. Screw those thugs.
FizzBit
The corporate MSM will always side with the authoritarian governments. Don’t buy it.
rainyday
They aren’t making it hard for the “ruling class”, they are making it miserable for normal people. They are blaring their horns at all hours in residential neighborhoods, bullying people on the street, shutting down small businesses and, now, costing autoworkers too (according to this article).
All because like 10% of them don’t want a jab and are throwing a tantrum. They are pathetic thugs screwing the rest of my country over and I’m sick of them and their stupid antics. They need to be hauled off to jail and have their licenses revoked.
Numan
It seems that white majority-ruled countries want and expect special treatment (privilege). People are required to get vaccinations when they travel to third world countries overseas all the time. People get malaria shots etc. This is no different!
You travel to another country then you get vaccinate, so you do not bring your sickness to that country or get sick which means putting a strain on the health resources of that country. Djoke (privilege) was made an example of. Truckers are no different. You do not want to get vaccinated, fine. Stay your behind in Canada!
Do not accept loads that crosses national borders.
Peter Neil
Since they must be independent operators (I can't imagine a company allowing their equipment to be used), trucking companies should put them on an exclusion list so they no longer get work.
They are unreliable contractors. They're a small minority of operators. Shippers won't work with trucking companies that are unreliable.
Give the loads and work to others and show them the power of a market economy.
Busby
Amazing how this far-right fringe of truckers, less than 10% according to the Canadian Truckers Union, have become a "cause-celebre" in far-right circles on both sides of the border.
Well, perhaps not that amazing since far-right pols and their right-wing subservient media have managed to manipulate and fool the MAGA-masses with made up issues like CRT and caravans at the border.
"Freedom" they say....freedom to infect others with COVID, to close down streets impacting everyday citizens, to close bridges shutting down industries employing thousands on both sides of the border.
And perhaps most telling, freedom to leave their families and loved ones with a funeral bill.
I guess some would call that "winning"...
Peter Neil
No. mRNA vaccines are an advancement in science without the need to infect anyone to build resistance.
Busby
These so-called "Freedom-fighters" highlight just one more contradiction and example of the upside-down world of the far-right.
They say they are protesting to restore freedom and "open up" the economy so people can go back to work.
So, how do you do that by closing down key bridges and arteries that choke traffic and prevent both workers and raw goods from getting to the industries and jobs they support?
They're just showing their ignorance and disrupting daily lives preventing any chance of going "back to normal".
More hypocrisy from the far-right.
Desert Tortoise
All those idiots have to do is get vaccinated. I am tired of the excuses for doing nothing in the face of a global pandemic and the awful number of deaths and suffering it has caused. The longer these losers take to do the right thing, the longer this pandemic goes on and the more everyone suffers. Everyone and I do mean everyone, every single person, has a part to play. Get off you backside and do it!
Desert Tortoise
Nothing is going back to normal unless everyone is vaccinated. That is what they cannot seem to get through their thick heads. They are making the whole situation worse and prolonging the pandemic.
yakyak
“The will of the people is unacceptable" - Justin Trudeau
Paustovsky
I thought right-wingers hated being told what to do by minorities
Slayer
Been doing my own risk assessment for two years.
Most other people don't even know what that means, because they were told what to do, and they complied.
rainyday
Give me a break. We just had a democratic election in Canada a few months ago. Trudeau won. These anti vax thugs had a party represent their views in that same election and it was rejected by Canadians in a landslide - getting so few votes it didn’t even win a single seat.
Now, having lost, they have decided to reject the democratic process and are trying to force Canada, by intimidating and making the lives of ordinary Canadians miserable, to become some sort of anti-vax Qanon Caliphate.
Screw that. These guys are nuts and they belong in jail.
stormcrow
If you took a vote, the majority would side with Trudeau. These truckers are just being selfish.