Why didn’t they talk to the Freedom Convoy?
So easy to treat the truckers like human beings rather than pond scum
During the Freedom Convoy protest, Janice Charette was this countryโs most powerful civil servant. (This past June, someone else assumed that responsibility.) As the Tamara Lich/Chris Barber trial wraps up its second week, itโs worth revisiting Ms. Charetteโs sworn testimony to the Emergencies Act inquiry.
She insisted the civil service had worked hard to resolve the three-week protest. Her instructions were โto leave no stone unturned.โ She says she told her people โNo idea [is] too crazy. Letโs look at absolutely everything.โ She says she urged them to โBe as creative as you can. Really think outside the box.โ
Yet she completely ignored the most obvious course of action – meeting with the truckers. You know, sitting down and talking to them. Listening to them. Treating them like human beings rather than pond scum.
Itโs really too bad none of the lawyers asking her questions that day raised this matter point blank. Iโve described her testimony as an unintentional comedy routine. When that ridiculous-waste-of-money-posing-as-a-criminal-trial resumes next week, please keep one idea in mind: From the Prime Minister on down, officials behaved contemptuously toward this massive, wildly-popular protest.
Our federal government meets with tens of thousands of lobbyists each year. But it utterly refused to meet with the truckers. Instead, it pepper sprayed and assaulted them. Instead, it shattered truck windows and destroyed private property. Instead, it squandered many millions of dollars flying in cops from all over the country, feeding and housing them in hotels, all the while paying overtime to the cops stretched thin back home.
When I interview them, these truckers correctly point out that their extended, peaceful protest revealed the true nature of our government. Arrogant. Anti-democratic. Authoritarian.
Canada is broken.