These Times they are enragin

 So there is a lot going on right now. From the end of Covid restrictions to the "freedom" convoy to the muscle flexing of Russia to the rapid erosion of the value of your dollar.

Let's start with the "freedom" movement.

 The cry went out early in the pandemic that the numbers were not right! It was Donald telling the press that the numbers of his own staff can't be right and that meme has been stuck in the gut of the internet to this day. Truthfully I even wondered about the numbers but rather than relying on cable TV or the Donald I went to sites on the web, mixed in some off shore news coverage and came away with  this: Deaths were not the really important number it was the number of cases that was the issue. It was preventing the death of tens of thousands who caught this virus but were alive only because they had a ventilator. 

 In year two the train was coming off the rails. It seemed as though the public was being sold a new and improved virus every couple of months and as it drew on there seemed to be a drop in the amount of people hospitalized but the messages on TV  were still saying that this strain or that might get out of control. It was being beamed into our homes and businesses continually to the point where you would glaze over as an announcer would start a story with "In Covid news".  Maybe there were places that had ridiculous numbers of infections but at this point no one cared about infections the question was how many are in an ICU or dead. For the public those were the indicators of severity not infection rates. It also seemed that the later strains were less aggressive not something ready to ravage the healthy sending them to the edge of death. This sort of explains why the convoy happened at the end of the restrictions, it was the last straw for many people not only in Canada but around the world.  

As I mentioned we were are all pretty much done with the pandemic, the majority of Canadians had been vaccinated, the numbers were down, it was time to relax. Then the US and Canadian authorities demanded that all cross border truck drivers must be vaccinated or have a mandatory isolation period.

So the Freedom convoy was formed their demand was that the sham government be dissolved and all politicians fired along with their provincial and municipal counterparts, okay I made up the last bit and never read the manifesto but I'm pretty sure that was the gist of it. Oh ya they wanted to remove all mandates what they meant by "mandates" was not completely clear but the whole movement was a bit foggy in it's focus.  

As the kilometers to Ottawa went by the hogwash continued to be applied by both sides! The protesters are a bunch of dumb hicks and the liberal elite are sheep trying to take us all to slaughter. The left has to understand that the people who buy into this are not "stupid".

Sure some are under-educated and emotional rather than being educated and emotional but they're not dumb. Just as the people who disagree with the protesters are not all blind mindless puppets of the government.  You have people who are centrist in their view all the way to being extremely left or right it's just part of living in a country like this country, a democracy that is ruled by law. The Freedom people don't see Canada that way they would like to STOP parliament and have an interim government run things while a new election is called.

 The thinking was that the Freedom Party would win the election and all would be well again in Canada.    

The convoy made it to Ottawa and the majority of people living there could have given a crap about any of the pleas, complaints or remedies outlined in the freedom manifesto. The Senate and the Governor General both had bad news for the Freedom Folk, sorry we can't shut down parliament what you are asking is illegal.  

 The appeal of populist movements is understandable The "ordinary" ie rural rooted person feels ignored by and in many ways attacked by the "elite" ie the urban liberal. These folk will follow someone who seems to listen to all of their complaints but it is usually the minority who react by taking to the streets so theoretically there are hundreds of thousands who are in support of the Freedom people but the raging question who or what are they supporting? 

The what is complicated as this is a populist movement so every ill is on the table it's the who that intrigues me. It might be that Pat King is a quasi leader of the convoy but who is behind Pat King or maybe more to the point who does Pat King support? The whom becomes far more complicated than the what.

In the end I think the Freedom convoy had little to do with Covid restrictions and more to do with the rise of a populist leader. Yes we have one right here in Canada. Perhaps this was a flushing out of potential compatriots a quick test to see how many would support a "minority fringe group" with little real organization shouting a vague message of FREEDOM!

  It worked there were people in support of Freedom from restrictions and Freedom from Trudeau others had Freedom from gun control on their mind and Freedom from Trudeau. Pick an ill a slight on your supposed Freedom and it is valid you should be able to do as you please when you please unless someone is in a stronger position and demands that their Freedom be respected and your Freedom ignored or restricted. As I said the Freedom convoy was more a proof of concept than a show of game changing strength and who in Canada needs to prove that there is a large block of voters who are looking for a populist leader.? 

                                                                                                                 Pierre Poilievre. He is a contender for the conservative leadership this September and will likely win it.  A populist politician who is sure that the "fringe minority" are the swing voters that the party needs to win the next election and he is likely right thus why he will be the next leader of the conservative party because he has them as followers. 

Mr Poilievre will cater to his base while knowing full well that some of there thoughts might be a bit zany but their loyalty can't be denied so he might seem to be a bit of a manipulator and I have to agree but which politician isn't?

Looking from a distance I see what most others see and that is a split between rural and urban Canada which doesn't need to be. The next conservative caucus will be very interesting and the next election will be even more so. I can hardly wait to see what Mr Poilievre does! Will he become the leader who finds that sweet spot where the public domain is respected and business is still encouraged? Will he have some policies that are a hard sell to both the rural and urban. Will he have the integrity to bring the two sides of Canada together?

Who knows what he might bring up going forward.  What we do know is that this guy is not born in the same circles as Mr Trudeau and so we can warm to his genuine down hominess a man of the people. His parliamentary record is there for the public or the condensed version on the internet and so far Mr. Poilievre seems to a political opportunist rather than someone with a brilliant plan for the future. An egoist rather than a leader with new ideas. Another career politician who believes he will win the prize and doesn't really care how he wins it.