We are now at the end of the first week of the Freedom Convoy rally, which appears to be part of the two weeks we needed to flatten the curve…of emergency COVID-19 restrictions.
Earlier this week, I noted that Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe set a target date in late February to end vaccine requirements for his province officially.
Now Alberta’s prime minister is preparing to end them as well.
Alberta will move toward lifting COVID-19 restrictions early next week, starting with the Restrictions Exemptions Program and measures involving children, Premier Jason Kenney said Thursday.The COVID cabinet committee will also lay out a phased plan to remove almost all public health restrictions later this month as long as there is declining pressure on hospitals, Kenney said in an hour-long Facebook Live.“After two years of this, we simply cannot continue to rely on the blunt instrument of damaging restrictions as that as a primary tool to cope with a disease that will likely be with us for the rest of our lives,” he said.The premier did not give a specific day the program would be lifted, but committed that the province would repeal the Restrictions Exemptions Program “in the first quarter of 2022.”
My colleague Mary Chastain reported that Facebook pulled the plug on the “DC to Convoy” page to organize an American version of the protest. The sensors at this Big Tech monstrosity will have to work fast, as the Canadians have inspired truckers to organize around the world.
Dozens of Facebook and Telegram groups inspired by the Canadian truckers have sprouted up across the world, from Cyprus to Argentina to New Zealand, with members expressing solidarity and shared frustration, and in some cases, even organizing convoys to their own local capitals….Aram Lemmerer, 39, is a business owner and an anti-mandate organizer in Austria. He told the Star he spoke to a crowd of anti-vaccine protesters last weekend and got a “roaring” response by evoking the images of trucks rolling into the Canadian capital.“I said, has anybody seen what was going on in Canada?” he said. “And the roar you got was like a soccer stadium, crazy. The next question I ask: Shall we do the same thing in Austria? It was a wave of roar, it was insane.”Lemmerer said he and two other organizers have a commitment of 2,500 vehicles driving to Vienna in a convoy on Feb. 13, including cars, trucks, tractors and cyclists, although he said he didn’t know how many would ultimately come. They want the current government to give up all restrictions and resign. Austrian lawmakers on Thursday approved a measure to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations for its entire population, or face a fine equivalent to more than $700.
Telegram is how I stay connected with the San Diego Local Order of Bloggers (SLOBS) members. It has worked wonderfully to keep our band of citizen activists together.
Meanwhile, the truckers station in Ottawa has no plans to go while Canada is enduring senseless and ineffective covid restrictions. One trucker noted he could stay until May.
[T]ruckers have remained defiant even as the protests entered their sixth day Thursday, vowing to stay put until Trudeau’s government flips and withdraws its policy on vaccine mandates.The protesters, many of whom have been hauling cargo on long-distance routes between Canada and the United States for decades, are not out to make a political statement – they are simply out to make a living.Long-haul truck driver Guy Meister is among those who joined the convoy last week after making a 20-hour journey in his big rig from Nova Scotia.The 56-year-old, who has been at the protest since its inception, revealed he is committed to sticking it out as he does not have to return to work until May.’I’m in it for the long haul,’ he told DailyMail.com. ‘Trudeau has got to go.’Meister, who has been driving a truck since he was 19, said he believes the government mandate is ineffective and that the policy will only hurt him and his fellow truckers.He explained that if he were to bring in a truckload to the United States and return to Canada, under the current mandate, he would have to quarantine and be unable to work for 14 days, which would bankrupt him and others.’When I take a load into the US, I come in direct contact with very few people, if anyone,’ Meister said.’I back my load into the dock, they unload it, and a person puts the paperwork into my cab, all without any direct contact. It doesn’t make any sense.’
It looks like we have an interesting new social science data point: It takes two years before a significant percentage of citizens realize an “emergency state” has transitioned to a “police state.”
O, Canada!
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