Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole will meet truckers from the convoy arriving in Ottawa on Friday and denounces “extremist elements” attached to it, while members of his party openly support the demonstration.
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“Everyone has the right to be heard. The protest should be peaceful, but at a time when many people feel left out of the debates here in Ottawa, we need to make sure those voices can be heard in an effective and safe way,” said Mr. O ‘Toole at a press conference Thursday night.
Reiterating his opposition to compulsory vaccination for truckers whose “frustration” he understands, Mr. O’Toole said that they are a “symbol of the fatigue and the division” that plagues Canadians following two years of pandemic and sanitary measures.
Prominent conservatives like Pierre Poilièvre, Candice Bergen and even former leader Andrew Scheer publicly supported the protest.
In Ottawa, members of the body politic have been alerted by the Sergeant-at-Arms of Parliament that some protesters may come to their offices or homes. In particular, he recommends that they not go to the scene and “close and lock all exterior doors”.
Despite the magnitude of the demonstration, the Liberal government has no intention of reversing its decision.
“We recognize the important work of truckers during the pandemic, but we consider that this is the right time to try to convince the approximately 10% of unvaccinated truckers who have had several weeks to prepare”, declared Wednesday the Minister for Transport Omar Alghabra.
In an interview with LCN on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly said she did not want a Canadian “January 6”, in reference to the assault on the Capitol in the United States. “It’s not true that we’re going to accept violence and that we’re going to be taken hostage,” she said.
Bloc Québécois MP Kristina Michaud says she fears “slippages” given “the impossible magnitude” taken by the convoy, the basic idea of which was legitimate.
The Conservatives’ position “sends the wrong message,” she believes. “To see parliamentarians who join in this, I find it deplorable.”
NDP MP Alexandre Boulerice agrees and believes that the Conservatives should “distance themselves” from the event.
“People have the right to be frustrated, to demonstrate peacefully, in a democracy, that’s normal. But there, it is overflowing into the intimidation of democratic institutions.