Trudeau Calls Trucker Convoy ‘Fringe Minority’, Announces He’s Isolating For Protest Weekend

Prime Minister Trudeau commented on the anti-vaccine trucker convoy, known as the “Freedom Convoy” at a press conference on Wednesday evening saying, “The small fringe minority of people who are on their way to Ottawa, who are holding unacceptable views that they are expressing, do not represent the views of Canadians.”

“(Canadians) who have been there for each other, who know that following the science and stepping up to protect each other is the best way to continue to ensure our freedoms, our rights, our values as a country,” Prime Minister Trudeau added, broadcaster Global News reports.

Millions Raised As Hundreds of Canadian Truckers Drive To Capital To Protest Vaccine Mandatehttps://t.co/PQVqeTKT6U

— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) January 25, 2022

Trudeau has previously stated his dislike for the unvaccinated telling a Candian French-language television programme, “They don’t believe in science/progress and are very often misogynistic and racist. It’s a very small group of people, but that doesn’t shy away from the fact that they take up some space.”

“This leads us, as a leader and as a country, to make a choice: Do we tolerate these people? Over 80% of the population of Quebec have done their duty by getting the shot. They are obviously not the issue in this situation,” he added.

Canadian Cop Under Investigation Over Support For Anti-Vaccine Mandate Trucker Convoy https://t.co/9m0WzInNmQ

— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) January 26, 2022

Wednesday’s comments come after Canadian mainstream media outlets such as Global News and CTV have painted many of the truck convoy participants as having links to “far-right groups.”

The claim has been rejected by Tamara Lich, one of the Freedom Convoy organisers who stated, “As you know, we are on our way to Ottawa to hold a peaceful protest. I just want to put it out there that nobody in this convoy will be inciting violence or uttering threats. That is not what we’re here to do.”

The allegations are not the first time Canadian politicians or media have equated those against lockdowns or vaccination policies to white nationalists or far-right extremists.

Last year in March, former Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi claimed that anti-mask and anti-lockdown protestors were extremists saying, “Those people at those anti-mask protests, let’s not kid ourselves. They’re not people who [are protesting because they] need to eat. They are people who are marching in thinly veiled white nationalist supremacist anti-government protests.”

Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi has claimed anti-lockdown protests in Canada are "thinly veiled white nationalist" activities. https://t.co/DacNYCmWDR

— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) May 12, 2021

So far, the Freedom Convoy, which urges the government to scrap vaccine mandates for truckers engaging in cross-border travel to the United States,  has raised over 6.8 million Canadian dollars (£4 million/$5.3 million USD) in less than two weeks as of Thursday.

The exact numbers of participants in the convoy have been estimated from hundreds to thousands, with a Toronto Sun newspaper report claiming it took the convoy two hours to pass through the northern Ontario town of Dryden earlier this week.

The truckers are expected to reach Canada’s capital Ottawa on Saturday but it is unlikely Prime Minister Trudeau will speak to the protestors as he has claimed that he will be isolating at home for the next five days after claiming to have been exposed to the coronavirus. Despite subsequently testing negative, he said he would still be going into isolation.

The announcement led some on social media to accuse the Canadian Prime Minister of going into hiding ahead of the protest.

A quarter of Canadians support putting unvaccinated people in jail, and two-thirds say they would support mandatory vaccinations. https://t.co/DwIKmO6tCT

— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) January 21, 2022