The populace may disapprove of their un-Canadian-like antics, but there is a growing sense of support for the main message they’re delivering — COVID restrictions no longer make sense.
The protests have been the talk of the nation, around dinner tables, on talk shows and social media. And they serve as a warning shot not just to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau but to leaders everywhere: If even Canada is starting to resist pandemic measures, what does that mean for the rest of the world?
“People are starting to ask, what is the point or what is the efficacy of these restrictions?’” said Shachi Kurl, president the Angus Reid Institute, a research firm in Vancouver. A late January poll by the institute found 54% of Canadians want to end restrictions and let people self-isolate if they’re at risk.
That was up 14 percentage points from just a few weeks earlier. Omicron, a variant that’s highly infectious but appears less likely to cause serious illness, has changed the perception of risk, Kurl said. The reaction is “not knee-jerk. It’s just been building,” she said. As COVID fatigue turns into angst, weary government leaders must decide whether it’s time to start treating the virus as an endemic disease, like seasonal flu. Experts have warned that might be premature.
But if Canada is any guide, there will likely be growing public pressure to remove restrictions, whether the science supports that or not. In Ottawa, protests saw thousands of people gather in front of Canada’s parliament buildings last weekend. (A separate protest blocked an important border crossing in the west for days.)
The numbers have dwindled this week, but police expect they will grow again this weekend, and trucker demonstrations are also planned in Toronto. Inside the capital, it’s the ongoing presence of hundreds of rigs that have made this a unique event. Although there has been almost no violence or property damage,
the crowd of trucks lends the demonstrations a menacing air, with the implied threat of heavy machinery in the streets. The city center is almost entirely blockaded, with trucks spilling out into residential neighborhoods. Drivers blast deafening air horns all day and, in some cases, deep into the night. FULL REPORT
