Justin Trudeau flees for a secret location as up to 50,000 ‘Freedom Convoy’ truckers hit Ottawa

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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his family have left their home in the national’s capital Ottawa for a secret location as up to 50,000 truckers gather to protest against the country’s vaccine mandate and Covid lockdowns. 

Hundreds of truckers drove their giant rigs into the Canadian capital Ottawa on Saturday as part of a self-titled ‘Freedom Convoy’ which started as a protest against vaccine mandates required to cross the US border. 

Days earlier, he had called the truckers headed for the city a ‘small fringe minority’ before the convoy of hundreds of vehicles grew up to 45 miles long as it made its way to the capital . 

The movement received an endorsement Thursday from Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who tweeted, ‘Canadian truckers rule’ and the movement has become a cause celebre for many on the right of politics  in the United States.

Flying the Canadian flag, waving banners demanding “Freedom” and chanting slogans against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the truckers were joined by thousands of other protesters angered not only by Covid-19 restrictions but by broader discontent with the government.

There was an enormous clamor as hundreds of big trucks, their engines rumbling, sounded their air horns non-stop. Estimates of the number of truckers range from 10-20,000.

Closer to Parliament, families calmly marched on a bitterly cold day, while young people chanted and older people in the crowd banged pots and pans in protest under Trudeau’s office windows. 

Canadian media said the prime minister and his family had been escorted out of their home and taken to a secret location in the capital, with much of the protesters’ wrath directed at Trudeau.

‘I want it all to stop — these measures are unjustified,’ said one demonstrator, 31-year-old businessman Philippe Castonguay, outside the Parliament building.

He had driven seven hours from northern Quebec province to make his feelings known: “The vaccination requirements are taking us toward a new society we never voted for,” he said. 

Trudeau said Friday that the truckers’ views — which he described as anti-science, anti-government and anti-society — posed a risk not only to themselves but to other Canadians as well. 

To date, 82 percent of Canadians aged five or older have been vaccinated against Covid-19. Among adults, the figure is 90 percent.

The Canadian Trucking Alliance, a major industry group, said the vast majority of the country’s truck drivers are vaccinated. It has “strongly disapproved” of the gathering in Ottawa. 

The protest originated last week in western Canada, where dozens of truckers organized a convoy to drive from Vancouver to Ottawa to demonstrate against Covid-related restrictions, particularly a vaccination requirement for truck drivers.

Both Canada and the United States imposed that requirement in mid-January, affecting drivers who cross the 5,500-mile (9,000-kilometer) border — the world’s longest.

The movement rapidly gained steam as the original cross-country convoy was joined by others en route to the federal capital.

Their rallying point was Parliament Hill, in the heart of Ottawa.

Police said they were expecting eight convoys, totaling several thousand vehicles, and perhaps 10,000 demonstrators. 

Stephen Penderness, an unvaccinated 28-year-old trucker from Ontario, said he was protesting for all Canadians, not just his fellow drivers.

“It’s actually for every single person… everybody on the road,” he said. “It’s all about your free choice.”

Quebec resident Louise — who had come to support the truckers but declined to give her full name — agreed. “We shouldn’t be forced to get vaccinated, regardless of the vaccine.”

She said vaccine passports “represent an intrusion in our personal lives.”

There was a strong police presence around the federal capital, amid fears the protest could turn violent.

Ottawa police chief Peter Sloly described the situation as “unique, fluid, risky and significant.”

“Let me be very clear,” he told reporters on Friday, “we are prepared to investigate, arrest if necessary, charge and prosecute anyone who acts violently or breaks the law.”

He urged local residents to stay off the roads.

The zone around the Parliament was closed for the weekend.

Police said they fear some demonstrators will stay beyond the Saturday protest, snarling traffic further.

Trudeau, who is currently in isolation after a Covid exposure, on Wednesday defended the vaccination mandate, noting that 90 percent of drivers are already vaccinated.

He called the truckers headed for the city a “small fringe minority” who do not represent the majority of Canadians. 

Trudeau’s office has not commented on the Prime Minister’s location for security reasons and the Canadian Parliament’s Sergeant-at-Arms has warned that demonstrators could show up at the homes of officials, CBC News reported.  

The prime minister’s office told the Ottawa Citizen that Trudeau was continuing to ‘isolate in the National Capital Region and work remotely.’ 

Despite security concerns, there have been no incidents at the rally, Ottawa Police said in a tweet. 

While their trucks were parked in front of the parliamentary buildings, protestors marched carrying copies of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, while others carried signs reading ‘God keep our land glorious and free,’ ‘Make Canada great again,’ and ‘we are here for our freedom,’ the Toronto Sun reported.   

Ottawa Police were at the scene warning truckers that any vehicles blocking emergency lanes or other locations that must be kept clear for public safety reasons would be towed.

Officers planned to remain downtown until crowds disperse, but hundreds more vehicles from Western Canada, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces are expected to arrive in the next few hours, the Toronto Sun reported. 

Since January 15, all Canadian truck drivers who are unvaccinated must take a COVID-19 test and quarantine when driving back from the United States.

They are not allowed into the U.S. unless they are vaccinated, and American drivers are not allowed into Canada unless they show their certificate.  

 

American drivers returning to the U.S., however, do not need to take a test and quarantine.

Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister, has dismissed the protest from the truckers as a disgruntled few, pointing out that almost 90 percent of his country is vaccinated. 

But truckers in the so-called ‘Freedom Convoy’ are angry at his mandate, and plan on using this weekend’s rally to show the strength of their sentiment in the Canadian capital.

At the protest was Tom Pappin, 53, who came from just outside Ottawa. 

‘I can travel freely through the border, and not be in contact with anyone. Yet I’m locked into my own country right now,’ he said. ‘I can’t go on a holiday. I can’t go to a restaurant, I can’t go bowling. I can’t go to a movie. You know, these are things that it’s just gotten out of control.’ 

Pappin told the Toronto Sun that attendees are likely to stay parked by Parliament until vaccine mandates are lifted.

Other protestors were more realistic about what the protest would accomplish.   

‘It’s a nice thought, but I don’t think anything will happen immediately,’ Phil Powers, a truck driver from Oshawa, Ontario told the Toronto Sun.  

‘This is the Canadian space to have the debate, so that’s why we’re here,’ Powers, who parked his trailer truck in front of Parliament Hill on Wellington Street for the weekend, said. 

The convoy assembled in British Columbia on Sunday, and were joined by other protesters driving from the east and the south of the country. 

Truckers from the US – who are only allowed into Canada if they are vaccinated – have also joined the massive convoy. 

Elon Musk also tweeted praise for the truckers, saying: ‘If you scare people enough, they will demand removal of freedom. This is the path to tyranny.’

He’d earlier tweeted that ‘Canadian truckers rule’. 

In September 2020, the Tesla CEO said that he and his family would not be getting vaccinated because they are not at risk.    

As many as 32,000, or 20 percent, of the 160,000 Canadian and American cross-border truck drivers may be taken off the roads due to the mandate, the Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) estimates.   

The convoy has picked up steam and supporters as it traveled along the snow-filled TransCanada Highway.

The longest convoy in history was just five miles long, consisted of 480 trucks, and took place in Egypt in 2020, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.   

In a list of demands, the organizers of the Freedom Convoy are calling for an end to vaccine passports and for the federal government to respect the rights of the unvaccinated.  

Trudeau hit the brakes on their demands. 

‘What we are hearing from some people associated with this convoy is completely unacceptable,’ he said.

‘We know the way through this pandemic is to get everyone vaccinated. 

‘The overwhelming majority, close to 90 percent of Canadians, have done exactly that.’ 

But supporters of the convoy disagree, with one driver saying that ‘the amount of trucks involved and the amount of people showing up here, this shows the frustrations of Canadians and it’s going to continue to grow.’   

‘A lot of people are trying to say that these type of things are done out of anger, but this is actually being done out of frustration towards the things the government is imposing upon Canadian citizens,’ a man named Trevor told Global News when the convoy passed through the Balgonie area, declining to give his surname. 

The Canadian government ended the truckers’ exemption to the vaccine mandate, meaning Canadian truck drivers need to be fully vaccinated if they want to avoid a two-week quarantine and pre-arrival molecular test for COVID-19 before crossing into Canada.

Unvaccinated or partially vaccinated foreign national truck drivers who do not have a right to re-enter are turned away at the border and directed back to the United States. 

The U.S. now also requires Canadian truckers to provide proof of vaccination to enter.

The Canadian Trucking Alliance has disavowed the protest and said more than 85 percent of truckers are vaccinated. 

Many truckers have also posted on social media they continue to do their jobs and that the convoy does not speak for them.  

Canada has enacted some of the most strict COVID-19 protocols worldwide. 

Ontario will only closed its restaurants, gyms and movie theaters early this month, and will only reopen them at the beginning of February. 

Vaccinations were mandated in for federal workers last year, and the premier of Quebec announced plans to penalize unvaccinated residents that don’t have a medical reason not to get the shot.