A look at anti-Trudeau protesters

“People have heard that Justin trudeau was in town and suddenly everyone’s phone was ringing, everyone was texting that they were coming, ”says Claire Roberts. On September 6, campaign manager Mike McMullen, the candidate for People’s Party of Canada (PPC) in London West, was among the group of protesters who lectured the Liberal leader during his visit to London, Ont., During which gravel was thrown in his direction.

That day, the campaign manager, a music teacher who was made aware of Justin Trudeau’s presence on the Telegram app, was not the only one in purple, the color of the party she represents. In interview with The duty, she claims to have also communicated with the volunteers of her candidate to inform them of the presence of Justin Trudeau. “Was this a PPC event? No, ”she insists, however. In an email, Jim Torma, the PCP coordinator for southwestern Ontario, wrote that a large group of people “shared on Facebook where Justin Trudeau was.”

Western University professor Howard Ramos, an expert on social movements, observes that protests against Justin Trudeau have so far only taken place in one region – southern Ontario -, that they are spontaneous and unorganized. . “They’re well organized, in that they attract people to an event, which is easy to do. It’s much harder to make sure people vote and get organized when there is no event, ”he explains.

The protest in London, like those in other towns in the south of the province, brought together an amalgam of protesters: anti-vaccine protesters, people dissatisfied with Justin Trudeau’s policies, members of the religious right and supporters of the PPC, which has about 5% support in the country according to the CBC Network’s poll aggregator. Some of the party’s leading positions, such as opposition to compulsory vaccination, are however unpopular: the three-quarters of Canadians support the measure.

“What worries me is seeing far-right movements trying to co-opt the anti-vaccination movement,” said Carleton University professor Stephanie Carvin, a former national security analyst. Anti-vaccines have given CPP new life by giving it a group to target, she adds. Already, the anti-vaccine movement has evolved, notes the professor, and is no longer just about vaccines. “It’s a populist movement that wants to bring policies like Trump’s to Canada,” she said.

Change of tone

Howard Ramos is not so worried. He pointed out that the PPC still has little support in Canada and did not win a seat in the House of Commons in the last election. Leader Maxime Bernier even lost his re-election in Beauce in 2019. “We still have around 5% of the population that supports radical policies. What has changed is the opportunity the 5% had to connect, ”he emphasizes.

While he was reconciling at the start of his campaign in Ontario – notably in Bolton, on August 27, where protesters forced the cancellation of his event – Justin Trudeau toughened his tone in the weeks that followed. “Anti-vaccines put their own children and our children at risk,” argued the Prime Minister on August 31 in Sudbury, days before his stop in London. This amplified the message of the protesters, says Howard Ramos.

Justin Trudeau’s tone is one of the reasons Claire Roberts visited London on September 6. She wanted to express her disagreement with his divisive language, she says, as well as the government’s “narrative” and social media censorship of people who dare to contradict it. “The narrative is that the vaccine is safe when there is plenty of evidence to the contrary that is being ruled out. The narrative is that we have to confine ourselves, while confinement does more harm than good, ”she explains.

The latest update from the Canadian government reported only 3,967 reports of serious side effects following immunization, or 0.007% of all doses administered nationally. Although they have an impact on mental health, the confinements have a “positive effect” on the pandemic thanks to the reduction of contacts, revealed in December 2020 a mathematical study of York University in Toronto.

Elizabeth Racz, like Claire Roberts, is not planning on getting the vaccine. She stood near the country bus at the Liberal leader’s exit from his London event. A friend had shared with her the arrival of the chief after seeing the bus on the highway, she said. “People are protesting because the vaccines are used as part of a eugenic program to ‘slaughter the herd'”, described among others in To have to that which opposes compulsory vaccination.

“Our voices have been heard”

According to one video shared on facebook, Herbert Hildebrandt, the son of the controversial Pastor Henry Hildebrandt, was just outside the door of the Liberal Party bus in London. His father, Henry, broke sanitary measures by continuing to hold masses at his church in Aylmer, south London. Contacted by email to inquire whether they had invited members of their congregation to join the demonstration on September 6, Herbert and Henry Hildebrandt did not respond to the To have to.

At another protest in Bolton, Paula, the owner of a bracelet shop, was in the group that hosted the Prime Minister. “I went since I am aware of crimes against humanity and wanted my voice to be heard,” she wrote in an email to To have to. “Our voices were heard, the coward did not even get off the bus”, one reads under a video that the local resident shared on Facebook.

“Did I wear purple, [les couleurs du PPC] and others too? Absoutely. Why ? Because that’s the only way we’ll get the attention of traditional media, ”says Claire Roberts. “My biggest fear is that traditional media [en couvrant ces manifestations] create a problem which will then have to be solved ”, thinks Howard Ramos, the specialist in social movements. Traditional media coverage, says the expert, gives legitimacy to protesters and allows their message to reach the ears of Canadians who do not follow their activities on social media. “I imagine the PPC members are aware of the power of the media,” adds Howard Ramos.

Professor Stephanie Carvin follows the protests with concern. “This movement will change the character of our democracy if it continues and it scares me,” she said.

It cannot be predicted whether the protest movement will continue until the end of the campaign. On Friday afternoon, instead of protesters, a tide of Liberal supporters, cameras in hand, awaited Justin Trudeau as he exited an event at a restaurant in northern Toronto.

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