(Mark Pellin, Headline USA) It is becoming increasingly obvious that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s oppressive and business-killing mandates are plummeting in popularity, while the Freedom Convoy’s pro-liberty message continues to gain positive traction with an ever-expanding base of supporters.
Two more Canadian provinces —Quebec and Prince Edward Island — have joined Alberta and Saskatchewan in dropping oppressive COVID mandates and restrictions.
The lifting of mandates will start as early as Saturday in Quebec, including restrictions imposed on restaurants and private home gatherings, reported CTV News. By mid-March, nearly all restrictions and mandates will be scuttled, with businesses, places of worship, and large entertainment venues able to open at full capacity.
“We will need to learn to live with the virus,” said Premier Francois Legault. “There may be a sixth wave eventually, but we will have to live with COVID.”
A similar sentiment was expressed by Prince Edward Island Premier Dennis King, who announced an easing of restrictions to begin Feb. 17 when capacity limits will be increased to 50 percent, versus 50 people, for worship services, spectator events and entertainment venues.
Capacity limits will be increased to 100 percent across the board by early April, along with an end to all mask mandates, according to the Toronto Star.
“Our aim is to phase out these public heath measures at the earliest possible time,” said Quebec chief public health officer Dr. Heather Morrison. “This is a hopeful plan and we will move forward carefully.”
Driving much of the anti-mandate change, the Freedom Convoy and its massive public support continues to roll across Canada, protesting for freedom and liberty.
Truckers and citizens on Wednesday continued a blockade of the Ambassador Bridge into Canada from Michigan, protesting Trudeau’s mandate requiring drivers entering Canada to be fully vaccinated or face testing and quarantine requirements, reported the Detroit Free Press.
The truckers weren’t alone in their disgust with Trudeau’s tyranny, with even members from his own party turning against the prime minister.
Liberal MP for Louis-Hébert (a suburb of Quebec City) Joël Lightbound earlier this week denounced what he called the “politicization of the pandemic,” taking place under Trudeau.
⚡️ MIRACLE ⚡️
LIBERAL MP Joel #Lightbound stands up to @justintrudeau and perfectly explains why 54% of Canadians want vaccine passports and Covid mandates lifted.
The #TruckersForFreedom2022 #Omicronvoy #FluTruxKlan #cdnpoli #TrudeauMustGo pic.twitter.com/iDCqTiHQAJ
— Yukon Strong (@YukonStrong) February 8, 2022
Lightbound said that, contrary to Trudeau’s dismissive and divisive attitude, he would not smear protesters and believes the truckers and their supporters have legitimate concerns.
The words and actions of Trudeau’s government, he said, “risks undermining the public’s trust in our public health institutions.”
“They’re worried that measures that ought to be exceptional and limited in time are being normalized with no end in sight, like vaccine passports, mandates and requirements for travelers,” Lightbound said.
“They’re worried because they feel it is becoming harder and harder to know where public health stops and where politics begin,” he said.
Trudeau, who emerged from hiding after fleeing Ottawa when protests clogged downtown, returned to issue more insults, blithely demeaning the Freedom Convoy and its supporters as “a few people shouting and waving swastikas.”
Look! @JustinTrudeau said during the recent emergency debate that the few swastikas does not define who Canadians are.
I’m glad you agree, Justin. This convoy of Canadian truckers should not be defined by the few scum individuals you might come across. pic.twitter.com/HXloP8Vw4A
— The Splonker (Chance of Fluri) (@TheSplonker) February 8, 2022
Trudeau complained that anti-mandate protestors fighting for freedom were trying to derail Canada’s democracy.
“Individuals are trying to blockade our economy, our democracy, and our fellow citizens’ daily lives,” he bleated. “It has to stop.”
The mandates are what need to stop, said Candice Bergen, interim leader of the Conservative Party.
“Canadians have suffered. They followed the rules. They have done what they were asked to do,” she said during a House of Commons session this week, where she blasted Trudeau for failing to follow the science and not lifting COVID restrictions that have strangled Canadians for two years
“We can’t have a slow and drawn-out process of reopening just because the prime minister is hiding and in denial,” Bergen said, reeling off a long list of countries that have lifted COVID restrictions and, she said, have lower vaccination rates than Canada.
“Here in Canada we have a prime minister who refuses to lead and instead is being divisive,” Bergen said.
“Conservatives believe that living with COVID means opening up and ending the mandates,” she declared.
There probably won’t be a lot of help coming to achieve that end from the Biden administration.
White House mouthpiece Jen Psaki insisted Wednesday that the Freedom Convoy — not oppressive mandates and restrictions — was threatening supply chains, with the potential for driving inflation higher and creating shortages of consumer goods, reported the Detroit Free Press.
Those problems, not coincidently, have been exacerbated by Biden’s radical policies and his continued penchant for mandates.
In that light, the Freedom Convoy is just another scapegoat for the administration’s failings.
