Nobody loves the pandemic.
COVID-19 and its variants have claimed 33 thousand lives across Canada, postponed medical attention and delayed surgeries, stranded people in unsafe home environments, damaged mental health, disrupted the education of children, caused economic hardship and destroyed businesses, put the suppliers of food, fuel and other essential goods under immense pressure, and driven health care workers to the point of collapse.
We are all fed up and more than ready to see the end of it.
After being shut in and closed down for almost two years, we are all frustrated with . . .
not being able to go anywhere, not least truckers whose livelihoods depend on their ability to move. And it is understandable that impediments to do so, such as the vaccine mandate imposed on travel across the international border, would be a major concern.
At the same time, the majority of truckers are fully vaccinated, whether for the preservation of their own health and that of their families – in view of the risks of transporting the virus across borders from the U.S. where precautions are lower and death rates are higher – or to ensure they are able to do their part in keeping the supply chains rolling.
In fact, most people are doing what they can to help be part of the solution, for their own sakes and as part of a widespread effort to stamp out the virus altogether, following the restrictions on their freedoms imposed by governments of all political stripes – left, right and centre – across the country.
That said, there is, of course, legitimacy to the convoy’s original and essential point that mandatory vaccination of truckers might go too far. While many would disagree, as do we, it is nonetheless a reasonable position – neither heretical nor even radical – within the spectrum of views that make up the Canadian policy discourse.
Nor is it unreasonable for any of us to keep a watchful eye on government, to check the abuse of power, and ensure those in office do not overstep their authority in ways that trample on our civil liberties and human rights.
Truckers would, no doubt, be among the first to recognize that, on the question of government meddling in various aspects of life, there is a balance to be struck. Do governments go too far, for example, in testing and licencing drivers, requiring them to drive on the right side of the road and stop at red lights, setting standards for truck safety, building and maintaining highway infrastructure, subsidizing the oil industry and managing border services?
As a diverse population, Canadians would draw the lines between what is acceptable and what is not in different places. The process of negotiating what we can all live with is the messy business of democracy. It requires us all to be willing to create a space where people are polite and respectful of your right to speak your mind.
It certainly doesn’t help when the prime minister marginalizes the expression of the truckers’ concerns with comments about them being unacceptable views from a fringe minority. Nor does the hijacking of the convey by other agendas with messages of hate.
Apart from these digressions, Canadians generally seem to be reasonably good at hearing what the other guy has to say. That’s a freedom worth driving across the country for.
Charles Dickson
