Chapter 81: Heard

315      consume marijuana . . . jump on bouncy castles  “Updates: Officials Condemn ‘Desecration’ of Monuments, Hateful Signs on Display at Trucker Convoy Protest,” Globe and Mail, January 29, 2022, updated January 30, 2022, www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-truck-freedom-convoy-ottawa-live-update; Julie Gordon, “Ottawa’s Sleepy Core Transformed Into Protest Street Party,” International Business Times, February 17, 2022, www.ibtimes.com/ottawas-sleepy-core-transformed-protest-street-party-3404615; and Tracey Lindeman, “Maple Leaf Flags, Conspiracy Theories and The Matrix: Inside the Ottawa Truckers’ Protest,” The Guardian, February 11, 2022, www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/11/canada-ottawa-truckers-protest-covid-vaccine-mandates.
 
315      “The truckers I’ve met today . . .”  Pierre Poilievre, “The truckers I’ve met today have been peaceful, kind and patriotic . . .” Facebook, January 29, 2022, www.facebook.com/PierrePoilievreMP/photos/the-truckers-ive-met-today-have-been-peaceful-kind-and-patrioticive-not-seen-any/482402566580934/, archived at archive.today, February 10, 2026 capture, archive.ph/ZWw0h.     
 
315      Parliament reopens “MPs Return to Parliament as Ottawa Protests Drag On,” Canada’s National Observer, January 31, 2022, www.nationalobserver.com/2022/01/31/news/mps-return-parliament-ottawa-protests.
 
315      “I was at an overpass as the truckers went by . . .”  Parliamentary Precinct, “Pierre Poilievre on the Canadian Freedom Convoy 2022,” YouTube, January 31, 2022, youtu.be/WFdT75gDwiQ?si=lPN3HW8pPJbEx7wK, 5:12–5:24.
 
315      “These are the people that are standing up and fighting . . .”  Parliamentary Precinct, “Pierre Poilievre on the Canadian Freedom Convoy 2022,” youtu.be/WFdT75gDwiQ?si=lPN3HW8pPJbEx7wK, 5:41–5:48.
 
315      engaged in a blockade . . . to protest a pipeline  Leyland Cecco, “Canadian Police Arrest Activists at Wet’suwet’en Anti-Pipeline Camp,” The Guardian, February 6, 2020, www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/06/canadian-police-arrest-activists-blocking-gas-pipeline-indigenous-land-wetsuweten.
 
315      “These blockaders are taking away the freedom . . .”  Power & Politics, Twitter, February 13, 2020, 7:07 p.m., video, x.com/PnPCBC/status/1228108588696121344, 0:06–0:12.
 
315      “That is wrong and the government . . .”  Power & Politics, Twitter, February 13, 2020, video, x.com/PnPCBC/status/1228108588696121344, 0:14–0:18.
 
316      “I do get very defensive of Canadians . . .” Candice Bergen in Canada, House of Commons Debates (Hansard), 44th Parl., 1st. sess., vol. 151, no. 20 (January 31, 2022), www.ourcommons.ca/Content/House/441/Debates/020/HAN020-E.PDF, 1321.
 
316      framed Trudeau as the real racist . . . dressed up in blackface and brownface Parliamentary Precinct, “Pierre Poilievre on the Canadian Freedom Convoy 2022,” youtu.be/WFdT75gDwiQ?si=lPN3HW8pPJbEx7wK, 0:05–0:17; Bergen in Canada, House of Commons Debates (Hansard), www.ourcommons.ca/Content/House/441/Debates/020/HAN020-E.PDF, 1321; and Anna Purna Kambhampaty and Madeleine Carlisle, “Justin Trudeau Admits to Also Wearing Blackface ‘Makeup’ in High School Following TIME Report,” Time, September 18, 2019, updated September 19, 2019, time.com/5680868/justin-trudeau-brownface-photo-apology.
 
316      forced out of his position Andy Blatchford, “Stunning Fall: Canada’s Conservatives Boot Leader O’Toole,” Politico, February 2, 2022, www.politico.com/news/2022/02/02/canada-conservatives-erin-otoole-00004707.
 
316      drastically diminished in number, continued to occupy . . . in early February 2022 On February 2, 2022, BBC News reported, “Crowds participating in the demonstration have visibly thinned. About 250 people remain gathered in and around downtown Ottawa, including 50 protesters on Parliament Hill, the epicentre of weekend demonstrations that drew thousands protesting mandates and other pandemic health measures.” “Freedom Convoy: Organisers Pledge to Stay ‘as Long as It Takes,’” BBC News, February 2, 2022, www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-60235884.
 
316      their interim leader . . . launched his campaign for the post  KC Hoard, “Who Is Candice Bergen, the Interim Conservative Leader?” Maclean’s, February 4, 2022, macleans.ca/politics/who-is-candice-bergen-the-interim-conservative-leader; and “Pierre Poilievre Announces Bid for Conservative Party Leadership,” Globe and Mail, February 5, 2022, www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-pierre-poilievre-announces-his-bid-for-conservative-party-leadership.
 
316      “Conservatives have heard you . . .”  Candice Bergen quoted in Catherine Lévesque, “‘I’m Proud of the Truckers,’ says Poilievre in Lambasting Justin Trudeau’s Response to Protests,” National Post, February 11, 2022, nationalpost.com/news/im-proud-of-the-truckers-says-poilievre-in-lambasting-justin-trudeaus-response-to-protests.
 
316      “I’m proud of the truckers and I stand with them”  Pierre Poilievre quoted in Lévesque, “‘I’m Proud of the Truckers,’ says Poilievre in Lambasting Justin Trudeau’s Response to Protests,” nationalpost.com/news/im-proud-of-the-truckers-says-poilievre-in-lambasting-justin-trudeaus-response-to-protests.
 
316      “being inconvenienced”  Poilievre quoted in Lévesque, “‘I’m Proud of the Truckers,’ says Poilievre in Lambasting Justin Trudeau’s Response to Protests,” nationalpost.com/news/im-proud-of-the-truckers-says-poilievre-in-lambasting-justin-trudeaus-response-to-protests.
 
316      “intransigence is keeping the protests going”  Poilievre quoted in Lévesque, “‘I’m Proud of the Truckers,’ says Poilievre in Lambasting Justin Trudeau’s Response to Protests,” nationalpost.com/news/im-proud-of-the-truckers-says-poilievre-in-lambasting-justin-trudeaus-response-to-protests.
 
316      “. . . but from the far-right Tea Party movement”  Bob Hepburn, “Opinion | Pierre Poilievre’s Love of Far-Right U.S. Tea Party Politics,” Toronto Star, September 21, 2023, updated September 22, 2023, www.thestar.com/opinion/star-columnists/pierre-poilievre-s-love-of-far-right-u-s-tea-party-politics/article_707dc944-1743-5bc2-9529-7a9506e42f32.html.