How is Trudeau dividing Canadians? Let me count the ways. This is part 2 of an article by Ray McGinnis on Propaganda Trudeau Style.
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2) Words are powerful, and the key to influencing group emotions is through the clever use of language
Edward Bernays advises that effective propaganda employs key words and phrases as emotional drivers to shift opinions of the masses to adhere to the agenda of those in charge.
On March 31, 2021, Justin Trudeau lauded Canadian truckers as heroes of the pandemic. He tweeted: “While many of us are working from home, there are others who aren’t able to do that – like truck drivers who are working day and night to make sure our shelves are stocked. So when you can, please #ThankATrucker for everything they’re doing and help them however you can.” [12]
In the past, Justin Trudeau has drawn on classic liberal values of tolerance and inclusion to frame discussion of an event that resulted in deaths in America. The CBC’s Peter Mansbridge asked Trudeau for his response to the April 15th Boston Marathon attacks that killed three people and left 265 injured. Trudeau said he would offer the Americans material support “and…we have to look at the root causes.…there is no question that this happened because there is someone who feels completely excluded….At war with a society. And our approach has to be, where do those tensions come from? ….But we also need to make sure that as we go forward, that we don’t emphasize a culture of fear and mistrust. Because that ends up marginalizing even further those who already are feeling like they are enemies of society.” In response to Trudeau’s statement, Prime Minister Stephen Harper slammed Trudeau saying “Don’t sit around trying to rationalize it.” [13]
Earlier during the pandemic, it was the tolerant, understanding, Trudeau on display. On May 9, 2021, on the Brandon Gonez Show, the prime minister addressed the matter of mRNA vaccine hesitancy saying, *“*What do you do with someone with an allergy? What do you do with someone who’s immunocompromised, or someone who for religious reasons…or deep convictions, decided that no, they’re not going to get a vaccine? We’re not a country that makes vaccination mandatory.” [14] Canadians needed to be compassionate, to empathize with those who were hesitant in stepping forward and put an experimental vaccine in their body that hadn’t gone through standard trials. There was no plan to require mandatory vaccination.
There was a solid basis for questioning the rationale behind any plans for mass vaccination of the mRNA vaccines. On August 6, 2021, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky told Wolf Blitzer on CNN that the Covid-19 vaccines did not stop or reduce transmission, or prevent infection. [15] Why vaccinate a whole population with a non-sterilizing vaccine that didn’t prevent transmission or prevent infection against a disease? (As I write this the triple-vaxxed prime minister has gone into isolation after testing positive for Covid-19 a second time). [16] Especially, when the infection fatality rate was in the zone of the seasonal flu – where at least 99.75% survived infection. And those most at risk were obese or had multiple co-morbidities. [17]
But during the federal election campaign in late summer 2021, the prime minister did a 180-degree reversal. Trudeau’s Liberals had been polling behind the Conservatives. Between August 24 and September 9th, the Conservatives were ahead of the Liberals in 54 polls – with as much as a 7.9% lead on August 30 – and Trudeau’s party ahead in just 10 polls. [18] So, on August 30, 2021, at a campaign stop in Sudbury, Ontario, Justin Trudeau told a crowd “The folks out there, the anti-vaxxers, they’re wrong…. They are putting at risk their own kids, and they’re putting at risk our kids.” He spoke about the need for only “the vaccinated” to be able to travel by plane or train, “so they don’t have to worry that somebody (unvaccinated) is going to put them in danger seated next to them, or across the aisle.” [19] The underlying assumption was that when vaccinated passengers on a plane were together, they would pose less of a risk to each other compared to an unvaccinated passenger. Yet, CDC Director Rachel Walensky conceded getting vaccinated didn’t prevent transmission or infection.
Ten months later, on June 15, 2022, the head epidemiologist for the Public Health Agency of Canada would admit, under cross-examination by freedom convoy lawyer Keith Wilson Q.C., that they “never recommended vaccination of air travelers” to the Trudeau government. This was supported by a sworn affidavit. Wilson comments that “the written advice…provided did not identify vaccination as a mitigation strategy. They identified masking. They identified spacing at arrivals, departures and on the planes…. The top epidemiologist for the government of Canada volunteered that the reason they didn’t recommend vaccination for travelers was that the scientific evidence doesn’t support that it would be effective.” [20]
But in the final week of the election campaign, on September 16, 2021, in a TV interview with Julie Synder on La semaine des 4 Julie, Justin Trudeau referred to those who weren’t getting the mRNA vaccine as “racists, misogynists, white supremacists.” He mused “Do we tolerate these people?” [21] The prime minister used vaccine status as a wedge issue to build support for his re-election campaign before the September 21 election. Most Canadians would agree that hatred of other people based on their skin colour, or gender, crossed a line. But what evidence did Trudeau have to suggest the unvaccinated were racists and misogynists? He asserted this was true. A majority of citizens accepted the claim without any scrutiny. Those who didn’t get the mRNA vaccine were labelled as “anti-vaxxers.” The Liberals closed the gap. On election day, they were just 1% behind the Conservatives. Though Trudeau got 191,000 votes less than the Conservatives, he got another minority government.
In a press conference for the UN on September 29, 2021, Trudeau expressed the view that the world needed to achieve “zero COVID.” [22] Nothing less than eradicating COVID-19 would be acceptable for the nations of the world. And the only solution, given Trudeau’s insistence that “we’ve got the science,” was 100 percent vaccination of every Canadian. For those who didn’t buckle, the consequences were severe. Employment Minister Carla Qualtrough announced on October 21, 2021 that those who failed to get vaccinated with two doses of mRNA vaccine would in many workplaces lose their jobs. “It’s a condition of employment that hasn’t been met,” Qualtrough said in an interview with CBC’s Power & Politics. “And the employer choosing to terminate someone for that reason would make that person ineligible for EI.” [23]
Over the fall, the unvaccinated were warned they would no longer be able to board a train or a plane within Canada, or leave the country. A November 30 headline in Toronto’s City News announced “Unvaccinated travelers barred from trains and planes as of today.”[24] In step with these developments, New Brunswick’s Minister of Health, Dorothy Shephard, announced a “winter action plan” that tasked all businesses that provide essentials such as food to require proof of vaccination from clients. Critics objected that the “winter action plan” was a violation of human rights, since accessing food is a basic need. [25]
In Quebec, Premier François Legault announced on January 12, 2022, that his province would start routinely taxing the unvaccinated. CTV cited the example in Austria as instructive. “In Austria, for example, people 14 and older will face fines of about $5,150 CAD (3,600 Euros) every three months, starting in February, if they’re not vaccinated, according to Reuters.” [26] There was no suggestion in the article that CTV thought the anticipated tax on the unvaccinated in Austria was problematic. CTV reported that comments from politicians and provincial health officers over the fall and winter had agitated the vaccinated toward the unvaccinated. CTV cited an EKOS poll showing 66% of Canadians were losing patience with the unvaccinated. And 60% wanted more penalties and restrictions for those who didn’t comply with vaccine mandates.
Justin Trudeau announced that unvaccinated truckers would no longer be allowed to cross the Canada-U.S. border, effective January 15, 2022. The Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA), the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters had all asked the federal government to either eliminate or postpone the mandate. [27] It was estimated that as many as 32,000, or 20%, of the 160,000 Canadian and American cross-border truck drivers would have their livelihood impacted by being taken off the highways by the government’s new measure. The new mandate crossed a line for many Canadians. Based on transmission of the virus by the vaccinated, and truckers never being super-spreaders, there was no defensible medical reason to require them to be vaccinated. By January 22 a Trucker Freedom Convoy formed in Prince George and Vancouver, British Columbia. Their destination was Ottawa.
On January 26, Prime Minister Trudeau boasted once again that he was “following the science,” ridiculing convoy supporters as a “fringe minority” with “unacceptable views.” [28] In contrast with his eagerness to understand the Boston Marathon bombers, Justin Trudeau wasn’t interested in trying to understand convoy protesters. Trudeau didn’t want to learn where tensions around the vaccine mandates for cross-border trucking came from. He refused to meet with convoy leaders. Instead of being cautious not to emphasize a culture of fear and mistrust, Trudeau made it clear those supporting the freedom convoy were a danger to society.
Scico 
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