by Ray McGinnis
4) Reiterating the same idea over and over creates habits and convictions
Edward Bernays details in Propaganda how repeating ideas over and over again helps ordinary citizens to adopt new convictions and habits that aid agendas of the those in charge. Repeating the same idea again and again is a form of neuro-linguistic programming. Repetition can plant certain concepts or emotions in the subconscious mind. There are many examples of repetition being used effectively during the pandemic. One is the WEF phrase “build back better,” used as a campaign slogan by U.S. President Joe Biden. Justin Trudeau has repeatedly shut down scrutiny about the basis for his pandemic measures by telling people to “trust the science.” We are to assume this is medical science and not political science. Throughout the freedom convoy protest, the 24/7-in-your-face death statistics and case numbers, continued apace, promoting the pervasiveness of a pandemic.
Nobody ever asked what happened to seasonal flu and pneumonia. Or mentioned that the hospitals are always full with these afflictions in the winter months, in any case. Building on the legacy media’s everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach to discrediting, demeaning and demonizing the truckers, politicians continued to step forward with new allegations which they repeated over and over and over.
a) Vandals
Trucker Freedom Convoy lawyer, Keith Wilson Q.C., reports that during the first week after the trucks arrived they were vandalized. “Groups of Antifa were coming through at night in their black hoodies and backpacks and black jeans. And they would come when the truckers were sleeping and knife their tires and cut their air lines and spray paint the trucks. They would vandalize the trucks. So, each block had a block captain for that area of trucks. And they had a watch system so that when an Antifa person would show up, the trucker would grab them, call 9-1-1 and the police would come, arrest that guy and take him away. That would happen three instances in the night. Guess what the police chief would do the next day? He’d say ‘we had three arrests for property damage in the downtown core last night’ The arrests were Antifa, the 9-1-1 calls were from truckers.” But Ottawa police left it to the media to infer the vandals, those responsible for “property damage,” were convoy protesters. [41]
b) Arsonists
On the morning of February 6, Matias Munoz alleged two arsonists came to an apartment building at Metcalfe and Lisgar at 5 AM. They had on them fire starter bricks in the lobby. Munoz tweeted: “One of them taped the door handles so no one could get in or out” (including the arsonists). According to the story, a tenant saw the arsonists lighting a fire in the lobby, asked if they were truckers. And then decided to go to bed without calling 911. Which is what you’d do if you knew you were in a building that was on fire. Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson held an emergency meeting of city council condemning the “malicious intent” of the convoy protesters. *“*Yesterday we learned of a horrific story that clearly demonstrates the malicious intent of the protesters occupying our city.” [42]
But the Ottawa Deputy Chief told the press on February 8, “We don’t have any direct linkage between the occupation — the demonstrators — and that act.” [43] On March 21, Ottawa police confirmed the person charged with the February 6th arson had nothing to do with the convoy protest. [44]
On April 8th, Rex Murphy reported in the National Post: “This week, we found out that the attempt to burn down an apartment building in Ottawa, which was so widely and wildly heralded during the Freedom Convoy protest, had nothing to do with the truckers. Please let this sink in. At the time, such was the volume of assumption, innuendo and outright allegation that everyone from Nanaimo, B.C., to Nain, N.L., formed the impression that this despicable action, an outrage by any standard, was the work of the truckers. Not true. False. Nothing to do at all with the protesters. It was allegedly the work of two Ottawa miscreants who were working alone.” [45]
c) Criminals with weapons
In addition to the specter of lawlessness and arson, politicians began to paint the truckers as violent in other ways. During a press conference on February 17, a Francophone reporter pointed out that Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino had been “insinuating for days” that weapons were being brought to Ottawa, or were in Ottawa with the convoy. Mendicino replied, *“*I am not saying that there is an intelligence saying there are weapons in Ottawa.” [46]
At a March 24 House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety, Conservative MP Dane Lloyd pressed Ottawa Police Service (OPS) Interim Chief Steve Bell to confirm *“*Were loaded firearms (at the Freedom Convoy) found? Yes or no?” Bell replied, “In relation to—no, not relating to any charges to this point…at no point did we lay any firearms-related charges. ” [47]
Yet, as Rex Murphy observed “The protest has been actually not mainly but overwhelmingly peaceful, and the political and major press response, wildly alarmist and ominous. Ottawa shops remain with their windows intact, no assaults on police stations or police being bombarded with sticks and stones, no armed patrols by the truckers telling people where they could go or not go, and a splendid number of rather endearing incidents that have failed to make it to national or local press.” [48]
Even Public Safety Minister Marco Mendocino’s own staff were telling him the protests were peaceful. Director General of the Government Operations Centre, Deryck Trehearne, confirmed that “the majority of the event was peaceful…disruption of government activities is minor.” Ottawa senior Public Safety officials advised Mendocino that convoy organizers were encouraging participants to keep lanes of obstruction-free, clear vehicles out of residential areas, and be respectful of the police. [49]
Speaking on the Emergencies Act vote before the Canadian Senate on February 22nd, Senator Denise Batters cited her firsthand experience of the protest. “My office faces right onto Wellington Street, and I had a front row seat to this convoy for the past weeks. What I witnessed of protesters was peaceful, organized and non-threatening. I do not tolerate harassment, intimidation or destruction, ever. But I did not see any of that behaviour exhibited by the protesters. I have been here in Ottawa during all three weeks of the protest. I can say, that in the last two years, I never felt safer walking home from my office at night. The protesters I met…reminded me of the people I know in Saskatchewan: friendly, hard-working, patriotic Canadians…. These truckers are our constituents and it is our job as parliamentarians to hear them out…. They drove all the way to Ottawa from those Saskatchewan towns. Birch Hills is almost 3,000 kilometers, a 32-hour drive away. To simply have a conversation….What is the national emergency this time? Dance parties and loud horns? Horns that, by the way, had long stopped honking by the time this act was invoked, due to a court injunction that the truckers complied with.” [50]
An Ottawa resident named David, who saw the convoy below his bedroom window, echoed Batters assessment after speaking with the protesters. “As I finally made my way back home, after talking to dozens of truckers into the night, I realized I met someone from every province except PEI. They all have a deep love for this country. They believe in it. They believe in Canadians. These are the people that Canada relies on to build its infrastructure, deliver its goods, and fill the ranks of its military in times of war. The overwhelming concern they have is that the vaccine mandates are creating an untouchable class of Canadians. They…see their government willing to push a class of people outside the boundaries of society, deny them a livelihood, and deny them full membership in the most welcoming country in the world; And they said enough.” [51]
Batters observed that “Prime Minister Trudeau brought in the Emergencies Act as a first, and not a last, resort.” As well she noted, “Both houses of Parliament were able to meet for weeks, mere steps away from the protesters. Prime Minister Trudeau and his senior cabinet ministers attended several question periods in House of Commons sittings in person. If there were a true public order emergency, surely none of that would have been allowed to have occurred.” She reminded the Senate that the Emergency Act wasn’t invoked even “during the October 2014 Parliament Hill shooting. And I remember that well, because I was locked in a caucus room for ten hours with my colleagues throughout.” [52]
d) Unfit parents
In addition to allegations of threatening use of weapons, the truckers were viewed as reckless parents who rightfully should have their children apprehended. “I can only say that there have been ongoing reports regarding child welfare concerns, and that we consider all information received to determine the best response,” said a spokesperson for the Ottawa Children’s Aid Society. Under the Emergencies Act invoked by Prime Minister Trudeau on Valentine’s Day, February 14, bringing children to the demonstrations was now prohibited. If a child was in the cab of a truck, it would result in a potential fine of $5,000 or up to five years in prison. Ottawa police said roughly 25 per cent of the vehicles in the blockades had children in them. Convoy protesters’ children had been playing in bouncy castles, dancing to music and playing outdoor hockey over the previous weeks. [53]
e) Insurrectionists, terrorists
Convoy protestors were also accused of being terrorists. Ottawa City Councillor Diane Deans referred to the protest as part of a “nationwide insurrection,” and the protesters themselves were “terrorists” and “mercenaries.” [54] When crowdfunding efforts raised over $14 million combined in regular and cryptocurrency donations, media commentators alleged it was the work of domestic and foreign terrorism, and supporters of Donald Trump. However, Barry MacKillop, deputy-director of FINTRAC, the federal organization that goes after terrorism funds and criminal money-laundering, told the Commons finance committee that there was not a shred of illegal activity associated with the trucker convoy. [55] The protests had nothing to do with domestic terrorism or money-laundering. [56]
f) Illegal protest
Justin Trudeau, Chrystia Freeland and other Liberal cabinet ministers, repeatedly referred to the convoy protest as “illegal.” But on February 7, Ontario Chief Justice McLean ruled the protest was legal. He wrote, “the defendants and other persons remain at liberty to engage in a peaceful, lawful and safe protest.” However, the repeated mantra of the protest being labelled illegal, gave many Canadians the impression the protests were against the law. [57] Freeland made the claim again on June 15, 2022, before the Parliamentary Special Joint Committee on the Declaration of the Emergency. [58]
Scico 
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