Apparently, the Canadians are not immune from populist far-right movements either.

For the last two weeks, truck drivers have been blocking roads in Ottawa, Toronto, and other Canadian metro areas. It has become so disruptive, that earlier this week Canada’s capital declared a state of emergency. Access to three border crossings in Michigan, North Dakota, and Montana have been cut off by truckers and fellow demonstrators on the Canadian side of the border and the movement has spawned copycat demonstrations in the US, Belgium, France, Australia, and New Zealand.

Images from news outlets and social media show truckers and protestors waving “Make Canada great again,” “F–k Trudeau,” and “Trump 2024” flags. The “Freedom Convoy” may look like a grassroots protest by anti-vaxxer truckers disgruntled with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cross-border vaccine mandates, however, it’s a far-right cacophony seeking to overturn a government.

Almost 90% of Canadian truckers are fully vaccinated, and the Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) condemned the convoy as it disrupts supply-chain operations and ties up roadways and city streets. According to the CTA, most of the protestors have no connection whatsoever to the trucking industry, and some are US citizens who flocked across the border to join in the mayhem. The protesters in Ottawa have pledged to stay in the city until all coronavirus restrictions are lifted.

What started as a rally of Canadian truckers angry at cross-border vaccine mandates has morphed into a far-right behemoth, attracting far-right groups across the globe who have espoused anti-Semitic, Islamophobic, and other hateful views. Social media outlets and media personalities have also joined the bandwagon. Among other noted right-wing media personalities, Glenn Beck and Mike Huckabee have used their Facebook and Twitter followers to spread the word about the truckers’ convoy. Fox host Tucker Carlson has purported that Canada has become a dark, surveillance state led by “no more fearful despot in the world than Justin Trudeau.” Even Tesla CEO Elon Musk and the “former guy” have praised the protestors, calling on American truckers to plan their own mobilized march in the nation’s capital and across the US.

What’s even more bizarre is that after getting booted from GoFundMe, the Freedom Convoy has found another donor: Canadian libertarian Bitcoin hawkers who go by the Twitter handle of “HonkHonkHodl.” This group has put its own spin on the Matrix “red pill” and “blue pill” by calling for Canadian truckers to take the “orange pill.” Bitcoin evangelists use the orange pill as a symbol of financial freedom and monetary sovereignty. 

No matter how crazy, we shouldn’t take this movement lightly. The disruptions and protests are taking an economic toll on both the US and Canada. The two neighbors exchange $140 million worth of cars and parts each day, which affects small parts suppliers, auto industry workers, and independent truckers.

So what’s the real spark of this trucker hoopla? 

The same subject that has been eating at far-right activists and conservatives for the last three years: COVID-19 vaccines and masks.

Vaccine and mask mandates have long been a battle cry for far-right groups in the US. Well-known anti-vaxxer personality Robert F. Kennedy Jr. likened US vaccine policies to the actions of a totalitarian state. He even suggested that Anne Frank was in a better situation when she was hiding from the Nazis. Georgia’s Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene branded Nancy Pelosi’s mask mandate as a violation of her rights, and in a recent press conference had an “oopsie” moment when she referred to Pelosi’s Gazpacho police. 

It’s not the vaccine or mask mandates themselves, it’s the rise of populist “thinking.”

Queens University assistant professor Amarnath Amarasingam is a scholar who specializes in extremism and social movements. He stated in an interview that “populist movements are notoriously distrustful of government,” and that “They don’t trust politicians, they don’t trust the media, they don’t trust academics, they don’t trust scientists because they believe that historically, this ‘elite class’ of society has always harmed those at the bottom, the underdogs.” 

Populists are dividers, not uniters, and populist movements are notorious for overthrowing democracies.