By Gabriel Verveniotis | gabrielverveniotis.substack.com

The resignation of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is a cause of elation for many Canadians after having endured experimental vaccines, bank seizures, lockdowns, quarantines, masks, and the closure of churches.

Most Canadians regrettably recall their freedom of speech being outlawed by legally ambiguous bylaws. As well as their right to assemble via protests and, quite unprecedentedly, the liberty to voice opposition against these injustices.

It is easy to cite Liberal culpability during COVID-19, given the egregious examples of despotism Trudeau exercised throughout the “pandemic.” In some cases, these acts of autocracy consisted of imprisoning priests, bludgeoning journalists, or better yet, arresting them too. Finally, there was the illegal invocation of the Emergencies Act during the Freedom Convoy, which must not be overlooked.

Yet where were the Conservatives all this time, especially given their vehement opposition to Trudeau and his Liberal ilk? If Trudeau is responsible for creating these unjust laws, then it needs to be asked whether Conservatives were just as complicit as the Prime Minister in implementing them.

Trudeau’s political demise has been greeted with raucous expressions of relief, but is this premature? Many Canadians now await political salvation through savvy saviours like Conservative opposition leader Pierre Poilievre, and yet, from his track record of dubious doublespeak, it’s hard to tell if his leadership would be any different from the resigning Prime Minister’s.

Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative party is set to descend upon Parliament Hill bearing benign tidings of reforms and resolutions. Why, then, didn’t Poilievre and his Conservative cavalry lead the charge when it mattered most? Have Canadians been bamboozled by opportunistic political swindlers who wait for the war to end before signing up to fight it?

There are a plethora of examples whereby the supposed party of principles, at best, sided with Trudeau and the Liberals and, at worst, exceeded them in their verve to violate our Charter of Rights and Freedoms. What relief is there for Canadians to reach knowing that on every level of government, the Conservatives behaved just as egregiously in response to COVID-19 as their adversaries?

Throughout the “pandemic,” the Conservative Party perpetuated and preserved the lockdowns, vaccines, and mask mandates with unmitigated and unrepentant zeal. Commitment to the WHO agenda contributed to their loss in the 2021 election and showed them to be indistinguishable from their corrupt COVID-19 policy-pushing companions under Trudeau.

For some reason, this track record of hypocrisy has been elided over as many Canadians expect a different result this time around in the upcoming election. Erin O’Toole, former leader of the opposition for the Conservative party stood with Trudeau promoting the vaccine and said on November 21, 2021, “Vaccines are not a political issue.”¹ 

Rarely in Canadian history was there such a wellspring of convergent enmity towards the government, as well as comradery and reconciliation among citizens with differing ideologies over the issue. This unification posed a threat to Trudeau and his party and, by contrast, offered the Conservatives a path to power with a majority of disgruntled citizens undergirding their cause.

Contrary to media falsehoods, opposition to COVID-19 mandates and government overreach was shared by nearly half the population brave enough to speak out. Ipsos conducted a study on February 11, 2022, which reported, “Nearly half (46%) of Canadians say they may not agree with everything the people who have taken part in the truck protests in Ottawa have said, but their frustration is legitimate and worthy of our sympathy.”² 

Given this opportunity of unbridled support from citizens who might otherwise never have voted Conservative, why was it passed up? Where were the Conservatives when this new political base emerged that was unlike any we had seen before? People from as far as the prairies, French Quebec, and the east coast gathered in Ottawa to voice their non-partisan response.

Canadians experienced solidarity, unity and resolve to bypass their petty political quibbles to come together in support of any leader daring to take charge. Yet, of the three major parties, none were found. During the Freedom Convoy in 2022, for example, the simple request from protestors was to speak with any government official, regardless of party affiliation, and they were vituperatively rebuffed.

One example of Conservative duplicity occurred after opposition leader Erin O’Toole was ousted for his support of totalitarian COVID measures, only to be replaced by interim leader Candice Bergen, who also sided with Trudeau.

Both before and during the trucker protest, it was shown that surreptitious Conservative leaders fared no better. Candice Bergen went so far as to make innocuous outcries of support for freedom. While in private, she conducted conversations with Trudeau as she and fellow conservatives connived to assist the Liberals in quelling the protests while still supporting masks, lockdowns and vaccine mandates.

On November 25, 2022, during the Public Order Emergencies Commission, Trudeau and Bergen were shown to be united in their opposition to the Freedom Convoy. Texts during the hearing revealed that Bergen signed on to prevent trucker protests, telling Trudeau, “We do want the same things.”³ about stopping the “unlawful blockade” in Ottawa.

Then there was Ontario Premier Doug Ford who was contacted by Trudeau during the Trucker Convoy and was asked to support the Prime Minister’s unlawful response. Ford obfuscated responsibility but agreed with Trudeau’s position that the protests were an illegal occupation. Ford, in concert with the Prime Minister, said, “First of all, they are not a legal protest.”⁴ 

After an excusable first lockdown warranted by fear and lack of information, Ontario, under Ford’s conservative leadership, declared a second lockdown on December 21, 2020, slated to begin on the 26th. He justified these measures by claiming, “This difficult action is without a doubt necessary to save lives and prevent our hospitals from being overwhelmed in the coming weeks,” the CBC reported.⁵

It has yet to be proven whether the lockdowns were “necessary to save lives,” as Ford believed, in common cause with the likes of World Economic Forum’s Klaus Schwab and Justin Trudeau. There is also no evidence of Canadians being denied healthcare due to an excess of patients, nor were the consequences Ford foretold catastrophic enough to exceed a less than 1% fatality rate.

Meanwhile, Poilievre publicly made a show of his mighty revolt against Trudeau’s nefarious government policies. Yet, for all his bravado, he failed to make himself present during the Freedom Convoy. Consistent with the rest of his party, Poilievre refused to participate in talks and did not join the Freedom Convoy protestors’ demand to be heard, contrary to later retellings of his heroics.

To this day, conservatives like Pierre Poilievre differ in the least. For example, Poilievre fabricated a role for himself as a freedom fighter. It is not for nothing that he voiced his opposition during the Freedom Convoy, but to lie about being present on the streets and to refuse negotiations showed an allegiance with the very party Poilievre is said to be running to overturn.

Poilievre is also the opposition leader who once proudly boasted, “I am fully vaccinated,”⁶ according to the CBC. Moreover, this same World Economic Forum member, Poilievre, can be found photographed with none other than Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland wearing masks in Parliament, touching elbows instead of shaking hands; both vaccinated, just to be safe.

Where do the Conservatives stand based on examples like these from their leaders? Is one party any better for Canadians when they both participated in the most reviled subjugation, persecution and maltreatment this country has ever endured? How can we denounce criminals caught for the worst of crimes yet support their abettors who made it all possible waiting in the getaway car?

1. cbc.ca/news/politics/mark-holland-tory-mps-vaccines-1.6258309
2. ipsos.com/en-ca/news-polls/nearly-half-say-they-may-not-agree-with-trucker-convoy

3. and 4. publicorderemergencycommission.ca/files/documents/Transcripts/POEC-Public-Hearings-Volume-31-November-25-2022.pdf

5. cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/covid-19-ontario-december-21-lockdown-orders-1.5849760

6. cbc.ca/news/politics/poilievre-conservative-otoole-convoy-vaccine-mandate-1.6335286