A convoy of trucks is barrelling towards the Canadian capital, their drivers intending to turn Ottawa into “the world’s largest truck stop” on Saturday. The so-called “Freedom Convoy” is, according to its organisers, 70km long, though Canadian police put the figure at 20km. Either way, it would be the world’s largest-ever convoy by a great margin, and it is headed squarely for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The truckers’ protest was instigated by a vaccine mandate issued by the Canadian government a fortnight ago, which requires all Canadian truck drivers crossing from the US into Canada to be fully vaccinated or else risk strict quarantine measures. Unvaccinated American drivers will be turned away.
Nearly 90 per cent of Canada’s 120,000 truck drivers are vaccinated, a figure the Canadian government and the country’s trucking association have been at pains to highlight in order to cast the protesters as a radical, fringe minority. READ MORE