U.S. conservative figures cheer on Canadian trucker protest
U.S. conservative figures cheer on Canadian trucker protest
NEW YORK -
Several conservative media figures in the U.S. have taken up the cause of Canadian truckers who have occupied parts of Ottawa and blocked border crossings to protest COVID-19 restrictions and vaccine mandates.
Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity cheered the truckers on while showing four live reports from Ottawa this week. Tucker Carlson's online store is selling "I (heart) Tucker" T-shirts edited to say "I (heart) Truckers."
"Send our solidarity, love and support to all of the brave people who are there," Hannity told Fox reporter Sara Carter, who was with the protesters in Ottawa, on his show Thursday. "Don't give up."
The Canadian protesters are decrying vaccine mandates for truckers and other COVID-19 restrictions and are railing against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, though many of the country's infection measures are already rapidly being lifted as the omicron surge levels off. Parts shortages caused by the protests have rippled through the auto industry on both sides of the U.S.-Canadian border.
In a bulletin to local and state law enforcement officers, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security warned that it has received reports of similar protests being planned in the United States.
The agency said the protests could begin in Southern California as early as this weekend and potentially spread to Washington around the State of the Union address in March.
Between Jan. 18 through Thursday, Fox News Channel has devoted 10 hours and 8 minutes of airtime to the story, according to the liberal watchdog Media Matters for America, which frequently criticizes the network.
And it's not just Fox.
Ben Shapiro of The Daily Wire said on his show, sitting in front of a headline that said Canadians were "fed up" with Trudeau, that mandates had to stop. The protesters are particularly upset about a requirement that all truck drivers entering the country be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. An estimated 90 percent of Canadian truckers already are.
"Nobody wants giant bridges shut down," Shapiro said. "Obstructing traffic is bad no matter what you are protesting for. However, the cause of this protest happens to be righteous."
The lead story on the Red State website for a time Thursday was headlined, "East Bound and Down: US Truck Convoy is Being Planned, Could Be Headed to DC." Reporter Sarah Lee mocked a "very silly" piece in Politico that included a quote from an analyst who works for a think tank that tracks extremism, who noted worrying parallels to the buildup before the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection.
Hannity's support for what Ontario Prime Minister Doug Ford has called an occupation comes after months where he decried violence and destruction of property at some Black Lives Matter protests in the United States.
The difference, Hannity asserted, is the Canadian "Freedom Convoy" is peaceful. On Monday, Hannity interviewed a reporter from the conservative website Rebel News, who described the Ottawa protest site as a "family environment" and "like a Canada Day festival every day."
The protests have been largely peaceful, although some residents have complained of harassment and there is an arson investigation tied to one incident. Shapiro said critics of the truckers are guilty of "nutpacking," or focusing on a crazed person and linking them to the entire protest movement.
It's a familiar tactic in politics: pointing to a more extreme position held by a member of an opposition party and saying it represents everyone.
Lara Trump, the former U.S. president's daughter-in-law and a Fox News contributor, offered her support for the truckers on Hannity's show Tuesday.
"Right here in America, people are cheering them on, because this is about freedom," she said.
In a lengthy monologue on his show this week, Carlson suggested that it was inconsistent for the "intellectual elite" to largely support protest movements started by workers yet oppose this one. He said that many times trends start in the United States and move to Canada, but this time the opposite could happen.
"The trucker convoy in Canada is pretty cool," he said. "People getting together to promote human rights. Who's against that?"
At the moment, wildfires are burning across six provinces and one territory in Canada — and they’re still spreading in what’s being called an unprecedented fire season. While firefighters work tirelessly to battle the merciless flames and prevent further destruction, scientists say the wildfires are linked to climate change and that this will be the new normal.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he raised concerns about reports that LGBTQ2S+ rights and democracy are under threat in Poland during a Friday visit with its prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, in Toronto.
Air Canada says travellers should be prepared for further flight disruptions as it works to return service to normal following a technical malfunction Thursday.
As more Canadians pass their family cottages down to the next generation, 'major shifts' in the ownership of recreational homes will occur, according to Re/Max. But amid concerns around the cost of housing, some may be wondering whether they can afford to keep that family cottage. Here's what younger generations need to know about inheriting a recreational property and the market today.
A 38-year-old sergeant in the Canadian Army was fined $3,000 and issued a severe reprimand after he made what a military judge described as 'utterly disgusting' anti-Jewish comments while conducting an infantry training course in 2021.
Pierre Poilievre is off to Manitoba to rally Conservative supporters ahead of a byelection that Maxime Bernier is hoping will send him back to Parliament. The far-right People's Party of Canada leader lost his Quebec seat in the 2019 federal vote and lost again in the 2021 election.
The number of people in Canada with inflammatory bowel disease is increasing rapidly and is expected to grow to 470,000 by 2035, according to a new report from Crohn's and Colitis Canada.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he is committed to keeping David Johnston in place as Canada's special rapporteur on foreign interference, despite a majority of MPs voting in favour of his stepping down from the gig.
A bronze statue of Queen Elizabeth that was toppled and damaged by protesters two years ago was put back in its place Friday on the grounds of the Manitoba legislature after a lengthy set of repairs.
A 38-year-old sergeant in the Canadian Army was fined $3,000 and issued a severe reprimand after he made what a military judge described as 'utterly disgusting' anti-Jewish comments while conducting an infantry training course in 2021.
Two passenger trains derailed Friday in India, killing at least 50 people and trapping hundreds of others inside more than a dozen damaged rail cars, officials said.
The U.S. Department of Justice has informed former Vice President Mike Pence 's legal team that it will not pursue criminal charges related to the discovery of classified documents at his Indiana home.
Nearly four years after Jeffrey Epstein's death, thousands of pages of records obtained by The Associated Press are shedding new light on the financier's time behind bars and a frantic response by federal corrections officials to his death.
The UN Security Council called Friday for an immediate cease-fire in Sudan to be followed by a permanent halt to hostilities and fresh efforts to reach a lasting democratic political settlement in the conflict-wracked country.
The FBI is scheduled to bring an internal law enforcement document that some Republicans claim will shed light on an allegation that then-vice president Joe Biden was involved in a criminal scheme on Monday for U.S. House Oversight Chair James Comer and ranking Democratic member Rep. Jamie Raskin to review, spokespeople for the two lawmakers told CNN.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he raised concerns about reports that LGBTQ2S+ rights and democracy are under threat in Poland during a Friday visit with its prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, in Toronto.
Pierre Poilievre is off to Manitoba to rally Conservative supporters ahead of a byelection that Maxime Bernier is hoping will send him back to Parliament. The far-right People's Party of Canada leader lost his Quebec seat in the 2019 federal vote and lost again in the 2021 election.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he is committed to keeping David Johnston in place as Canada's special rapporteur on foreign interference, despite a majority of MPs voting in favour of his stepping down from the gig.
The number of people in Canada with inflammatory bowel disease is increasing rapidly and is expected to grow to 470,000 by 2035, according to a new report from Crohn's and Colitis Canada.
Racial bias built into a common medical test for lung function is likely leading to fewer Black patients getting care for breathing problems, a study published Thursday suggests.
Researchers at Carleton University's Department of Electronics in Ottawa created a ground-breaking testing device to detect early signs of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s through biomolecular activities in a person’s saliva.
Twitter's head of trust and safety, Ella Irwin, told Reuters on Thursday that she has resigned from the social media company, which has faced criticism for lax protections against harmful content since billionaire Elon Musk acquired it in October.
Deep in an open coal mine in southern Greece, researchers have discovered the antiquities-rich country's oldest archaeological site, which dates to 700,000 years ago and is associated with modern humans' hominin ancestors. The find announced Thursday would drag the dawn of Greek archaeology back by as much as a quarter of a million years, although older hominin sites have been discovered elsewhere in Europe. The oldest, in Spain, dates to more than a million years ago.
In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, director Christopher Nolan offers a guide to his favourite formats, explaining why it matters and even where he likes to sit so that audiences don't feel like they need a film school degree (or one in theoretical physics) before settling on a theatre.
Cynthia Weil, a Grammy-winning lyricist of notable range and endurance who enjoyed a decades-long partnership with husband Barry Mann and helped write 'You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling,' 'On Broadway,' 'Walking in the Rain' and dozens of other hits, has died at age 82.
Netflix shareholders voted on Thursday to reject multi-million dollar pay packages for the company’s top executives including for co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters.
Air Canada says travellers should be prepared for further flight disruptions as it works to return service to normal following a technical malfunction Thursday.
The wildfires plaguing residents in Alberta and Nova Scotia are part of a larger trend that's driving up the cost of home insurance as extreme weather becomes more common, insurance experts say.
As more Canadians pass their family cottages down to the next generation, 'major shifts' in the ownership of recreational homes will occur, according to Re/Max. But amid concerns around the cost of housing, some may be wondering whether they can afford to keep that family cottage. Here's what younger generations need to know about inheriting a recreational property and the market today.
The latest sanctions, if any, that the NBA plans to levy against Memphis guard Ja Morant for his second instance of displaying a gun on social media will be announced shortly after the finals, Commissioner Adam Silver said Thursday.
Bianca Andreescu beckoned the partisan Court 14 crowd for noise as she looked to put the finishing touches on a second-round win over American wild-card Emma Navarro.
America apparently needs more car seats. So, when Volkswagen unveiled the ID. Buzz, a retro-styled electric van, last year, it noted that the version for the North American market would be longer and would have three rows of seats.
