The Freedom Convoy
The freedom convoy, which began in late January, was a series of protests and blockades in Canada against COVID 19 vaccine mandates and restrictions. In an attempt to shut down these protests, the Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, enacted the Emergencies Act for the first time in Canada's history. This which was created in the 80's gives sweeping powers to the government which gives extraordinary temporary measures to respond to public welfare emergencies, public order emergencies, international emergencies and war emergencies.
The way that the media covered the protests and to the enactment of the Emergencies Act varied heavily in terms of their rhetoric. CNN took a softer approach, seemingly downplaying the situation and coming off as just another law passing. CNN's Brianna Keller sums it up as "pretty sweeping powers," but CNN's main criticism being that the trucks are still there and that the act might not change anything as children are participating in the protests with their families which is the reason Trudeau states the military will not be stepping in. Fox on the other hand uses harsher rhetoric while covering this story. Tucker Carlson slams the Biden Administration for urging Trudeau to use the Emergencies Act and calling the convoy the biggest success of Human Rights protest. "The Five" hosts on Fox discuses the economic side calling out Trudeau for freezing bank accounts of Truckers just because they spoke up. Its clear in these two different coverages that CNN's softer rhetoric is in part because they have a pro vaccine mandate ideology while Fox news has a freedom of choice ideology which has affected their coverages of the situation.
CNN:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Xbls-jPuIQ&t
Fox:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUYNDBRHvwE&t
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ou5A8Glngr8&t
I think this freedom convoy protest is actually a good thing. I for one, do not want a vaccine, nor do I want to be forced into getting any vaccine. These truckers are doing what is right for them and their country. In terms of the Canadian government- they have failed. They are using powers that are irrelevant for the circumstance and should not be used here for the first time because of this. Listening to Biden for this was the worst decision Trudeau could have made, he has gained a lot of haters for that simple act. All he is doing is making truckers angrier than they already were, and what the Canadian and American governments are seeming to forget is the fact that without these truckers, our entire system collapses. We have no products, no food, etc. We are already experiencing extreme shortages, it seems like a terrible idea to anger these people even more.
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