If there’s anything that stands out from protest organiser Chris Barber’s testimony in front of the Emergencies Act Inquiry, it was this line: ."If anybody learned anything and grew more during the convoy, it was me. I was a different person 10 months ago," Barber said. “Seeing the amount of love and the people of all different colours, all different races. It changed me.” .I believe it changed Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre, the Conservative Party of Canada and ideological conservatism. .It’s not the Conservative Party of the country club, but the Conservative Party of libertarians, hardworking blue collar workers who are sick of regulations and taxes and new immigrants who came to Canada for the freedom — not to be governed by a prime minister who admires Chinese communism. .Far from being a pack of angry white males waving noxious flags, banners and signs, the Freedom Convoy — ironically, given the pushback from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — was one of the most diverse demonstrations ever to hit Ottawa. Yet the woke politicians couldn’t see the forest for the trees, couldn’t see the reality in front of them, refused to recognize the protest for what it was and instead decided to smear the protesters with their usual grime, suggesting everyone was misogynistic, white supremacist or even Nazis. .Much of the mainstream media continues to describe the convoy’s visit to Ottawa as an “occupation” as if the truckers arrived with armaments and began telling the city’s citizens what to do, when they could do it and what businesses could remain open. .Sorry, but it was the federal, provincial and municipal governments that were doing that. .We heard from Barber yesterday the convoy had no intention of snarling traffic or congesting the downtown core, but was merely responding as authorities provided direction. .Barber said he wanted to keep emergency lanes open and not shut down the city. ."I almost got into a physical altercation at least twice with a driver that was ignorant about moving when I asked him to," he said. .The convoy leader even said he thought the honking went a bit too far, though he did describe it as "a form of excitement.”As someone who was there for most of the “occupation,” the honking subsided with the evening and virtually terminated by 11 p.m. These people were not dullards and idiots. They understood honking after midnight was going to annoy people and detract from the motives of the protest. .I interviewed Barber at the height of the Freedom Convoy’s exposure. There were reporters on the ground throughout the day and I appeared on Fox News to describe the excitement the tension and the euphoria of the situation. .Barber, known as “Big Red” was an entirely likeable and articulate individual who really didn’t relish being in the spotlight, but considered it necessary in order for people to understand just what protest was about. He told me at the time that he wasn't just in Ottawa to fight the vaccine mandates, but he felt freedom in Canada was being lost as a result of the authoritarian decisions sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic. .On Tuesday, the government’s lawyer did his best to suggest the Freedom Convoy was dominated by violent extremists who were bent upon hurting or killing members of the Trudeau government. .The lawyer showed Barber an email from some half-wit who wanted to “put a bullet" in Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland's head. Barber rejected such activity "unequivocally" and said neither he nor the convoy was committed to any form of violence. .And it was not. .The government’s response to the convoy was certainly all about force — as evidenced by the invocation of the Emergencies Act — but was arguably about violence as police became very nasty and apparently gained some satisfaction in knocking people over. .Every day we're learning at the Emergencies Act Inquiry — if we didn’t already know — the Freedom Convoy was the antithesis of what Trudeau imagined and declared it to be.It's like a nation is unveiling its dirty laundry and cleaning it all up at the same time.
