Protesting truckers in Ottawa deserve to be heard — but it’s time for them to withdraw

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/02/2022 (1681 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Whatever you think of the trucker protest, those camped out in Ottawa are sending a message that deserves to be heard.

Concerns over protesters’ methods threaten to drown out that message: That in trying to strike a balance between public health and personal freedom, we may have been too quick to constrain freedoms. Indeed, much of the growing calls for an end to mandates is the result of that loss and sacrifice. Many Canadians want their freedoms back.

Some have vilified the truckers as racists or fringe extremists. It’s been shocking to witness a small group waving symbols of hate — swastikas and Confederate flags — and these protesters should be denounced. Those symbols have no place anywhere, any time. But I believe most of the protesters want nothing to do with the hateful minority among them. Many are decent, down-to-earth, hard-working men and women who love their country and who have a deep and legitimate concern.

Magna International Inc., the auto parts company I founded many years ago, grew into a global powerhouse with the help of long-haul truckers who shipped engine gears, door latches and other products made at Magna plants in southern Ontario to assembly facilities throughout North America.

Truckers embody many of the values that make this country special — the values that I embraced when I became a Canadian. Many personify the values of hard work, personal autonomy and, above all, individual freedom. Many symbolize the words “true north strong and free” that we proclaim every time we sing our national anthem in our schools, in hockey arenas and at citizenship ceremonies that welcome new Canadians to our country.

Like many Canadians from coast to coast, I’ve been moved by the convoy’s call for an end to government mandates and other restrictions.

My own view is that the truckers should now withdraw and develop and articulate a strategy for opening up our country and restoring the rights and freedoms of Canadians — what I would call “dismantling the chains of domination.” For me, this would go beyond just pandemic measures, but include all areas of our lives where government has stifled individual liberties. Perhaps the trucker protest will prove to be the genesis of a new political movement or party.

But whenever the truckers leave, I think in many ways they’ve already succeeded. Protesting in bitterly cold weather, sleeping in their trucks, they’ve made many of us think about how much government overreach and encroachment on our civil liberties we’re willing to tolerate, about how freedom is precious and worth fighting for.

Canadians are generally peace-loving, tolerant and patient. But for a growing number of us, that patience has worn thin.

I’ve been worried for a number of years now that in many Western democracies we’ve become too complacent about our freedom. There is a troubling trend today toward the socialization and collectivization of individuals, with the result that everyone is pressured to think and act the same and everyone increasingly looks to the state for the solution to every problem. This is how freedoms get slowly stripped away.

Freedom is one of the great longings of individuals everywhere. The bedrock of our society is the freedom to pursue one’s own road to happiness, to accumulate wealth, to speak freely.

At the end of the day, freedom is fundamental. Maybe that’s a lesson we all needed to learn once again.

Frank Stronach is the founder of Magna International Inc., one of the world’s largest automotive parts suppliers, and a freelance contributing columnist for the Star’s Business section. Reach him via email: fstronachstar@gmail.com