‘Of course I’m concerned,’ Trudeau admits

• Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he’s concerned about the potential for violence during this weekend’s protest on Parliament Hill by truckers and others joining the crowd to vent their anger about public health restrictions to combat COVID-19.

“Of course I’m concerned,” Trudeau said in an interview Friday.

“A number of people are there without wanting to incite violence but there are going to be, as we’ve heard, a small group of people in there who are posing a threat to themselves, to each other, to Canadians.”

Ottawa police have warned of the potential for violence by extremists who’ve joined, or in some cases helped organize, the truck convoy that began converging on the country’s capital Friday.

The so-called “freedom convoy” has been billed as a protest against the federally imposed vaccine mandate on cross-border truckers, even though planning for the event began before the policy was established.

While key organizers have said violence won’t be tolerated, far-right extremists and white nationalists have latched onto it, with some calling for “bullets” or a “massive revolution” or a riot akin to the insurrectionists who stormed the U.S. Capitol a year ago.

“The problem is this has morphed into something a lot larger that doesn’t represent what the vast majority of truckers are going through, or indeed the vast majority of Canadians’ perspective on this,” Trudeau said.

“Canadians are not represented by this very troubling, small but very vocal minority of Canadians who are lashing out at science, at government, at society, at mandates and public health advice.”

A lot of the anger is directed personally at Trudeau, with many supporters of the convoy displaying signs and flags emblazoned with expletives against the prime minister. Some have called for Trudeau to be tried for treason to or to be beaten up.

“It doesn’t worry me that it’s personal. That’s sort of what you sign up for when you run for office, to a certain extent,” he said.

“But threats of violence shouldn’t come with the territory for anyone who steps up to serve, whether it’s as a politician, as a local representative or even as a public health official or a doctor. That doesn’t have a place.”

The parliamentary precinct has been effectively shut down for the weekend. Members of Parliament have been given tips on how to stay safe.

Organizers have crafted a “memorandum of understanding” demanding that the appointed Senate and the Governor General effectively usurp the authority of the elected government and do away with all vaccine mandates and other public health restrictions — a constitutional impossibility.