Poll: Most Canadians oppose protesters’ occupation of Ottawa
Ottawa, Feb 8 (EFE).- More than 60 percent of Canadians oppose the ongoing occupation of this capital by protesters who demand an end to all of the public health measures aimed at containing Covid-19, according to poll results published Tuesday.
The “Freedom Convoy, organized by drivers opposed to a vaccine mandate for truckers carrying loads between Canada and the United States, rolled into Ottawa on Jan. 29.
Though the number of trucks that remain on the streets has shrunk from more than 3,000 at the start to around 200 now, the protest continues to disrupt daily life in this city of more than 1 million people.
The Leger360 firm surveyed 1,546 people across Canada during the period Feb. 3-6 and found that 62 percent disapprove of the Freedom Convoy.
Fewer than a third of respondents, 32 percent, expressed any support for the protesters, while 65 percent agreed with the statement that the Freedom Convoy represents only a small minority of “selfish” people.
Only 22 percent of 500 Ottawa residents surveyed over the weekend by Abacus were in sympathy with the protesters, compared with 67 percent opposed.
And 87 percent of those who responded said that the protesters have had sufficient time to air their grievances and should go home.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau conveyed the same sentiment Monday night during debate in the lower house of Parliament, accusing the protesters of “trying to blockade our economy, our democracy and our fellow citizens’ daily lives.”
“It has to stop,” he said, announcing the mobilization of hundreds of Royal Canadian Mounted Police to support the municipal police in Ottawa.
The Freedom Convoy opened another front on Monday, moving to block the Ambassador Bridge, linking Windsor, Ontario, with the US city of Detroit, which carries roughly a quarter of cross-border truck traffic.
Police managed to restore the flow of vehicles into the US during the course of the day on Tuesday, but Canada-bound traffic remained blocked and commercial vehicles were being re-routed to another crossing 100 km (60 mi) away. EFE
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