Conservatives change tune on convoy

After two weeks of pumping their tires, Tory MPs tell anti-vaxxers to go home

Interim Conservative leader Candice Bergen dons a camouflage MAGA hat. (Twitter)

With a wink and a nudge, interim Conservative leader Candice Bergen told the white supremacist anti-vaxx convoy that has taken over Ottawa for almost two weeks to truck on home.

“To the protesters here in Ottawa. You came bringing a message. That message has been heard. Conservatives have heard you and we will stand up for you and all Canadians who want to get back to normal life. We will not stop until the mandates have ended,” Bergen said in the House of Commons yesterday.

“Today though, I am asking you to take down the blockades. Protest peacefully and legally, but it’s time to remove the barricades and the trucks for the sake of the economy and because it’s the right thing to do.”

Bergen, who has been pictured in a camouflage MAGA hat in recent years, said this as she was presenting a Conservative motion that calls on the federal government to end all “mandates and restrictions” by the end of February.

This is a shift in strategy for Bergen, who said the blockaders were "passionate, patriotic and peaceful,” ridiculed those who said the convoy organizers held extremist views and reportedly used the Trumpian “good people on both sides” line in their defence.

Candice Bergen @CandiceBergenMP

Here are some Manitobans I met and talked with last night. These were the “unacceptable views“ they were expressing: they and millions like them have had enough of the lockdowns and broken promises. They deserve to be heard and they deserve respect. #FreedomConvoyCanada2022

An email from Bergen that was forwarded to CTV News reveals her strategic calculation in belatedly criticizing the convoy while acceding to its more palatable demands.