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When I was a young child, I watched a highly educational series called Mighty Machines. Itβs a Canadian show about all kinds of heavy machinery used in a wide variety of industries. During the Freedom Convoy I put together this video out of nostalgia when the mighty machines came to stop the mandates in Canada.
As many people who were there on parliament during the protest would say, it felt like the best Canada day ever. I am grateful I was able to experience it first hand. If you want my in-the-moment reaction, a friend of mine caught me on Viva Freiβs livestream so I was able to clip this out.
You can download some of the photos and videos I took from archive.org.
I was there for one day as well, drove up from Montreal to spend a day. It was definitely an amazing experience, but I cannot say 'it was fun', or 'I enjoyed it'. While I was thrilled to see such large numbers of people there, the hero truckers, the thousands of others who stood on overpasses or highways in their own hometowns as the convoy went by, I was nevertheless dismayed and distressed beyond words at how many of my fellow Canadians supported the mandates, supported Trudeau and all those policies, expressed to me personally hate-filled words towards the truckers and "the unvaccinated". Yes there are many wonderful brave courageous Canadians, but on balance I feel so utterly disheartened by this country it's difficult (impossible) for me to be happy to be a Canadian.
In any case, wrt Mighty Machines, it was pretty incredible to walk along the street in between the two rows where all the big rigs were parked -physically a tremendously overpowering show of force. I am grateful I got to be part of history if nothing else.
Thank you, Gabe! Happy Canada Day, my friend :)