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“If that felt bad, you should try owning a gym through COVID”

By January 26, 2023January 30th, 2023No Comments

At the Oct 5 public hearing, an Ottawa business owner who supported the convoy shared his experience of the convoy.

“I’ve attended lots of Canada Days and I think that’s the best frame of reference that I have for what happened downtown and the atmosphere was more positive than any Canada Day that I’ve been downtown for. The streets were pristine, there was not an ounce of garbage anywhere.

There was no bumping, there was no shoving, there was no violence. there was nothing like that.

The only place I did feel unsafe downtown was during some of the counter protests towards City Hall. It was kind of weird for me because I saw no Canadian flags there, I saw no children, I saw lots of dark clothing, I saw lots of face coverings that weren’t just masks, people trying to protect themselves that way and that was some of the only place that I saw like truly hateful signs towards other citizens rather than it be something towards the government or some sort of leader.

If that felt bad, you should try owning a gym through COVID. I understand that might have been 22 days of piercing truck noise but I’ve gone through two and a half years of trying to own my own business and being told that I was unessential.”

You can view the full testimony here.