It Felt Like the Sunday Fair
In Ottawa by chance when the Freedom Convoy arrived, former journalist says what he saw wasn't what the media reported.
Rodney Palmer left mainstream journalism two decades ago. Prior to that, he worked for Canadian newspapers, for the publicly funded CBC, and also for CTV television as a foreign correspondent in China, India, and the Middle East.
Last week, Bright Light News released a 20-minute video interview with Rodney. Like the young woman I wrote about a few weeks ago, he just happened to be in Ottawa when the Freedom Convoy rolled into town.
He spends half of this video (beginning around the 2-minute mark) discussing the sharp contrast between what he saw with his own eyes and what mainstream journalists reported. Here are some of his remarks:
What I saw down there was extraordinary. When I was in my twenties I used to go to Ottawa for the Canada Day party. Which is amazing. And it is just so much fun and happiness and jubilance. And I texted my friend, who I was visiting, and I said, ‘Wow, this is just like when we used to go to Canada Day, except it’s 40 below.’ You know, joking.
And she said, ‘Well, that’s not what I’m seeing on television.’
And so I went and looked at the television. And there was the American network saying a couple of dozen truckers are outside of Canadian Parliament blocking traffic. Well, I could see and count at least a thousand on Wellington Street. And I was told there were as many as 80,000 all over the place.
…I’m seeing families, I’m seeing kids in strollers. There was a group of African American evangelists opportunistically handing out Bibles to the group. It felt like the Sunday fair at any small town. Except there was tens of thousands of people there. And the mood was consistently jubiliant.
…The CBC reporter was out there saying, ‘Oh, there’s some protesters. They’re clearly very angry.’
And I thought, ‘Well I’m not seeing that, I’m down there.’
I worked for almost a decade as a foreign correspondent…I’m a professional at observing. But you don’t have to be a professional to look and see…They had a pre-determined approach to the story. They were going for that pre-determined approach, reality be damned…
Part 2: The Heart & Soul of Canada