Hardly a Fringe Minority
Canadians donated $14.3 million to the truckers in less than a month - if we count only the two crowd-funding campaigns.
I’ve previously explained that the Freedom Convoy raised more money in three weeks than the Liberal Party of Canada did in three months.
The Liberals consider their own fundraising evidence of “strong grassroots support.” Since twice as many people donated to the truckers’ GoFundMe campaign, there’s no question the Freedom Convoy enjoyed massive grassroots support.
But things don’t end there. GoFundMe froze the Freedom Convoy campaign on February 8th, and announced it would distribute the $10 million donated to the truckers to unrelated third parties. Amid allegations that such actions would amount to fraud and theft, some US state governors launched investigations.
All of this controversy attracted a great deal of attention on social media, as well as in the mainstream press. When the Freedom Convoy then turned to GiveSendGo, an alternative crowd-funding platform, the pace of donations accelerated.
GiveSendGo was soon announcing “an overwhelming outpouring of support from across the globe.” In less than 24 hours, it said, $4.5 million had been raised - making this its “largest campaign ever.”
By the time an Ontario Court froze the GiveSendGo campaign on Feb. 10, an astonishing $8.4 million USD (equivalent to $10.7 million in Canadian funds) had been raised.
A Globe and Mail analysis says most of that money - 51% - was still donated by Canadians ($4.3 million US, equivalent to $5.5 million Canadian).
American sympathizers generously donated 43% ($3.6 million USD) of the GiveSendGo total.
Australians donated 34k, Germans 25k, the Swiss 11k, and the French 8k.
Between them, people in the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden donated 31k.
The bottom line: in 27 days, Canadian donations to the truckers on two crowd-funding platforms alone amounted to $14.3 million.
HERE’S THE MATH:
Beginning on Jan. 14, Canadians donated $8.8 million to GoFundMe in Canadian funds (88% of GoFundMe’s $10.1 million)
Followed by $5.5 million in Canadian funds ($4.3 million from GiveSendGo USD converted to Canadian)
For a total of $14.3 million
ANOTHER WAY TO THINK ABOUT THIS:
The truckers raised an average of $530k per day from Canadians (over 27 days).
During their historic, record-breaking 3rd-quarter-of-2021 fundraising blitz (91 days), the Liberal Party of Canada raised an average of $84k per day.
The Liberal Party, and its leader Justin Trudeau, should think carefully about who it calls a “fringe minority.”
I suggest reviewing the Mark Norman case to see why Mr Trudeau was so desperate to shut down crowdfunding by the truckers. He has learned a lesson.
I'm really glad you have started this series, Donna. As you may know, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada has expressed his opinion that the truckers were heading towards anarchy and spreading disinformation. He needs to be able to read the real facts somewhere. A group of us tried to complain about his openly biased remarks but got a slap-down from an administrator of the Canadian Judicial Council. The story is here: https://www.westernstandard.news/opinion/selick-chief-justice-wagners-bias-needs-to-be-exposed/article_8592abca-1761-11ed-abc0-8f094bbcdc2c.html