The Daily Show's Jordan Klepper takes the pulse of Ottawa's Freedom Convoy trucker blockade

published 18 February 2022

"Three weeks ago, north of the border, a new kind of protest emerged," Jordan Klepper said on Thursday's Daily Show. "So I traveled to Ottawa, expecting to find some Canada nice, but their messaging was a bit more coarse. These trucks shut down businesses and made roads impassible," paralyzing "Canada's eighth-best city" and drawing the ire of residents and a slow-building response from authorities.

Klepper — who has spent the last few years traveling around and interviewing supporters of former President Donald Trump, QAnon conspiracy theorists, and anti-vaxxers — did find some reluctant "Make North America Great Again" sloganeers and one guy in a QAnon hat, but the protesters he encountered in Ottawa were mostly preoccupied with threats to what they called freedom. He did point out some cross-border "cultural appropriation" — like Nazi Germany comparisons — but also a lot that could only be called Canadian.

Jordan Klepper Takes On Canadian Truckers | The Daily Show - YouTube

Watch On

Explore More

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.