Candace Owens calls for US to invade Canada in support of truckers

Right-wing media figure Candace Owens advocated for a US invasion of Canada to support the anti-vaccine "Freedom Convoy" in response to a restrictive crackdown initiated by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

"STOP talking about Russia. Send American troops to Canada to deal with the tyrannical reign of Justin Trudeau Castro," Ms Owens wrote on Sunday.

Ms Owens is a far-right commenter who sells controversial opinions to her fans online. She likened Mr Trudeau to a dictator for enacting the country's Emergency Act to beat back the ongoing protest.

"[Mr Trudeau] has fundamentally declared himself dictator and is waging war on innocent Canadian protesters and those who have supported them financially," she wrote.

Her calls for US military intervention in Canada riled up users on social media, even among other right-wing media figures.

Ben Domenech, who runs right-wing magazine The Federalist, criticised her desire to see the US invade Canada.

He later deleted the tweet.

While many dismiss Ms Owens as a modern day shock-jock using controversy to raise her public profile, anti-Trump Republican radio host Joe Walsh warned against treating her as a completely fringe voice on the right.

"Candace Owens isn’t fringe. She’s ignorant & dishonest. But she’s not fringe. If there’s one takeaway from everything I say, it would be this: Candace Owens is not fringe, she’s very much mainstream GOP base these days. And that’s scary," he wrote on Twitter.

Journalist Matthew Chapman pointed out the hypocrisy of the right-wing support for Canada's "Freedom Convoy" when compared to the hysteria it showed during the Black Lives Matter rallies of 2020.

"I'd like to remind everyone that when Black Lives Matter protesters blocked roadways of just a fraction of the importance and for just a fraction of the time the "Freedom Convoy" did, the GOP's response was to pass state laws that made it illegal to sue people who run them over," he wrote.

Mr Trudeau said he did not intend to keep the Emergency Act in effect a "single day longer" than is necessary, but he warned that the situation was not over.

“This state of emergency is not over. There continues to be real concerns about the coming days. But we will continue to evaluate every single day whether or not it is time,” Mr Trudeau said at a press conference on Monday, adding that it was “not something we ever want to see again.”

The most disruptive elements of the protest – blocked border crossings and congestion in Ottawa – have been cleared. However, there are still truck protesters in the towns outside Ottawa. The Canadian government claims those protesters are interested in resuming their blockade of downtown Ottawa.

“We will re-evaluate every single day, but right now, when the situation is still of people prepositioning, people being out there indicating that they are ready to blockade, to continue their illegal occupations, to disrupt Canadians' lives, we feel that this measure needs to remain in place,” he said. “We hope to only keep it in place for a number more days.”