WATCH - Ezra Levant Speaks to Canadian Truckers: 'The Point Is the Convoy Itself'

Ezra Levant, the founder of Canada’s conservative Rebel News network, gave a stirring address Saturday in the country’s capital, Ottawa, as a massive convoy of trucks protesting vaccine mandates arrived at Parliament Hill to register their dissent.

The convoy, which began a week ago, became a global sensation and raised millions of dollars to support truckers as they oppose U.S. and Canadian mandates requiring that truckers crossing the U.S.-Canada border show proof of vaccination.

Levant, speaking amid the din of horns and bells, was welcomed by the crowd, and gave a short but powerful address.

He began by talking about the media bias against conservatives, and against the truckers and their cause: “When people say, what do we do about the media, we become the media. … You’ve got to tell the story yourselves.”

“The government says you’re racist, the government says you’re sexist, the government says you’re violent. In the meantime, I’ve never seen a more diverse group of Canadians,” he said, to rousing cheers. “Far from violent, people want to not be violated anymore. [Prime Minister] Justin Trudeau says you’re extreme, but he’s the one who has violated our civil rights.

“He says you’re a fringe. Well, that’s a pretty bloody big fringe.”

Levant predicted that Trudeau would cling to power, despite the convoy. Still, the protest would not be in vain: “Let me tell you what I think the point is: The point is the convoy itself, to show that you’re not alone, to show that you’re not the crazy one, they are. TO show that you’re not the un-Canadian one, they are. You already achieved your goal by being here.”

Former President Donald Trump praised the “freedom convoy” in a speech at a rally in Texas on Saturday: “The Canadian truckers, you’ve been reading about it, who are resisting bravely these lawless mandates are doing more to defend American freedom than our own leaders by far. … [W]e want those great Canadian truckers to know that we are with them all the way.”

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.