Republicans were hopping mad over the weekend when GoFundMe shut off funds for a trucker protest in Ottawa over a vaccine mandate. Canada's Public Safety Minister told them to butt out. ("Occupe-toi de tes oignons!” Mind your own onions, in French Canadian.)
Source: Associated Press
Prominent Republicans including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton complained after crowdfunding site GoFundMe said it would refund the vast majority of the millions of dollars raised by demonstrators.
The site said it cut off funding for protest organizers after determining that their efforts violated the site’s terms of service by engaging in unlawful activity. Ontario Provincial Premier Doug Ford has called the protest an occupation.
In response, Paxton tweeted: “Patriotic Texans donated to Canadian truckers’ worthy cause.” Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said on Fox News that “government doesn’t have the right to force you to comply to their arbitrary mandates.”
Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino shot back: “It is certainly not the concern of the Texas attorney general as to how we in Canada go about our daily lives in accordance with the rule of law.”
“We need to be vigilant about potential foreign interference ... Whatever statements may have been made by some foreign official are neither here nor there. We’re Canadian. We have our own set of laws. We will follow them,” Mendicino said.
Paxton's tweet.
UPDATE: Paxton's office announced today it will investigate GoFundMe "for Shutting Down Fundraiser and Taking $10 Million from the Canadian Trucker’s Freedom Convoy." [sic]
