Meri Brown of Sister Wives splits from Kody Brown?

Much of it can be tied to anger against Trudeau, a Liberal Party politician who has been prime minister since 2015 and is loathed by many conservatives, particularly in the western province of Alberta, the most conservative in the country.

In 2019, demonstrators drove a convoy of hundreds of trucks from western Canada to Ottawa in opposition to the Trudeau government's new carbon tax, an environmental measure they said would hurt the oil industry. Many wore yellow vests in solidarity with a French protest movement that same year against perceived economic injustice.

Convoy organizers said they were moved to protest by a federal government requirement that truck drivers be fully vaccinated if they want to avoid a 14-day quarantine upon re-entry from the United States. However it's a bilateral measure with the US imposing the same rule on Jan. 22 - meaning that even if Canada ended the restriction, it would make no practical difference. Protesters have called, too, for Trudeau's resignation.

Trudeau has stood firm against lifting vaccine mandates, calling the protesters a 'fringe' who believe in conspiracy theories and wear 'tinfoil hats.' That has only incensed them further. The protests have also been widely condemned by truckers and trucking groups. That includes the Canadian Trucking Alliance, which says the vast majority of drivers are fully vaccinated, in line with the country's broader population. Pandemic restrictions have been far stricter in Canada than in the United States, but Canadians have largely supported them.

Spanning the Detroit River between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, the suspension bridge accounts for a whopping 25% of all trade between the two countries, with $328 million (417 million Canadian dollars) in goods crossing each day. The bridge is critical to the food sector in both countries as well as the auto industry; with crossings all but shut down, shortages have forced plants on both sides of the border to go offline or operate at reduced capacity.

Thousands of protesters initially descended on the city two weeks ago. Their numbers have declined, but more than 400 trucks remain parked in front of the Parliament Buildings along with a makeshift kitchen. Demonstrations have largely been peaceful but offensive to many Canadians. Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson declared a state of emergency last week, saying the protests posed a threat to residents' safety as many were being harassed.