Protest trucks idling on Wellington Street in Ottawa (Photo: Abigail Bimman, Global National/Twitter).

Am I the only Canadian outside Ottawa who thinks this bullshit in our national capital has gone on long enough? 

Am I the only Canadian who recognizes that the mob now occupying the area around Parliament Hill does not have the interests of Canadians or Canadian democracy at heart?

“Just watch me.” Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in October 1970 (Photo: CBC).

Am I the only one who understands that our national media needs to stop treating this like a block party that has gotten slightly out of hand?

Obviously not. Although you might think so from much of the news coverage.

It is apparent to many of us that the occupation of Ottawa by a lawless and threatening mob needs to be brought to an end forthwith.

No country worth the name would allow its national capital to be seized and held by insurrectionists without a decisive reaction. 

No sane country would willingly allow its national government to be brought to a standstill by insurrectionists – especially during an international crisis. This did not happen in Canada through two world wars or a protracted and at times violent national unity crisis.

No jurisdiction in the world would willingly allow the residents of any city to be subjected to such abuse. 

No democracy should allow an insurrection by a group dedicated to the suspension of democracy – which the insurrectionists in Ottawa, despite their constant “freedom” rhetoric, clearly advocate through their stated goal of overthrowing our democratically elected government – to continue longer than it takes to put it down. 

Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly (Photo: Ottawa Police Service).

If the Ottawa Police Service, the civilian police department charged with enforcing Canada’s laws in the national capital outside the tiny area around Parliament Hill, is not able or willing to do the job, someone else needs to step up. That someone can only be the Government of Canada.

Conceding defeat, Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly said yesterday he doesn’t think his department can complete the task without military help. “This is a national issue, not an Ottawa issue,” he told city councillors. 

It is obvious that many Canadians recognize the anti-democratic and dangerous impulses that drive the known organizers and many of the members of the mob now in control of downtown Ottawa. 

But there are certainly many as-yet-unknown organizers and influencers, not to mention funders and strategists, many of whom are not from Canada or even in Canada. 

Chief Sloly also said “we are now aware of a significant element from the United States in the funding, organizing” of the continuing disruptions. “They have converged in our city and there are plans for more to come.”

These foreign participants also need to be identified and rooted out. Only a national government can do that. 

So the first thing that needs to happen is for the Government of Canada to bring an immediate halt to the insurrection and occupation of Ottawa.

That can start with the establishment of a perimeter around the downtown with all supplies of diesel fuel to vehicles inside that ring blocked immediately. 

The insurrectionists and their enablers have had five days to fool around. Now they should be provided with an opportunity to find out. 

The Emergencies Act, though not quite up to the job for which it was designed when it replaced the War Measures Act in 1988, is sufficient to resolve this crisis in the immediate term. 

While it only gives the federal cabinet seven days to act after proclaiming an internal “Public Order Emergency” without convening Parliament – a problem for a minority government facing an imploding Opposition likely as we have seen in the past few hours to put political gain and extreme ideology ahead of the national interest – this should be enough to remove the immediate threat. 

A large majority of Canadians would heave a sigh of relief. 

Insurrectionists should be given 24 hours to leave the national capital and return to their homes, after which they will be forcibly removed and their vehicles impounded.

Since the police admit they are incapable of doing the job alone, the Armed Forces should be brought in to assist. CFB Petawawa is only 170 kilometres northwest of Ottawa. 

Parliament can meet and vote on the next steps as required by the Emergencies Act when the immediate crisis has been resolved. 

The next steps are more complicated, but should include a national Royal Commission, led by a judge, with the broad powers to investigate and compel testimony from participants, victims, police, and provincial elected and appointed officials.

The Royal Commission should look in particular at the funding and organization of this event, the foreign role if any, obstruction and encouragement by provincial officials with particular attention to the roles of the Ontario and Alberta provincial governments, encouragement of the insurrection by Members of Parliament, and the failure of civilian police forces to do their jobs.

In addition it should examine the flaws in current relevant legislation, in particular the Emergencies Act, but also firearms laws and regulation of the trucking industry.

This crisis makes it clear there is a need for a National Capital Region police force under the jurisdiction of the federal government capable of responding to threats and emergencies in a consistent and coherent way, including not permitting easily identified vehicles associated with threats of violence whose arrival had been expected for days to enter the core of the city. 

There has been a lot of commentary to the effect that the loudmouths are losing and everything will be fine once the insurrectionists crawl back into their holes.

This is dangerously naïve. In fact, what we have witnessed in Ottawa seems to have been taken from the pages of a classic “colour revolution” playbook observed in other countries and other capitals. To a significant degree it has worked effectively.

It matters less whether the inspiration for this occupation was domestic, from the United States, or from some foreign capital farther afield than that the ability of our country to respond effectively to protect Canadian democracy was not up to the task. 

If the leaders of the present government cannot bring themselves to respond decisively to this challenge – to say, as Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau famously did in October 1970, “just watch me” – perhaps they should contemplate the elder Mr. Trudeau’s equally renowned walk in the snow. 

Join the Conversation

89 Comments

  1. Now that Erin O’Toole has been booted from the CPC leadership, it can be said that keeping the Convoy is a redundancy and it would be wise to push them off. But then the CONs dive that much deeper into their lunacy and appoint Candice Bergen as their interim leader. (For a moment I thought Murphy Brown was back.)

    Candice Bergen, she who proudly sported a camo #MAGA hat back in the day (a pic that has reappeared with a vengeance on social media.) is one of these weirdly blond, mega-church going, CON who will satisfy the ring wing maniacs in the CPC caucus until the party chooses a new leader. She has already stood in the H of C and presented a loud defense of the Convoy, calling its participants “patriots”. I suspect that Bergen will be putting her foot in her mouth with so much regularity, she may have to be replaced as interim leader with another interim leader.

    What has struck me is that the GTA CONs have disappeared, as though they have been purged. It’s been noted that the votes for O’Toole mainly came from this group, so it’s easy to understand why they are keeping a low profile.

    The next few sessions of the House should be very interesting, as the CONs sort out their situation, as it falls into an increasingly worse state.

    As for that trucker convoy, they have taken to harassing the locals in Ottawa, taking the time out of their pressing days to cat-call and make obscene gestures at passersby. The locals have taken to going after the truckers for all the mayhem they have caused. Once the CONs start hanging around the truckers again, we should see the embarrassment ratchet up nicely. PMJT must be looking really good to a lot of people right now.

    As for the trucker blockades in Alberta, it seems that if you have a truck in Alberta, you can pretty much do whatever you want: block vital roads, halt traffic, assault police. And you can even frighten the beejebbus out of the Premier, who has taken to negotiating with the truckers. Actually, Kenney isn’t negotiating: he’s giving in and giving up. Since it appears that the truckers cut their own deal to end restrictions with the rural UCP MLAs, it beginning to look like Alberta has two provincial governments and, maybe, five premiers.

    The consensus is O’Toole is gone and Kenney is definitely next.

    I hear there’s an opening for a new leader for the CPC.

    1. Have you seen the truck protest in person? I don’t think the media reports are accurate. It probably is supported by the same funders as the coups, colour revolutions and mayhem elsewhere but … there is a lot of support for it. Good people are being played perhaps?

      1. Have you seen a trucker?

        What comes to mind … registered sex offender, suspended driver’s license, harassment, and assault.

        1. I am offended by this comment. You are insulting a large group of people based solely on their job. I find this as alarming as Mr Trudeau,provincial and local govt that people who refuse a vaccine with largely unknown risks are not able to work.

      2. Possibly. However, I don’t see any coverage showing people who are part of the protest forcefully telling the fascists carrying around hateful symbols and being disrespectful of other people’s rights and our national symbols that they are unwelcome and to either put away the symbols and behave appropriately or leave. Perhaps this is occurring. But, I doubt it. The politicians who came out for the photo ops and “dialog” certainly weren’t doing that at the protest. They showed absolutely zero leadership.

        If you are in the protest, see the fascist behavior and are unwilling to do anything about it or leave if you are unwilling (it could be dangerous, after all), you are silently condoning this behavior and are complicit. At that point, you are no longer a “good person”. It doesn’t matter whether you are blocking the street or not at this point. The protest has gone on long enough and is interfering with the very real rights and freedoms of the residents and businesses (including their employees) in the immediate area.

      3. Wrong. The media accounts are exactly what is happening. If anything it’s worse. A friend of my family had people invade his building, start a fire and zip tie the doors. They were definitely part of the convoy.

        I 100% agree with this article. These aren’t protestors. They are terrorists.

  2. DJC , no you are not the only one, my blood pressure has been at a dangerous level for a week. Because I could see what was happening last year, and all the “little ” things since, it’s been death by a thousand cuts . This didn’t start here in Canada last week, this is an accumulation of a few years of I’ll show you, the typical reaction of a “wounded ego.
    I told a family member ,that if I lived in Ottawa, I probably would have been the first one arrested ,because I have never liked been bullied, nor threatened .
    Having spent quite a few years working around diesel trucks and other machinery I know how badly the fumes affect me, especially during the winter: migraines ,and irregular heart beats that the halter monitor registered that as soon as I was away, I was back to normal
    I am absolutely furious that the residents are being subjected to this health threat,on top of all the other tortures ,and yes that’s what this is.
    And for that clown to say that ” well I lost my job” — no you chose not to work, every single job anyone has ever had ,has requirements.
    For all those ” so called ” truckers: I have a driver’s license, NO..I am not allowed to drive big rigs, well wa wa , I should be allowed ,you’re taking away MY freedom of choice ,
    No one that I know believes anymore that this sherade is about the truckers, it was obvious from the start that this was planned some time ago, When a certain MP ‘s start the ” they are good people, you just know there’s trouble coming.
    And when they conveniently come prepared with flags that the —– said would take the reporter 4 to 6 weeks to get, well step right up folks, get your “free” shirt , and here’s buttons to hand out to your fellow ,as one post said ” shils, because we’ve been inundated with US news for 5yrs ..Do I presume that these little trinkets are being paid for by the go-fund- me monies ??
    I almost feel sorry for the people that are being duped, as far as I’m concerned they have absolutely no right to carry our Canadian flag, and putting them on hockey sticks is just another mockery.— gee I wonder who came up with that plagiarizing idea ? Eh ??
    I have family members who served in the military, and I can’t think of anything that would make a true Canadian desecrate the war memorial ,anymore than I have understood the people who vandalize gravestones,
    Protestors ? NO !! Vandals yes!
    This ” peaceful” protest is a sham ,put on by ,to use the appropriate word ” thugs” .They don’t care about anything or anyone else but their own agenda ,and I really wish that I was mobile enough to go and help take our country back from them, before it’s too late.
    When you had a preview a year ago of what could happen & did not pay attention—- then you’re going to be in the group of ” gee ,I didn’t see that coming ”
    PBS has aired the series ” the rise of fascism ” a number of times in the last 2yrs, pre & post Jan 6th … golly gee, nobody watches them d’ar edumacashun shows,
    Wake the—-up people, or all we’re going to left with, is those upside flags.
    Once bullies take away your Monday lunch money, if you don’t do something about it, don’t be surprised about who is going to be waiting for you— I for one purposefully went down to the creek and came back with a willow switch, I was a little 11yr old girl and he was a 15yr old neighborhood bully boy, he never bothered me or my little sister again.
    I think it’s time. Freedom has become a word that’s meaning is being used against “civil society” they have taken it& are using it against us.
    As our little 73yr,4ft 3″ ,120lb BC Grandma said, we’ve had enough, because if nobody does anything it just gives them “freedom” to do it again.
    Bring on the pots & wooden spoons ,if the police keep allowing them to replenish their supplies, but not doing anything to protect the local citizens, makes you wonder, who is guarding whom?
    Reading through the “right to peaceful protest” government page, I must have missed something ??

  3. I am utterly flabbergasted to learn that Jason Kenny now plans to end all COVID Mandates in a few days. The criminal know nothings are now dictating provincial policy. God help Albertans. I called it; it is indeed the United Criminal Party. And yes, it is time to deploy the Canadian Forces to end this foolishness. Pity the downtown residents of Ottawa. The Federal Government needs to end this lawlessness before it spreads like a virulent cancer to other parts of Canada. Canadians cannot be held hostage like this. The health of our national economy is at risk.

    1. In BC the mounties have used automatic weapons, dogs and heavy machinery on peaceful protesters.

    1. Randi-lee: Email me at the address on the blog and I will send you the information you need. DJC

      1. With over a dozen countries in the UK dropping all restrictions and rising by the day, and the data reports showing cancer is up 300%, miscarriages went from 80,000 a year to 800,000 and the vaers data showing that the mrna vaccines have killed more people in on year of use than all other vaccines combined since 1990, I’d suggest trudeau pay attention to the science. While the rest of the world moves on, realizing the pandemic is over, perhaps it’s time to crawl out of hiding and get with the times?

        Our triple vaccinated prime minister came out on national television and said he caught covid from his vaccinated kid…… then said to get vaccinated. I’d like to know who actually has an iq low enough not to see what’s wrong with this? 99.67% survival rate.

        You know who does understand how ridiculous that is? The Truckers and everyone who supports them.

        1. Your stats are laughable and you obviously can’t distinguish reality from complete BS.
          It’s bedtime for you now, the grown-ups need to discuss grown-up things.

      2. i live in Ottawa. I totally agree with your article. They underestimated this convoy even though there was every indication of outside forces. Even that it was this well organized with no one catching wind.

        The police were overwhelmed from day 1 and fortunately other cities learned from our lesson.

        These aren’t protestors. They are terrorists.

  4. The protest this one reminds me of a bit is the Occupy Wall Street one. Also, urban campers who dug in and who were determined to stay. Of course, minus the Nazi paraphernalia, big trucks and not so much traffic disruption. People can be very determined about their causes, annoyingly so to everyone else just trying to go about their day to day lives.

    A very poignant moment I saw on the news today captured the sentiment of the moment well for me. A somewhat forlorn protester said to a passing resident he lost his job last week, obviously looking for sympathy, support or something similar. The kindly looking older woman replied to him sharply, I am about to lose my sanity because of all you guys.

    I think there is some validity to the situation of each, but it illustrates the conflict that arises when you put people with very different perspectives and situations in close proximity.

    I think there have to be boundaries on what the protesters are allowed to do and enforcement should be targeted on behaviors not individuals. Also, what is tolerable for a few hours is not for days or weeks For instance, noise restrictions on beeping horns or blocking emergency or other important access routes. Once this is made clear, the free for all block party or frat party atmosphere will dissipate somewhat. It won’t be so much fun anymore so likely more of the protesters may decide to go home where there may not be so many rules enforced.

    1. The thing about occupy is they faced heavy police repression and infiltration. I don’t think it represented a truly grassroots movement either, but to compare the two is missing the fact that these people have been treated with kid gloves by police since united we roll. So it’s not the same.

  5. This is nothing more than juvenile behavior. I don’t see any real purpose of this, and I think it should be broken up. This also applies to the one at the Alberta border with Montana. With the one in Alberta, it will be very unfortunate if someone requiring medical assistance cannot get it, because they are impeded by people with a grudge on their shoulders. Emergency responders would have major problems getting someone to the hospital. Really stupid, is what this is. Inconsiderate too.

  6. I agree with you, DJC.

    The idiotic ex-Leader of the Opposition O’Toole had the insensitivity to say after his downfall: “one has only to walk the streets outside of Parliament to see the divisions in our country”. Really? And what divisions are those, Erin? 90% of Canadians want these unvaxxed truckin’ boors and the racist hangers-on piggybacking along on their back booted out of Ottawa NOW. No division there unless you count a few thousand niche complainers as equivalent to 34 million Canadians. As the Cons conveniently do to “justify” their rubbish utterings. The protestors names, DNA, addresses need to be taken for when it comes time for civil lawsuits from the put-upon citizens of Ottawa’s downtown core, as the dorks slink away only to foment more trouble. Personally, I’d lock ’em up to give them time to contemplate their sins, ha ha as if. And sell off their rigs to compensate Ottawa citizens.

    To make matters worse, dumbo Con MPs from Northern Ontario west plus the ever popular ferret Poilievre, egg on the “demonstrators”. We’re all supposed to cheer this unCanadian nonsense?

    O’Toole also said he’d be a good little doggie and fully support whatever nutter the federal Cons choose as interim leader and then long term leader. The man has no spine, no convictions, no ideals — all he really wants is a steady job.

    I’m also not sure that Trudeau is much better. His deputy PM supports the right wing government of Ukraine, and I really don’t know if she’s Canadian at heart or just part of the international neocon mob. Is this how Canada really fails? Through disinterest? Through not giving a damn about regular citizens rights? By allowing dopes like kenney and Moe and Ford to blunder around stoking division? What an epitaph if true: We failed as a country because nobody gave a shit.

  7. You have summed this up better than anyone so far. The legal powers exist to stop this insurrection. Insurrection it is. If not now, it will be too late.

    It is time to end the insurrection in Coutts, too. Enough is enough. Why are we allowing 100 people to cut off the food supply to 4.3 million people in Alberta? These zealots have decided they own the place. They do not. They must leave. They’ve dug in with chicken wings. Be like the buffalo, the premier said. They chose buffalo wings.

    Force is necessary. Asking them to leave has not worked. Real life is not a video game.

  8. I agree completely. The spectacle of this occupation force of yahoos and thugs in our capital is a disgrace. Clear them out. Impounding their vehicles, as Dave urges, will deprive them of a major source of compensation–and I’m not just talking about money. Let them bus it back to Alberta and Saskatchewan.

  9. Law and order conservative’s, what a joke. I really wish that american burger would go back to the us and stay for good.

  10. I’m not surprised that Kenney is cowering before the thugs. He’s a coward whose usual trick is to flee to a 5 star hotel in another country on our dime. Now he’s also willing to trade Albertans’ health for a few rural votes which goes beyond cowardice to criminal negligence.

    What’s happening in Ottawa is a disgrace and the police chief is a joke. Bring in the army if the police can’t or won’t do their jobs.

    Speaking of police, it’s truly something to witness how white men-babies are coddled by the RCMP. If the Coutts protest was about protecting the environment and its participants natives, the tear gas, tanks and swat teams would have been there within hours.

  11. Off topic: I read that a “private law firm” is defending Kenney over his continued irresponsible comments regarding the Allan debacle. UCP Pigs at our trough, again.

    1. Cool: Sorry, I had to delete a part of your comment because, while I agree with it completely and believe it is true, I just can’t afford the lawsuit that might result. Prior restraint, ya know. DJC

  12. You are definitely not alone. Canada has a bunch of idiots just as the USA . There are even geniuses out there using existing songs to make freedom convoy jingles as they can’t write their own song.
    Time to remove them by force, impound the vehicles.

  13. We’ve set ourselves up for temper tantrums and threats anytime these people feel inconvenienced for being asked to consider the collective good. Nice work.

    I could not be more disappointed by our “leadership” at every level.

  14. The year(s) of living “dangerously naïve”. Randi-Lee above has nailed it!

    These clowns went to Ottawa to throw out PMJT and they ended up by removing their own conservative leadership. God forbid that I would come to the defense of Erin the Fool but it’s worth noting that he drew a line; on one side, traditional lawful governance supported by thoughtful analysis of current and future events, on the other, a rabid mob of uneducated, belligerent, rioters concerned only with their own barely articulated and faintly understood egotistical needs.
    He got turfed and the mob rules the day.

    The time has come. long past actually, for folks to choose which side of the line they stand on. And then prepare for defense. I’m afraid here in Alberta the vast, vast majority will choose the mob. I dearly hope I’m wrong about that but I see no evidence to support anything more than a small handful of thoughtful progressives’.

    As Randi-Lee points out, this has been a long, long time coming. We, good people of character, thoughtful, educated, moral and intelligent, have sought to relieve the social anxiety through equality and equity policies and by trying to reconcile ancient grievances within the modern culture. Some small advances but much delay and disappointment. Randi-Lee also says that sometimes the only way to deal with an entrenched bully is with a stick. This has always been true. It’s one of the life-lessons that transcends all human cultures throughout all human history.
    It’s time.

    David is right; this bullshit has gone on long enough. Throw these bums out, one at a time, if necessary. The Ottawa Chief has to get the boot too! Allowing food and fuel into the blockade is absolute bullshit. It’s just basic tactics and if this top-cop doesn’t understand that then he’s out of his league. Replace him.
    If these nutjobs were Indians or black or brown the police and military would have mounted a defense force of thousands and would have started cracking heads a couple days ago.

    There is a great deal to think about with this event. Much more can go wrong than can go well. But catering to this mob is wrong and counter-productive. Clear them out!

    1. I understand you sit atop a very high horse, but for clarification, when you say Indian are you referring to the people of india or are you referring the First Nations people of Canada? I don’t think it matters however as the people protesting consist of both people of East Indian decent and our First Nations people have also set up in Ottawa to protest.

      1. Another thing you folks continue to do is use pretendians, like the so called chief of so called ruperts land, and what could only be called a sprinkling of indigenous folks to pretend your movement has the support of hundreds of treaty nations that have denounced you just as everyone else has. Get bent, we have eyes.

  15. The “Freedumb Convoy” has been handled with kid gloves compared to other protesters in Canada. They’ve terrorized the homeless, the residents and small businesses in downtown Ottawa. They’ve assaulted the RCMP in Coutts. They’ve drawn up a manifesto to illegally overturn the elected government of Canada. They are domestic terrorists and should be treated as such. Mob rule by a tyranny of the few shouldn’t be allowed to replace the rule of law that is supported by the majority of Canadians. Bring in the army and deal with them now.

  16. I have found myself thinking over the last two years that if we had to have a Trudeau as PM we would have been better served as a country if we had Trudeau the Elder; a strong federalist who would not take lightly to being pushed around by premiers and definitely would not have tolerated mob rule in the capital.

  17. “In addition it should examine the flaws in current relevant legislation, in particular the Emergencies Act, but also firearms laws and regulation of the trucking industry.
    This crisis makes it clear there is a need for a National Capital Region police force under the jurisdiction of the federal government capable of responding to threats…”

    This makes the hair on the back of my head stand up. Granted something of the sort should be done but I don’t want an American style security state to ride in on the horse of panic either.

  18. I share your frustration and completely agree with your solution. The federal government has been an utter failure at managing this crisis. Everyone paying attention could see that the convey was headed to Ottawa a week ago yet they did absolutely nothing to prepare. Based on past performance, I expect this continue for a couple of weeks with the government continuing to do nothing. In the 2020 lobster dispute, the Fisheries Minister did very little while the situation escalated out of control. Fortunately, the wise people of Nova Scotia turfed her after that disgraceful performance. The January 2020 railway blockades negatively impacted the Canadian Economy for a month until the government finally stepped in.

    We can’t continue to take our democracy for granted and allow a small minority of law breaking citizens to tear the fabric of our society apart in the name of freedom. These people don’t even understand what the definition of freedom. The part of your article that resonated the most with me with your long term recommendations for preventing a future insurrection for further damaging our society or even toppling an elected government. I would add that we seriously need to investigate reforming the media because how the information gets to citizens is critical to healthy democracy. We now have people getting their information from conspiracy theories or from the corporate media with their glib, superficial coverage which completely misses the story of how we got here. Maybe start with who organized this and where is the $10M for Go Fund Me being spent.

  19. I never thought I would live long enough to see racist, Nazi truckers dictating to governments.

    This is especially true in Alberta. It’s a sad day for democracy. It’s a sad day for individual freedom that most Canadians take for granted.

    Mob rule has reared its ugly head, and it can only get worse.

  20. Dave, the threshold for the Emergencies Act is steeper than you imply. It would be necessary for the federal cabinet to demonstrate that the crisis is beyond the capacity of the province to respond. For a good explanation, see https://www.mccarthy.ca/en/insights/articles/covid-19-can-they-do-part-ii-emergencies-act

    I think what should happen is that the police should begin ticketing and arresting based on existing laws until that is demonstrably unworkable. Without invoking the Emergencies Act, they could still ask the military to provide the heavy equipment needed to move the vehicles out of the streets. Only if that failed would it reach the threshold for invoking the Act, in my not-a-lawyer opinion.

    I was a reporter in Ottawa in October 1970 when the troops moved in, and I still have doubts about the necessity and wisdom of Trudeau the Elder’s invocation of the War Measures Act at that time. Perhaps a topic for another day.

    1. There’s a cable from a certain three letter agency regarding the October crisis, I don’t think the comparison is as far off as people think. Someone has a history of trying to Balkanize Canada and it isn’t Canadians.

    2. In the US:
      “The government estimates that as many as 2,500 people who took part in the events of Jan. 6 could be charged with federal crimes.”

      BTW, someone should tell the *uckers that their insurance does not cover damages resulting from unlawful activities. Such as their fancy rigs getting bulldozed into the ditch.

  21. The US has not missed a chance to either start, or support any “color revolution” anywhere in the world for the last many years. 2014? The Ukraine, does anyone remember? Remember Nuland, the F….. the EU one who bragged about spending 5B USD over 10 years to destabilize Ukraine? Canada has been giving a bit, a tiny bit, of push back on the latest attempt by the US to provoke hostilities in the Ukraine now. I, for one, would be very surprised if some of the US military, spy agencies etc aren’t up to their eyeballs in this in some way.

    1. Canada is up to their eyeballs in the Ukrainian theatrical performance. The assets of the Canadian state work directly for the United States military-industrial complex. That is why Canada falls under Northcom, the command district set up by the US. Unlike the Soviet Union, which divided the country into military districts, the US divides the entire globe, with Central Command located in Doha, Qatar.
      Trudeau, like all the globalist leaders, is a fully vetted asset of the US military-industrial complex. Life is full of contradictions, and in this era the supranational fascists are fighting against the nationalist fascists as an array of socio-economic pressures have reached emergent levels at more or less the same time. So we have the unsophisticated, slightly bewildered right-wing hoi polloi reacting to the supranational right-wing policies being implemented under the auspices of Covid.
      The Canadian population by and large rejects a lot of the overt fascist aspects, and so Canada’s role in US policies of oppression are hidden behind pretenses like opting out of Vietnam and Iraq II. But in both instances Canadian military support was unwavering, but hidden. That’s why we get a nonsense Covid story about threatening the public health-care system, whereas they don’t have one down there, so their Covid fairy tale was all about the deaths.

      1. 900,000 Americans have died from Covid. While you’re right to say that Canada and Ukraine go together like beets and borscht, your parting statement negates anything intelligent you may have wished to communicate.

  22. I for one am tired of the bullshit in Alberta and Ottawa. When we start letting the tail wag the dog we are in trouble. I wish Kenney would grow a set and stand up and say enough is enough. Same for Doug Ford in Ontario. So be it if you lose “part of your base”, it sure in hell was not worth having them in the first place. Time fore these folks to go home and get back on their bango!

  23. It is now abundantly clear that there are two sets of laws – one for angry right-wing white men, and another for everybody else. If these protests had been initiated by anyone else, they would have been shut down and cleaned up by now. The provincial governments in AB and ON are complicit in perpetuating and encouraging this mobocracy. The economic cost alone of the shutdowns should have these supposedly fiscally conservative governments jumping into action days ago, never mind the flaunting of order, the vandalism, the desecration of memorials, the thuggish bullying of residents, and the laughable demands to overthrow democratically elected governments, and overturn decisions made in the interest of protecting the public, and the health care systems, for the short term.

    I’m sure the cops have run the license plates of the trucks at the protests, and are probably aware of the guns that potentially are in those vehicles. This is the only reason I can think of why they have not yet acted – unless they are not so subtly supporting these goons, which would then explain their reticence to do their jobs. I cannot begin to describe how disappointed I am in the local police forces, and especially the RCMP, at their seeming timidity. I appreciate that they want to have a peaceful resolution, but not at the expense of everybody else’s freedom to go about their daily business unimpeded by petulant thugs.

    All reasonable people want the rule of law applied consistently, regardless of beliefs. Our provincial governments and our police are not doing so. I am very worried about our democracy – it is resilient, but it is not unbreakable. What are we, the people who value democracy, going to do about it?

  24. No you are alone at all.
    I think Justin Trudeau has missed a great opportunity to show the rest of us he is someone we can trust on matters of civil unrest. The police has asked for help from the military and that should have been done right on Sunday when it was clear the US is involved as well as white nationalists, fascists and whatever else on the wrong side of reality.
    It is a joke and believe me, China and Russia are watching our resolve to do nothing. I can see the summary of their watch

    That country is Easy Peasy

  25. I find it interesting that a large portion of trucker temper tantrum funding is from foreign sources.

    I’m sure Premier Kenney will make an announcement condemning this foreign funded meddling in Canadian politics.

    I wonder how our Canadian conservative brothers, many of whom have welcomed the trucker tantrum with open arms, will fare during future elections with their support of foreign funded politcal meddling hanging around their necks?

  26. Damn Straight. Pass a bylaw or get an injunction forbidding fueling vehicles outside of gas stations, then enforce it. It also wouldn’t be hard to come up with a device like the ” Texas Boot ” for fuel caps. I would like to see some of the scrappiest hockey players from the scrappiest OHL teams mix with the ” Patriots”.
    The parallels between the Freedom Convoy and the Maga Movement and the Sturmabteilung are not lost on anyone.
    This GoFundMe account needs to be confiscated immediately if it hasn’t already. Whoever heard of a spontaneous protest with a multi million dollar bankroll.We know the answer to that already. The protest is not spontaneous,it is sedition.
    It is past time to start putting the feet to the fire of the ” Puppet Masters” especially the elected ones.
    I have no idea what is going on with law enforcement. This prevaricating Ottawa Police Chief is certainly part of the problem. These FreeDumb Fascists must be breaking numerous laws all the time. Just because you’re protesting doesn’t give you the right to break the law. You don’t need the army or emergency powers ,you need the Police to do their jobs.

    1. Yes, the solution to all of this is to unleash some teenagers who have spent twelve years of their lives being rewarded for aggression. As to your “Sturmabteilung” rubbish, the Canadian government participates in real coups, with real Nazis. We don’t resort to gangs of semi-literate truck-drivers when it’s time to remove an elected executive.
      “Allegations of Canadian troops training neo-Nazis and war criminals sparks military review”
      https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/allegations-of-canadian-troops-training-neo-nazis-and-war-criminals-sparks-military-review

  27. I wonder if any betting agency is taking bets on the when the “Just Watch Me” moment will arrive?

    Personally I would like to see the protestors try to take their protest to Washington D C. Wonder how far some of them would get as there are US vaccine requirements to meet. Do they know this? Or do they think JT has influence in Washington like some think he has over the price of crude.

  28. Parking on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier?
    Dancing on that hallowed ground?
    URINATING ON IT?!!

    My son-in-law is currently serving. An uncle liberated France.

    It is past time for Mr. Trudeau to invoke the Emergencies Act and call in the CAF.

    He owes it to Cpl. Nathan Cirillo’s son Marcus.
    He owes it to every currently serving member of the CAF.
    He owes to every veteran of the CAF.

  29. Strong stuff, DJC, and perhaps necessary given the mealy-mouthed, pusillanimous responses many of our elected representatives and media personalities are providing. You know the responses I mean: everyone is frustrated, we need dialog, people can’t take it anymore, the trucker vaccine mandate would cause serious supply chain issues, etc. These are just excuses and rationalizations designed to downplay the seriousness of the situation and provide spin for a false narrative.

    On this point, I got particularly exercised by an interview I heard with Mark Connolly and Garnett Genuis (a waste of space, as far as I can tell) on the CBC morning show in Edmonton: Genuis would not clearly decry and disavow the illegality of the trucker protest in Ottawa; nor did he suggest at all that allowing the protest to continue would seriously undermine the authority and efficacy of our police services and the rule of law in general. Instead, he provided excuses and sympathy for the plight of unvaccinated truckers, yadda, yadda, yadda. It was your typical politician’s attempt to use nice sounding words that would appeal to the base but not provide anything of substance. Listening to him, I was reminded of a passage in Orwell’s Politics and the English Language:

    “When one watches some tired hack on the platform mechanically repeating the familiar phrases … one often has a curious feeling that one is not watching a live human being but some kind of dummy: a feeling which suddenly becomes stronger at moments when the light catches the speaker’s spectacles and turns them into blank discs which seem to have no eyes behind them.”

    While not all conservatives are bone heads (and many true conservatives are not), increasingly it is looking like you need to have some serious intellectual deficits or pretend you do to call yourself a conservative, or at least call yourself a member of the CPC or UCP.

    Do the conservatives that tend to the extreme right not realize that there is a social contract we all implicitly agree to: in exchange for safety and security, we give up some of our “freedoms”? You are not allowed to steal or destroy property at will; nor are you allowed to interfere with the health or mobility of your fellow citizens. But, this is what the protestors are doing in the name of “freedom”. They need to understand that there are always limits to freedom and that these take the form of a balancing act between “freedom from” and “freedom to”. In a well-ordered society, you should expect to be free from harassment, assault, and property damage, etc from others; likewise, you should not be free to inflict harassment, assault, and property damage on others. To do so is selfish. And, more importantly, one of the reasons we have laws, going all the way back to the Old Testament and earlier.

  30. I said right from the start bring in the military and put a stop to this stupidity , they are trained for this type of thing and have the power to stop it. With these fools threatening violence that’s who you need.

    With these stupid Reformers bragging about supporting them you have to question why any Canadians are dumb enough to support them. They are certainly nothing like the Conservatives we proudly supported under Lougheed and Getty.

  31. Maidan on the Ottawa river. If this wasn’t so very close to Washington I’m willing to bet the violence would already have been deadly.

    There’s a lot of red flags on the play, anyone who still thinks this is a grass roots movement should consider buying the pieces of the Walterdale bridge I have In storage, I’ll give you a great price.

  32. The whole thing is a disgrace and as someone with family members who fought in two world wars, I am shocked that there has been no response from the Canadian Legion to the defilement of the tomb of the unknown soldier.

  33. We are approaching peak-hilarity. Invoking Big Magus in the name of democracy is simply surreal. The October Crisis took place in an era when the NATO countries, of which Canada is one, were engaged in relentless assaults on their own citizens as the post-war economic order began to disintegrate. This includes Operation Chaos in the US, and the entire sham in Northern Ireland by the UK, as well as the various Gladio synthetic terror operations in continential Europe. As always, the assertion of involvement of CIA assets in the FLQ is now relegated to the realm of conspiracy theory and/or bad Russians. But the fact remains that the deployment of the military by Big Magus was completely in line with US and UK military and intelligence actions in the period. The crisis afforded the spooks in Canada the opportunity to conduct widespread surveillance operations against what used to the “Left” in Canada.
    Considering that the Canadian military is the single most anti-democratic entity in this country, the call to send in the army is indeed some extreme kookery.
    Just to recap, against the will of the people, the Canadian military was secretly deployed during the single greatest crime against humanity of the 21st century until Covidmania, the invasion and subsequent destruction of the sovereign state of Iraq. The Canadian military was the prime mover in the overthrow of Aristide’s government in Haiti in 2004. The Canadian military was up to their eyeballs in the illegal assault on Libya in 2011. And the government continues to deploy their super commandos anywhere the Americans tell them to in Africa or in concert with the outright Nazis in the Ukraine.

    You folks truly have become the fascists. Perhaps you should have been reading “Friendly Fascism” instead of consuming corporate media. It’s never too late. You can still get a copy. I’d offer mine, but I left it in the van one winter and the glue in the spine fell apart.
    https://www.amazon.ca/Friendly-Fascism-America-Forbidden-Bookshelf-ebook/dp/B01AVTU70C

    Just to remind everyone that the Canadian military is a band of ocean-going assholes, here’s a few of their greatest hits:
    “A number of media outlets reported that Canadian special forces fought in Libya in 2011 in contravention of UN Security Council resolution 1973, which explicitly forbade “a foreign occupation force of any form on any part of Libyan territory.”

    On February 29, 2004 JTF2 soldiers reportedly “secured” the airport from which Haiti’s elected president Jean-Bertand Aristide was bundled (“kidnapped” in his words) onto a plane by US Marines and deposited in the Central African Republic.

    After the 2003 US/British invasion JTF2 commandos were reported to be working alongside their British and US counterparts in Iraq.”
    https://www.foreignpolicy.ca/jtf2special-forces

    This is a good one. Love that domestic application of military force:
    “Rainville led a JTF2 “exercise” against Van Doos in Quebec City, ostensibly testing security of the Citadel’s weapons locker. Wearing ski masks and carrying shotguns and UZI machine pistols, the pretend terrorists overpowered two soldiers on guard duty, stripped, beat, tortured, bound them with duct tape and threatened to kill them unless they co-operated. One soldier was sodomized with a baton and then a shotgun.

    One terrified solders escaped, climbed down the wall and called the police who arrived in full riot gear. The army tried to hush the matter up, and for years ignored the grievances of one of the victims (Frank Savage) until he brought it to the attention of civilian authorities, who laid the charges of which Rainville was eventually found guilty.

    It also turns out the infamous 1993 “turkey shoot” of two “infiltrators” in Somalia (and the close-range execution-style killing of one of them) was aJFT2 “demonstration,” led by the same Rainville, to show visiting Canadian and U.S. Special Forces brass their worth.”
    http://circ.jmellon.com/docs/view.asp?id=329

    I think that a good sodomizing with a shotgun is exactly what is required here, no?

    1. To your recommended reading list, you might want to add “It Can’t Happen Here” (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11371.It_Can_t_Happen_Here) by Sinclair Lewis to show how populists and demagogues can lead an ill-informed electorate down a very dangerous path. That is path that it seems the CPC and UPC appear to want to travel down with their populist rhetoric and appeals to the anti-vaxxers and anti-mandate crowd.

      I don’t think anyone would argue that the Canadian military does not have its share of problematic history. That said, they do, at times, perform vital and welcome services, such as providing help with floods and the Covid crises. But, you pick examples of bad behaviour in the military and try to use that to establish the entire military is a terrible thing. That inference just isn’t justified, especially considering the good things the military has also accomplished that can be used as counter examples.

      1. You people are absolutely hilarious. The overthrow of sovereign nations by NATO, including vassal members like Canada is “examples of bad behaviour”. I mean, that’s a great joke, but you would have to go some to beat your “populists and demagogues” bit where you use the totalist thought-terminating cliché “anti-vaxxer”.
        That is right out of Robert Lifton’s criteria for thought reform. But then, the entire Covidian scripture is summed up by Lifton.

        “Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism
        The University of North Carolina Press/Chapel Hill and London
        By Robert Jay Lifton, M.D.
        Milieu Control
        Mystical Manipulation
        The Demand for Purity
        The Cult of Confession
        The “Sacred Science”
        Loading the Language
        Doctrine Over Person
        The Dispensing of Existence”
        https://www.google.ca/books/edition/Thought_Reform_and_the_Psychology_of_Tot/FU_ifHrIIg0C?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover

        It’s getting hard to decide who represents the silliest, most self-contradicting kookiness.
        Progs v Kons, the Race to the Bottom. I mean, unless you’re doing some kind of post-post-postmodern comedy bit. If you are, it’s really good.

        1. @Murphy. You often engage in generalized ad hominem attacks by accusing others who post in this blog of being kooks and proto-fascists, ignorant, willfully blind, etc.,. You engage in the very rhetorical strategies, such as using totalist thought-terminating clichés, that you accuse me and others of doing. You name drop, you parade a library list of references that are usually out of context, you show lots of confirmation bias, and you often are dishonest with your use of statistics. I usually have a lot of sympathy for your views, since I also agree that many of the issues we face are in fact the result of capitalism gone wild and the power of corporations over our media and government. But, the certainty of your convictions and your implicit and explicit assertions that you alone know the truth and the rest of us are idiots, combined with your dishonest use of statistics many times over, are problematic, to say the least.

    2. if the three letter agency didn’t want their fingerprints on the October crisis they prolly should have kept it out of the cables.

  34. I want to clarify that I am a life long Lefty, educated by hippies in the early seventies. I recently saw a poll where a large number of the Green Party are sympathetic to the Ottawa protest. As someone who is a moral supporter of the Green Party, has their leader or Party made any statements about the Ottawa or Alberta situation?

    1. I was a card-carrying, cash and time volunteering Green for years. When Mrs. Paul came out claiming that the Green Party’s senior leadership was racist and anti-semetic, it seemed absurd beyond imagining to me. Doing some googling didn’t really clear that hot mess up to me at all, but did cause me to withdraw my support from the Greens until such time as they can provide some explanation for what the hell that was all about that makes sense. Not telling you how you should feel or what you should do, just talking about me. Anyways, it helped me understand that a lot of the most effective non-Indigenous environmental initiatives were spearheaded by people who held views that would today certainly be seen as racist at best, white supremacist at worst. Vastly oversimplified version – just like the fact that the people who created institutions such as the RCMP lived in a time and place where racism was seen as normal and good shaped the way institutions such as the RCMP behave to this day – it’s not bad apples, it’s bad barrels, and the barrels aren’t “bad” as much as they are “doing exactly what the barrel-makers wanted them to do, but we claim not to want them to do.”

      For more info, the google search string ‘white supremacy environmentalism’ is a good place to start.

  35. Sorry David, just to clarify. I am am moral supporter of the Green Party, I do not mean to imply that you must be one also.

  36. David, thanks for this post. You and many of the commenters here have expressed my own thoughts eloquently so I don’t feel the need to try to elaborate much, but I wanted to add my voice to those who believe that the insurrections (not protests in my opinion) in Ottawa and at Coutts need to be ended swiftly and decisively by whatever legal means are available. Every day that these travesties are allowed to continue only serves to widen the cracks that already exist in our democracy. Our federal and provincial governments have shown that they can be tolerant, even of extremists unfortunately, but now is the time to demonstrate that that tolerance has limits and that Canada will protect its democracy as aggressively as it needs to in order to restore the rule of law over the rule of the mob. If we fail to do that now, then I’m afraid that we may have traveled past the point of no return for democracy in this country and the rest of the journey will be even uglier than what we are witnessing now.

  37. Am I the only Canadian outside Ottawa who thinks this bullshit in our national capital has gone on long enough?

    No, I think the Unions and their regressive allies all feel the same way as you do. One would think the hypocrisy of the stance would hold the censure, but at this point appears to be endemic.

    As you know, I went down to the rally at the leg on the weekend, for about four hours, I never saw any mob or any law breaking. I did see families and neighbours protesting the usurpation of their rights. I talked with more than ten placard carriers. And I added a needle for most of them. I was wearing a mask at all times. There were no other masked people in thousands that were there.

    Even with that “irritant” I received no bad will back. And I had many good conversation with why they were there.

    As a consequence, I find it troublesome that the media and the pundits paint these people with an extremist tinge.

    But then again, I guess they have to to sleep at night.

    1. When a group of people are okay with being seen in public demonstrating in the company of individuals carrying actual swastikas, they don’t get to pretend to be a bunch of demonized victims. If I went to hockey tomorrow and someone was wearing a swastika, either he would be gone or I would be. Not buying the poor-misunderstood-maligned victims angle for a second, friend.

      1. The main stream media coverage is slightly biased.

        Maybe you should should go visit the demonstration and make up your own mind.

        Or, be a good sheeple and believe their narrative., up to you.

        I know what side I’m on, that would be the side of personal responsibility, and individual rights.

    2. Unions ?

      We are talking about Canada right ?

      Lmao unions. They are the real
      Power in Canada. Right.

  38. So i live in dinky-donk alberta
    and even we have a law against big rigs off regular routes or parked residentially.
    How they were ever allowed to enter Ottawa will forever hang on those police.
    Those at Coutts should have been ticketed then told to move
    On refusal they should have been rolled into the ditch by bulldozer
    Insurance is invalid during the commission of a crime
    so a bunch of gutless officers afraid to do their job and enforce the law
    a pandemonium of dithering politicians (they got lots of practice with covid)
    What ever happened to “We don’t negotiate with terrorists?”

  39. Here’s another amazing conspiracy theory…

    Right now the truck protestors are located inside of one of the most electronically surveilled areas on earth. There is a vast network of listening posts, security cams, and other means of watching and recording all activity. I’m sure every single device the truckers have has been tapped into, including those of the CON MPs who have decided to throw their lot behind domestic terrorism to shore up their voting base. Every data stream, every email, every text message has been tapped and scoured for incriminating material that will be used against all the participants and their allies in this whole sordid affair.

    The congressional GOP members involved in Jan 6th Insurrection were so surprised to learn that their devices and all their activities were surveilled and recorded by the FBI for purposes of investigation. I recall Sen. Tom Cotton (R) being tongued at the hearings to learn that all devices (even his) were part of the FBI’s net.

    I say keep the protest going as long as is necessary until all the CONs are caught for their complicity in terrorism and criminal activities.

  40. I was wondering when you would go down this path, I guess the time is now. At any large protest you will have an element that is extreme and this one is no different. We are not, I would like to believe, the kind of country that uses the military to put down protests especially protests that have been to this point non-violent. You are advocating for something that is not very Canadian and hopefully the extreme rhetoric you are spouting is just a momentary lapse in judgement. Please don’t go full tinfoil hat and make the claim that Putin is somehow behind this.
    As to the claim of foreign funding I have the same response as to the UCP claim of foreign funding for environmental groups, show me the evidence, show me the groups. Political leaders have spent the last 2 years dividing this country, calling some workers non-essential, celebrating healthcare workers and then firing them for not complying this division has to end. I would encourage you again to step out from behind the keyboard and witness one of these protests for yourself, talk to people at them. It is very easy to write them off based on the slanted coverage of main stream media sources.

    1. More often than not the extreme element is inserted by the state. This was true of the criminal vandalism in Toronto in 2010, and even in the case of Wiebo Ludwig, the RCMP were planting bombs. Apparently Wiebo was just not crazy enough for the Mounties and their Petro-bosses.
      At the protests in Montebello in 2007, they busted undercover police dead-to-rights trying to instigate rock-throwing:
      https://www.thestar.com/news/2007/08/21/police_accused_of_using_provocateurs_at_summit.html

      Of course, unleashing a criminal state response to protest is very Canadian.

      https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/winnipeg-general-strike

      “On September 29 1931, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police murdered three miners in Estevan, Saskatchewan. The miners and their families were striking for union recognition.”
      https://www.rankandfile.ca/our-history-remember-the-estevan-miners/

      The graves of the miners are regularly desecrated by suporters of the Mounties.

      The Progs have really latched onto the use of the ol’ Hakenkreuz at the protests. It has got the usual panderers in a froth, completely ignoring the fact that the protesters are using the symbol as a pejorative for Lil’ Magus and his love of forced injection with vaccines that can’t prevent transmission of Covid, very much the opposite of celebrating Nazi ideology. But this is a Covid thing, and facts don’t matter.

    2. The evidence?

      The GoFundme Campaign site.

      Even Elon Musk kicked in a sizeable sum for FreeDUMB.

      Elections Canada can order a complete audit of the campaign donors, since this is clearly to fund criminal activity. If GoFundme resists, I’m sure a Internet ban on their service will bring them to heel.

      Imagine other governments investigating GoFundme’s involve in other activities of concern.

      This could be only the tip of GoFundme’s involvement in much criminal activity.

      1. I don’t believe Elon has given up his Canadian citizenship, could be wrong but I think he still hangs onto 3.
        Point is moot now GoFundMe, a foreign company has seized the funds.

  41. We already have a federal police force: the RCMP. Since this is cross-jurisdictional in origin and will be in follow-up, the RCMP need to show up, make a deadline announcement to the insurrectionists, and begin—visibly and tangibly on the ground, in the air and on the air waves—to prepare for and coordinate enforcement, if necessary (arrests, detentions, impoundments, and defensive response if needed).

    The insurrectionists should be given more than simply a time deadline. They need to see and believe that surveillance is underway, interim, and, thenceforth (from the time of warning), prosecution for everything from littering to uttering threats and anything else will be pursued in addition to infractions committed before the time of warning (that is, since they’ve been there) including hooliganism and other violations committed in surrounding parts of the city. There can be no scorched-earth retreat before the deadline, and no retreat in good order after the deadline (damning surveillance will record the former and vehicle impoundment will preclude the latter).

    Insurrectionists‘ demands, by their own choice, are such that negotiation is impossible, so none should be offered. Move or be moved. Resist and be arrested and tried (which will allow time for complainants to prepare negotiating points and strategy for presenting them in a legal way. Detention facilities will provide paper, pens and three squares a day).

    Cell and radio media should be jammed within the cordon. No communication of anything by foot, passenger pigeon, electronics, or any other means will be permitted between inside and outside the cordon after the warning is issued. Items deemed relevant to prosecution should be seized from participants leaving before the deadline; participants will be arrested if they leave the cordon after the deadline has expired (news media, casual observers and passersby caught inside the cordon after the deadline can make their excuse/defence to a judge after they’re released from detention).

    Any violence toward law enforcers or civilians should be met by measured superior force (sorry; I hate to say that, but the Nazis tried to kill my dad and, although he was religiously torn about shooting people, the greater good required shooting back. I haven’t forgotten the few things he divulged about that horrible time. I couldn’t feel otherwise after I seeing those Nazi flags paraded in Ottawa). The deadline is legitimate trucker-protesters’ best chance to distance themselves from the fascist element on display and prove it is a minority faction.

    Offenders should not be given opportunity to rationalize the weight of punishment deserved: therefore, suspected offenders (seen or evidently breaking the law at any time since the protest began) should be offered leniency, not absolution, if they remove before the deadline, and stricture if they don’t. Keep it simple. However, allowing any violation to go unpunished to expedite this particular situation simply invites repeats. Meting of penalties needs to account for this judiciously.

    Today the objective is to remove obstacles —arrests for violations in this execution is an extra totally up to perpetrators to endure or not. Their degrees of freedom fall to zero past the deadline—even if they’re heading out in compliance, but stuck in traffic. They should be given the opportunity to decide when to leave and what to suffer if tardy or uncooperative. Anyway, they’ll have their day in court to explain any excuses to a judge.

    Ontario also has a provincial police force: the OPP. Your idea about a designated parliamentary-grounds force is good, maybe for the future, but there are three already in the pasture right now. City police say they’re stretched; let’s take them at their word for now, but they should cooperate with coordinated , multi-force operations, freeing them up to police the other areas of town where they appear deficient at the moment. (The Mayor and Chief of police should review what’s wrong, but that’s outside this scope.)

    The armed forces inappropriately tried to absolve themselves from civilian policing. In fact, the Minister of Defence, in consultation with the Ministry of Justice and police ultimately decides what tasks the armed forces do, not military brass. It’s unusual for the armed forces to police civilians, but the Emergencies Act certainly authorizes them to do so—and they do have military police. We expect the forces to cooperate with civilian police, fire suppression, ambulances, &c. —I recommend military farces only do heavy lifting, literally: the towing and impounding of semi-trucks, not people. That’s potentially a big job and requires expertise with regard weight, volume, logistics, fuel hazards, firearms and explosives, and potential booby traps. If it were nothing else, it’ll be good drill.

    Other public servants will be needed, too: first responders for injuries, child services for kids whose parent(s) have been arrested inside the cordon after deadline, &c.

    The RCMP should prepare for reaction anywhere across the country and coordinate other civilian forces accordingly. These protesters may not simply bug-out, encamp and annoy elsewhere anymore than they can evade the long arm of the federal police force. Flight-risk of foreign-national agitators must be prepared for.

    Summary: provide fair warning and visible signs of serious business— by promising, not threatening. It’s critical to avoid inadvertently cultivating sympathy for the offenders, so fairness, as lenient as it might seem at this point, is essential. But, to be clear, everyone, whether they show a white flag or not, will be arrested and prosecuted if inside the cordon after the deadline. Military forces remove vehicles, civilian police and/or other first-responders remove people, civic workers mop-up and repair damage, the courts try prosecutions and justice authorities process the convicted.

    I remember well “just-watch-me” Trudeau: many police outside Quebec and Ottawa abused the Act to shake down legitimate activists, union organizers and others, or search for dope without any more reason than subversion suspected of long-haired male youths. It’s more civilly just that the Emergencies Act is more limited than PET’s War Measures Act (which responded to bombings, kidnappings and, eventually, murder—but only after the facts. The action recommended today is to prevent escalation). The more limited Emergencies Act means enforcement must be more precise and concise.

    MSM is shilly-shallying: I got more from some dude walking around with a GoPro on his hat, no commentary. At Idle-No-More and Occupy MSM waited for ordinary weekenders, working folks with kids in tow, to leave and only then focused in on the remaining diehards, extremists and/or burgeoning riff-raff, presumably to sensationalize and, it seemed, to associate these protests with crime. In any case, inside the Capital cordon, after the deadline is announced, all recordings should be be seized in the execution of the order and used in subsequent prosecution.

    Expect fall-out but show that preparation has been made for any contingency. To minimize, be as expedient and lenient as possible and contrast that with the most egregious offenders’ stricter penalties. City and provincial police should learn from how this is dealt with—so, whatever it is, it shouldn’t be trite or half-assed.

    Maybe set up a GoFundMe to pay for it all? That’d be at least a bit of levity in this sordid chapter.

    I’m really sorry to have to say all this: I love truckers and what they do (legally); but alternatives are running out: that’s the main message for now.

    Thank you.

  42. “If the leaders of the present government cannot bring themselves to respond decisively to this challenge – to say, as Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau famously did in October 1970, “just watch me” – perhaps they should contemplate the elder Mr. Trudeau’s equally renowned walk in the snow.”

    David, Are you suggesting that Justin Trudeau resign? I hope not.

    These domestic terrorists in Ottawa do not have and never applied for a permit to protest. Ergo, it is an illegal protest. Moreover, they are violating many city bylaws. The city of Ottawa has a police force, the province of Ontario has a provincial police force. It is, sadly, their jurisdictional purview, and not the federal government’s. They have the tools, and they are to blame, if they refuse to enforce the law. Perhaps, the Premier of Ontario, the Mayor of Ottawa, and his police chief should take a long walk in the snow?

    1. I don’t say it lightly, Athabascan, but any leader who refuses to defend our democracy in the face of an assault on democracy, and who fails to act to protect the citizens of a major city, needs to consider departing. Hopefully, Mr. Trudeau has a plan. As Scotty on Denman pointed out elsewhere on this page, the “demands” of the “protesters” are designed to be impossible to meet. It’s time to get on with evicting them before citizens of Ottawa are forced to take this into their own hands. DJC

      1. OK. Let us suppose Trudeau and his Liberal government do take a long walk in the snow -as you suggest.

        Do you think it would improve the situation and be good for Canada, or would it make matters worse and damage democracy? I.e. make things worse.

  43. An insurrection is “a violent uprising against an authority or government.” Unlike the January 6th incident in Washington, this is not an insurrection. There has been no attempt to storm Parliament or any other government buildings. There has been no mob violence at all, and surprisingly little violence in general so far, considering the size of the mob. I suspect at least some of them will not go peacefully when the police finally do move in, though.

    To those claiming that the police have been treating the protests in Ottawa and Coutts with kid gloves, I think you’re failing to realize how unwieldy a blockade of heavy trucks really is. I suspect the police have been trying to negotiate first in the hopes that they wouldn’t have to deal with towing away semi trucks after they arrest the drivers.

  44. From the Criminal Code, provisions relating to unlawful assembly:

    Reading proclamation

    67 A person who is

    (a) a justice, mayor or sheriff, or the lawful deputy of a mayor or sheriff,

    who receives notice that, at any place within the jurisdiction of the person, twelve or more persons are unlawfully and riotously assembled together shall go to that place and, after approaching as near as is safe, if the person is satisfied that a riot is in progress, shall command silence and thereupon make or cause to be made in a loud voice a proclamation in the following words or to the like effect:

    Her Majesty the Queen charges and commands all persons being assembled immediately to disperse and peaceably to depart to their habitations or to their lawful business on the pain of being guilty of an offence for which, on conviction, they may be sentenced to imprisonment for life. GOD SAVE THE QUEEN.

    R.S., 1985, c. C-46, s. 671994, c. 44, s. 5

    This occupation is unlawful assembly on its face. The Government of Canada must act.

  45. I’m not a songwriter but the events of the past week or so have inspired this little number called “Flagwrapped.” It’s intended as a (counter?) protest song and contains some unpleasant imagery.

    G5 D5 C5 B5 A5
    I’m a God loving patriot, I support the R C M P
    G5 D5 C5 B5 A5
    cause they point guns at you, but take selfies with me
    G5 D5 C5 B5 A5
    I’ve got a brand new red hat, it only cost my country
    G5 C5 B5 A5 G5
    I refuse to spell freedom without dee you emm bee

    They used to call me a fascist, Now I’m called the alt-right
    Rupert Murdoch took my side, so I won that fight
    If you’re really a person, how come you’re not white?
    Won’t be no queers or wokies in the thousand year Reich

    Doctors told me what’s needed, and I straight up defied
    While the rest of you watched me, and our grandparents died
    So I’m off to lick doorknobs, we’ll eat what the mob provides
    If there’s no hell to go to, I’ll make it where we reside

    there’s individuals but no society
    there’s no meaning or morals so I choose to be mean
    As we create our extinction, know it’s not you it’s me
    I refuse to spell freedom without dee you emm bee
    G5 C5 B5 A5 G5
    I refuse to spell freedom without dee you emm bee
    G5 C5 B5 A5 G5
    That guy with a swastika, he’s not here with me,
    G5 C5 B5 A5 G5
    You think this is funny? I’m in the C P C

    1. Haha all that formatting didn’t work :/ Hold on the G5 and walk from D5-A5 on the last four syllables of each line. Every fourth line, and each line in the outro, instead of walking from D5-A5, walk from C5-G5.

  46. David

    I have appreciated your take on Alberta politics for years. Most of favourite Canadian politicians over the years have been NDP: the Lewises, Broadbent, Blakeney, Grant Notley, Bob Rae. I have donated for my local MPs & MLAs Linda Duncan, Rachel Notley, Heather McPherson.
    You’re way off base on this one. Offensive & hysterical. I guess you only tolerate the right of working & unemployed people to assemble & demonstrate in Eastern Europe or Latin American.
    I’d suggest reading this before you judge these very polite fellow citizens as mouth breathing fascists.

    https://maybury.ca/the-reformed-physicist/2022/02/03/a-night-with-the-untouchables/

    I’d also seek out Brian Peckford’s recent 9 minute speech enumerating how many clauses of the Canadian Charter of Human Rights have been violated in the past two years.

    Regards, Mellon

  47. Look at all the Commies out in Alberta.
    You know at the turn of the Century most Communists in Canada were around Winnipeg
    and out in BC. They were in Montreal as well. But Alberta?
    I live in Ottawa and have been to see the truckers repeatedly. They are on the right side
    of history and YOU are not. I am a professional historical researcher who worked at
    the Library and Archives Canada and Directorate of History and Heritage. For the last
    30 years I have been writing about Canada’s AIRBORNE and SPECIAL FORCES history.
    What I discovered in my research concerning Canadians that served within British Intelligence
    during WWII will blow that single brain cell you have left in your vaccinated minds.
    I suggest you start by reading the father of Canada’s Civil Service Oscar D. Skelton’s 1911
    published critique of Socialism. In it he explains in detail how Socialists could use a party like
    the Liberal Party as a Trojan Horse to secure power. I have researched all BOI, FBI, Scotland
    Yard, MI5, SIS, RCMP investigations in Canada concerning our illustrious and highly Communist
    Civil Service gurus. I have proven, without doubt, that Prime Minister MacKenzie King was either
    complicit with the infiltration of Communists within the Canadian government or he was used
    as a patsy by the likes of Jack Pickersgill, Norman Robertson, Lester Pearson, Saul Rae and a massive
    cavalcade of others. I have proven that Robertson and Pearson were working for the Soviets. This
    information derived from the British National Archives HS Series covering the operations of Britains
    Special Operations Executive (SOE). The documents I have miraculously were not of any interest to our illustrious Marxist media, who always tells the truth and is worshipped like a cult by many brainless Canadians. These documents
    include correspondence between known Soviet agents within British Intelligence ( one heading SOE Cairo in Egypt) and
    Canadian government actors like Robertson, Pearson and Commissioner of the RCMP Wood. They include correspondence between the Communist Party of USA and Canada and these men. All relating to the recruiting and training of Soviet agents in Canada. Need I remind you that it was Lester Pearson who appointed Pierre Trudeau to be his Minister of Justice. A Fabian Socialist and member of the eugenics supporting Club of Rome. Look it up. None of this is a conspiracy theory, in fact, you can find a lot in Trudeau’s endorsed biographies. How many Canadians know that Pierre Trudeau had intimate relationships with members of the FLQ and Cuban Intelligence Services? How many Canadians know that Trudeau published a magazine in Quebec titled Cite Libre which was considered Marxist? How many Canadians know that literary contributors to Cite Libre included top members of the FLQ? How many Canadians know that Conservative MP Tim Cossitt made Trudeau look like a fool in Parliament when he asked Trudeau if he knew about the RCMP Featherbed investigation? An investigation into the loyalty of members of the Canadian bureaucracy. An investigation with files on Pearson, Robertson, Trudeau and many others. Cossitt asked this question in the house because he suspected that Trudeau had gained access to his RCMP file and destroyed it. This possibly occurred during the orchestrated FLQ crisis. CSIS only recently admitted these files were destroyed in 1989. I know that is not true because I have archival evidence to suggest otherwise. Pierre Trudeau was a disgusting scumbag and a traitor. I served in the military when he was Prime Minister. Everything that SOB did was pro-Marxist and anti-Canadian. Everything he did was to divide and destroy NOT unite. A true Marxist like most of the people posting here. People who don’t have a clue what the hell they are talking about. IN Ottawa now is the greatest show of unity and outpouring of Patriotism I have ever seen. Blacks, Asians, First Nations, Jews, Christians, Muslims all coming together. But you fools are probably too scared to go on social media and LEARN THE TRUTH. You are backing the wrong horse. You are putting a bullet through your own heads. Most of you, since you are vaccinated, will likely be dead within two years so you do not really matter but know this. Justin is a product of his father whether he is Pierre or Fidel it matters not. He is a totalitarian and is simply a puppet, like Singh and half the Conservative Party to the Gates, Soros, Rockefeller, Schwab cabal. They have tricked you into injecting yourselves with this poison. Ever wonder why they fired so many nurses and doctors over this? Because they were seeing the impact of the vaccine on the population. The truth will come out. Have you got your kids injected yet you idiots?

    1. NOTE: I gave some considerable thought to publishing the comment, which I believe to be mistaken in almost all regards, including its claims about the activities of the Communist Party in Canada in the mid 20th Century. However, after consideration, I have relented because I believe it will prompt some interesting and hopefully informative responses and some worthwhile discussion. It has been edited to remove some needless profanity. Please keep your responses civil.

      The name used appears to be legitimate. A number of comments on this blog use other people’s names, including those of public figures living and dead. I try to catch and delete these whenever it happens. If readers feel they have had comments attributed to them that they did not make, please contact me at this website.

      DJC

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