The counter-protesters blockading the blockade supporters (Photo: Mark Wells).

A small group of counter-demonstrators in Edmonton yesterday managed to blockade a parade of “Freedom Convoy” supporters on their way to the city’s downtown for the better part of an hour mid-day yesterday. 

When Edmonton Police and Alberta Sheriffs arrived at the intersection of River Valley Road and Fortway Drive about half an hour after the 35 or so counter-protesters had stopped the line of pickup trucks, SUVs and four semi-trailers cabs in the eastbound lane of River Valley, they threatened the counter-protesters with application of Alberta’s draconian Critical Infrastructure Defence Act.

Counter protesters and stalled convoy supporters (Photo: Mark Wells).

After some discussion, the counter-protesters called it a day and the Honkies, as they have come to be known throughout Canada, continued on their way toward the Alberta Legislature up the hill.

Once there, many of the supporters of the occupation of Ottawa and blockades at various Canada-U.S. border crossings proceeded to ignore the injunction granted Wednesday by the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench to the City of Edmonton against the use of vehicle horns as part of the protest by the group. 

Considerable critical commentary on social media was directed at the Edmonton Police Service for appearing to favour one group of protesters over the other, especially since the counter-protesters are opposed to the border blockades like the one at Coutts that has been allowed to continue day after day by the RCMP and the Kenney Government. 

The police arrive, billy clubs ready (Photo: Mark Wells).

Commenters were quick to note that the peaceful counter-protesters were threatened with the Kenney Government’s likely unconstitutional Critical Infrastructure Defence Act and by police armed with billy clubs, while the threatening and sometimes violent blockaders who are costing the Alberta economy $44-million or more a day at Coutts can apparently do as they please. 

“One thing I learned at this afternoon’s counter protest is that the EPS is perfectly capable of enforcing the law … but when it comes to the convoy they choose not to,tweeted Mark Wells, one of the participants in the counter-protest. “What’s the difference between the two groups?”

“I have a legit question for all you Twitter lawyers,tweeted Senator Paula Simons, an Edmonton resident. “At what point does the failure or unwillingness of a police service to enforce a court ordered injunction cross over to contempt of court?” The thread of responses to her query is interesting. 

Jason Rockwell, one of the organizers of the counter-protest, tweeted that “our group showed Edmontonians, Albertans, and Canadians the push back against these alt-right convoys was possible. What it also did is reinforce the idea that the police are sympathizers with their cause.”

Fightback starts small, local, and with my friends and fellow activists,” Mr. Rockwell said. “It was a good day. Let’s have some more.”

Jason Rockwell (Photo: Mark Wells).

The EPS tried to explain its approach in a statement published on social media: “Due to safety concerns for both law enforcement and the public, it is not always safe to issue a ticket at the time of the alleged offence. Tickets can be issued in the hours or the days after an infraction occurs, based on evidence obtained at the time of the incident.”

The EPS said it issued 10 tickets during the noisy pro-convoy protest, and that approximately 60 more tickets will be mailed to vehicle owners. Nine tickets were for noise offences, they said. 

Counter-protesters at the scene reported that most of the convoyers were reasonably polite, but a few became extremely agitated at the thought of having to wait – which is, readers must surely agree, somewhat ironic. 

There were moments of humour, possibly unintended. One fellow, dressed as the North Saskatchewan River facsimile of Jack Sparrow, pirate of the Caribbean, engaged in a short exchange with the counter-protesters:

“Jack Sparrow” (Screenshot of Mark Wells video).

Sparrow: “You’re not gonna let them go?” 

Counter-protesters (shouting): No!

Sparrow (sounding angry): “So you’re literally going to do the exact same f*ckin’ thing?”

Counter-protesters: Yeah. 

Sparrow (suddenly cheerful): “OK. That’s cool.”

Lone voice as the pirate strode away: “Captain Jack Sparrow has spoken!” 

Blockaded blockade supporters watch and wait while traffic flows freely in the other direction (Photo: Mark Wells).

Join the Conversation

78 Comments

  1. I’m not sure the build up of protesters and counter protesters is healthy for society or our city in the long run, but I do see some important messages here in what happened today.

    Obviously, the first one is that not everyone supports the protesters. For the most part people here have silently endured the protests of recent weeks, but that doesn’t mean the public at large is supportive. It is not. In fact, people are starting to tire of it and weren’t really enthusiastic about it to begin with. The protesters have had an opportunity to get visibility for their messages and be heard, at this point it is starting to become an nuisance.

    Governments have been fairly clear about what they will do and will not do in response to these protesters, some more sympathetic than others. However, if the protesters expect a continuing occupation or blockade will force those recalcitrant, less sympathetic governments to capitulate to their demands, they are mistaken. They can hold their breath as long as they want, daddy is not going to change his mind. While they have some public support and sympathy, they definitely do not have enough to force these governments to accept their terms.

    To be fair the protesters in Edmonton have been better behaved that elsewhere. They have mostly just come for the weekend and the noise is mostly during day time hours. However, patience with repeated weekend gridlock downtown can start to wear thin. Inconveniencing the public too much can easily get attention, but it is not a good way to gain broader support.

    So, in the end a minority may have grievances they feel are valid and important, but our country made its decisions about how to deal with COVID over the last few years, including in an election where parties supporting vaccine mandates got majority support. Canada actually still is a free country, so people actually still don’t have to get vaccinated or wear masks if they don’t want to. However, that may mean some limitations on where they can go and what they can do for some period of time. So, they can make their choices, but they also have to accept responsibility for the consequences of those choices.

    This is the part that their signs don’t capture and why public support and sympathy is limited – with freedom also comes responsibility and consequences.

    1. The idea that submission to the scientifically baseless Covid measures is a matter of choice is a heavy-duty piece of authoritarian deception. Losing one’s job is “some limitations”? Being barred from public social and recreation activities indefinitely is “some limitations”? Get a grip.
      30.81% of Covid “active cases” are triple-vaccinated in Alberta. 43.93% of “active cases” are double-vaccinated.
      28.22% of hospitalized “cases” are triple-vaccinated. 36.08 of hospitalized “cases” are double-vaccinated.
      https://www.alberta.ca/stats/covid-19-alberta-statistics.htm#vaccine-outcomes

      So if you’re concerned for the “health” of our society, perhaps you might want to ask yourself why there are mandates giving people that super awesome freedom to take these vaccines that are painfully, glaringly, obviously useless, or to exercise their likewise super awesome freedom to lose their livelihoods.

      Every day that this freakshow continues, you Covidians sound more and more like Thatcherites. Fifty years of solid neoliberal corporate revanchism has produced completely captured state bodies that give us Mario Puzo’s “offers we can’t refuse” like taking the garbage product of Moderna, a private sector-public compulsion grift that harkens back to the glory days of Reagan’s arms build-up in defence of a non-existent Soviet threat.

      The Covid vaccines come right out of the US military-industrial complex. DARPA is a partner of both Moderna and Pfizer.

      Here’s your models for the Covid vaccines:
      “By the time Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger canceled the program in August, writing off $1.8 billion already spent on it and ordering the 65 delivered weapons dismantled for scrap, the program had acquired a special place in the lore of military ineptitude.

      The gun had become the butt of stories, some accurate, some apocryphal, of mishaps on the firing range, inflated costs, rigged tests and conflicts of interest.”
      https://www.nytimes.com/1985/12/02/us/demise-of-the-sgt-york-model-turns-to-dud.html

      “During the 1991 Gulf War, the public was led to believe the that the Patriot had near-perfect performance, intercepting 45 of 47 Scud missiles. The U.S. Army later revised that estimate down to about 50 percent — and even then, it expressed “higher” confidence in only about one-quarter of the cases. A pesky Congressional Research Service employee noted that if the Army had correctly applied its own assessment methodology consistently, the number would be far lower. (Reportedly that number was one — as in one lousy Scud missile downed.)”
      https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/03/28/patriot-missiles-are-made-in-america-and-fail-everywhere/

      You’re supporting unprecedented violation of people’s charter rights in the name of a non-existent public health emergency, which has thus far entailed submission to the craziest of batshit crazy rituals, masking children. It has also entailed workers being forced to leave their jobs or turn over private health information to their employers.
      The vaccine mandates are a level of magnitude worse, basically because they are unsafe and do not work and they absolutely are a contravention of the consensus arrived at in the Nuremberg trials.
      Apparently you think it’s okay for us to be made hostage to the corrupt-from-head-to-toe pharmaceutical industry. Good times.

      So perhaps you might think over just what constitutes a threat to the health of our “society”. Your catch-phrase about people having voted for parties that advocated for mandates reminds me of Hasbara “words that work” used to stifle discussion of Israeli apartheid. Which of the major parties advocated against the vaccine scam in the last election? Of course, the answer is none, so there was no democratic choice of mandates. Do you people ever run these slogans over in your heads before you repeat them?

      1. I’m guessing you didn’t include ICU admissions and death rates from the Alberta vaccine-outcomes link that you provided because they don’t support your rant.

        Perhaps you are the one needing to get a grip.

        1. Of course you’re guessing. That’s because Covidians do not operate using empirical evidence. The vaccines are not now, nor have they ever been, indicated for the prevention of admission to the ICU. The vaccines are indicated for the prevention of Covid, and they do not work. They do not prevent hospitalization with Covid, which is why 70% of Covid hospitalizations are vaccinated. The Alberta Government does not provide ICU data in the same manner as that for new, active and hospitalized cases. Rather, the ICU admissions are grouped from the last 120 days. 33% of all ICU Covid admissions in the last 120 days were vaccinated. As the portion of the vaccinated among all other categories of Covid case rises daily, it is more than safe to assume that the current rate of vaccinated ICU cases is higher than that.
          52% of Covid deaths in the last 120 days were vaccinated.

          Your information-free belief that the vaccines, which don’t prevent transmission, prevent ICU admissions is entirely baseless.

          As always, I ask Covidians to demonstrate the source of their beliefs about the vaccines.

        2. Couldn’t agree more. Murphy is often very selective with both facts and statistics to mislead and confuse. It is no surprise to me and other readers that he leaves out the most important metrics, as these would undermine his conspiracy inspired rants.

          As for facts, he does the same thing too. For example, he fails to mention that DARPA also invented the Internet, which turns out to be not only an optimal porn delivery mechanism but a perfect mechanism for delivering lies and falsehoods to unwitting gullible fools. No, wait. He is correct. DARPA is evil.

          1. Great use of logical fallacies to demonstrate your comprehensive inability to offer a reasoned counter-argument. High-five.
            DARPA’s mission is, according to them:
            “For sixty years, DARPA has held to a singular and enduring mission: to make pivotal investments in breakthrough technologies for national security.”
            https://www.darpa.mil/about-us/about-darpa

            If you want to characterize the advanced technology backbone of the people who killed 20% of North Korea’s population, literally poisoned the earth of South Vietnam, dropped more explosives on Laos than were used on Japan and Germany combined in the Second World War, lied their way into the destruction of Iraq in 2003, an act which constitutes the singular crime of aggressive war as defined at the Nuremberg trials, and are currently lying their way into a war in which they’ll fight to the last Ukrainian, as “evil”, who am I to argue with you?

            I’m sorry you’re confused, but I suspect that you’re not unfamiliar with that state.

      2. I wonder if you are a fan of that formerly well-regarded leftist journo, Glenn Greenwald, who, alas has now become a fawning sycophant to and frequent guest of T(r)ucker Carlson. Sad. Another example of how leftist conspiracy nuts somehow merge with right-wing conspiracy nuts.

          1. Just trying to point out the obvious: that sometimes very bright, well-read and articulate individuals who start off with reasonable positions can get sucked down rabbit holes of misinformation and end up on the completely wrong side of an issue, supporting their positions with all sorts of nonsense.

            It certainly wasn’t a rebuttal. Your own nonsensical post provides its own rebuttal.

        1. What are the circumstances under which you’re around “people like” me? Here’s a good one for you Covidians to explain.
          There have been 167 deaths, as of February 10th, in people under the age of 50 in Alberta with Covid. This figure does not account for the role of comorbidities in these deaths, but for the sake of argument, we’ll use it.
          Starting in April, 2020, there has been an increase in weekly mortality in the 0-44 age group in Alberta that averages approximately 15 excess deaths per week. This reflects the average weekly mortality in 2020 and 2021 compared to the average of the five years prior to Covidmania. That is some 1500 excess deaths during Covidmania in that age group, something approaching ten times the number of “Covid deaths”.

          You can use the stats, just like me, to provide evidence that disproves my crazy claim. I can’t wait to see the results of your analysis!

          https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1310076801&pickMembers%5B0%5D=3.1&cubeTimeFrame.startDaily=2021-09-04&cubeTimeFrame.endDaily=2021-10-05&referencePeriods=20210904%2C20211005

      3. No, covid has nothing to do with missiles, patriot or otherwise, and no the only vaccines did not come out of the DARPA. Russia developed their own. China developed their own, CUBA developed the people’s vaccine.

        Is the us military and security state incredibly powerful, Machiavellian, and draconian? Obviously. Does that mean this is all a fake conspiracy? Obviously not.

        Ask the six million dead folks what they think of our public health measures. Oops, too late.

      4. If you were willing to put half the work into accepting responsibility for the things you choose to believe that you put into concocting fantasies to justify doing what you wanted to do anyway, I think you might see things differently. I totally get being fed up with covid restrictions – 30,000+ Canadians are dead, and the vast majority of those deaths could easily have been prevented if the minority of Canadians who refused to keep their neighbours safe had shown an iota of social responsibility.

    2. Edmontonians can register their thoughts about Alberta anti-vaxx farmers who come to Edmonton to unlawfuly protest at this web site. Alberta farmers were bragging about their illegal use of subsidized fuel which Alberta taxpayers are mandated to fund.

      https://www.albertafarmexpress.ca/

      I am still curious about the funding of the parade of 20 BRAND NEW John Deere farm machines on Feb 5th in Edmonton. John Deere, who apparently supports unlawful anti-vaxxer protests, seems reluctant to take any comments from non-customers. There is one major dealer in the Emdonton area. There is a John Derre distribution center in south Edmonton. John Deer Canada does not take comments from non-customers.

      Some of the opreators of this John Deere euipment used tha machine as a weapon to intimadte and assualt. These anti-vaxxers are emboldened because they knsw the Edmonoton Police are on their side and will not enforce any traffic laws against the anti-vaxxer farmers.

  2. Regardless of how many injunctions are put into force, there is no way that these demonstrations will end; short of an extremely violent incident, like, for example, an explosive device in the middle of the Convoy. Until that horrific event occurs, what Canadians are witnessing is the complete impotence of their government and courts, as well as the absolute disinterest of the police.

    The only blockade that was cleared was the one on the Ambassador Bridge. But action did not occur until the it became clear that the reach of the US government was able to take out the blockade if Canada was unable (or unwilling) to do so.

    “Now is the winter of our discontent…” However, there maybe no “glorious summer by this sun of York” in the foreseeable future.

    1. It certainly comes as no surprise that the police would appear to be sitting with the protesters.

      If you’ve ever seen police in riot gear up close they are pretty much invulnerable to anything except high calibre firearms or explosives, So they’re concern for safety is difficult to understand unless it’s a touching desire to coddle the so-called truckers with their chaotic miasma of right wing grievance.

      You can see how people might be grow suspicious as to where the sympathies and loyalties of the police truly lie.

    2. The anti-vaxxers appear to want violence but are too cowardly to start it. They use their children as shields after all.

      Some of them couged and spit in my face at the Alberta legislature yesterday though. One of them was that dangerous lunatic with the giant syringe who spit in my face in front of Alberta sherriffs, who did nothing. At the time, one of the anti-vaxxers claimed to have video of me spitting in an anti-vaxxer’s face but declined to show it to the sherriffs and walked off and while the sherrifs detained me, they affirmatively confirmed that they support the anti-vaxxers.

    3. Interesting and resonant reference to Richard III, a play about a dissembling, manipulative tyrant who is enabled by the craven folks who surround him.

  3. It seems to me that protesters against the “convoy” could use a legal tactic, which would not be a blockade. “Pedestrians have the right of way in a crosswalk unless a peace officer or traffic control device directs otherwise. This means that even if the crosswalk is unmarked, vehicles must stop and yield to pedestrians.” (Alberta government website)

    Of course if those counter protesters were to concentrate on only one crosswalk, police would quickly “direct otherwise”.

    However, there are many crosswalks on “convoy” routes that are unregulated. Five or six counter protesters on each of those crosswalks utilizing it going back and forth would certainly slow that convoy down. Even slower if a plethora of elderly pedestrians who require assistance with walkers or wheelchairs appeared in number.

    But that is just me thinking out of the box.

    1. I do like your idea, John, but as I mulled it over I realized that, unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of non-signaled intersections in the approach to the leg, which is a deal breaker. As soon as traffic lights get involved protestors would have to step outside of the law by crossing on a don’t walk.

    2. There is a 30 second crosswalk controlled by a red light at 97 Ave and 102 Street. It seems to cycle quickly.

      This might be a good place for a counter-protest if the anti-vaxxers have the guts to show up again.

      One trucker was prepared to beat me up for setting it off 3 or 4 times. He was coming for me but the light changed and his driver called him back.

      I LOLd.

  4. “The only blockade that was cleared was the one at the Ambassador Bridge.”
    The combined forces of Windsor, London, OPP tactical squad and a minor RCMP presence displayed restraint and patience, made some arrests and simply waited out the protesters. To my untrained eye they seemed to do it right.
    Will it last? Like the behaviour of the the virus, anyone’s guess.

  5. I caught a video clip on Chris Hayes’ program “All In” that showed a Republican gathering where they pledged their allegiance to the American flag but not just any American flag. It was a flag that was at the insurrection of January 6 thereby consecrating the flag and I assume all that bowed to it.

    Recall the failed 1923 Beer Hall Putsch by Adolph Hitler and his Nazi party, a failed attempt to overthrow the Government in Munich. 16 Nazi members died and Hitler and some enablers got 5 years in the can for Treason. He only served a year, spending his time putting the finishing touches to Mein Kampf. Out of that failed coup attempt came the
    Blutfahne or Blood Flag. It became the greatest, almost Holy symbol of the Nazi Party being used to consecrate new flags by the solemn act of the Fuhrer touching the corners of the flags together.

    When I see these Trump rallys’ and MAGA gatherings all I see are flags. American flags,Confederate flags,Trump 2020 flags and on and on. When I see the Freedom Convoy protests all I see are flags. Canadian flags, Fuc$ Trudeau flags,Confederate flags etc.

    The parrallels should not be lost on anyone.

  6. Good for these counter protesters to speak boldly against this nonsense by these truckers. While out running errands yesterday, I noticed some of these trucker protesters driving by. One had a megaphone in the car he was in and was shouting Freedom! I also saw an older woman showing support for them, a man walking by carrying a small Canadian flag, and another younger man walking carrying a Canadian flag around. They were on a busy street. I also saw and spoke to a woman at a place I was at and she was not impressed with these trucker protesters. She told me this. When she spotted one going down a less crowded street, she gave them the one finger salute, expressing her disgust with them. These trucker protesters were encouraged by the pretend conservatives and Reformers, and now these pretend conservatives and Reformers are speaking out against them. This is so contradictory. The trucker protesters seem relentless, but they should have been stopped already.

  7. If these protests are being organized and led by an assorted collection of alt right wingers, fascists , white supremacists and just plain nasties as many claim then sad to say they probably have a better hand on the pulse of the people these days. Clearly the ranks of these protests are being swelled with ordinary citizens who after two years of restrictions have had enough and want a return to normal.

    One of the most astonishing things to see is the way the progressive liberal left have become shills for the vaccines and the vaccine makers who btw have paid billions in fines for fraudulent marketing. And Pfizer has just announced they doubled their profit from last year. Yes I know it’s all about “the science.” We must trust the science etc. Well, the science says the vaccines are no longer effective. The proof of this is Pfizer is hard at work on a new vaccine that targets omicron.

    1. Please do not confuse the vaccines with the manufacturers of them. I am just as disgusted as the next person by the obscene profits that the drug manufacturers are receiving from vaccines that were developed largely with public money.

      The vaccines are safe and effective. Granted, they are perhaps not as effective as we hope or would like. Notwithstanding, their weakened effectiveness can be ascribed to the mutability of the virus, which is a consequence of failing to get more shots in arms for the entire population of the world more quickly, which, in turn, brings us back to damage caused by the greed of drug companies and monopolies.

      If you are so concerned about the drug company profits and its effects of the health of the population, please consider signing this online petition organized by Médecins sans frontières to end profiteering from vaccines for the greater good of all.

      https://action.doctorswithoutborders.ca/lives-over-profits

      Here is some more background information:

      https://theintercept.com/2021/05/12/intercepted-covid-vaccine-intellectual-property-waiver/
      https://khn.org/news/vaccine-pioneers-basic-research-scientists-laid-groundwork-for-billion-dollar-pharma-products/

      The ranks are being swelled, as far as I can tell, by a minority of people who have largely been misled by family and friends, social media, Fox News, etc.

    2. Heya Ronmac,

      You assert: “Clearly the ranks of these protests are being swelled with ordinary citizens who after two years of restrictions have had enough and want a return to normal.”

      I ask you: Where is proof that these anti-vaxx protestor’s numbers are “swelling”? There was a huge dwindling in participants between Feb 5th and Feb 12th in Edmonton. May I remind you, Ronmac, that having the loudest voice does not mean you “win”, at least in the adult world.

      You assert: “One of the most astonishing things to see is the way the progressive liberal left have become shills for the vaccines and the vaccine makers who btw have paid billions in fines for fraudulent marketing.”

      I ask you: Where is proof of all this “astonishing” liberal left shilling? Would it be similar to shilling such as the former American president shilling for hydroxychloroquin or prominent Canadian conservative, Derek “Commander Waterford” Sloan shilling for ivermectin (also produced by big pharma, BTW)? Please enumerate and contrast the differences. Where is your evidence of fraudulent COVID vaccine marketing that has resulted in “billions of fines”?

      You assert: “Well, the science says the vaccines are no longer effective. ”

      I ask you: Again, you post without a scintilla of evidence. I have to assume, at this point, you are just making this up.

      Sorry Ronmac, you gotta up your game if you want to be taken seriously.

      1. Ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine were extant, readily and cheaply available medicines. There was a clearly demonstrable campaign to falsely characterize ivermectin as “horse medicine”. It is on the WHO list of essential medicines. Hydroxychloroquine was likewise characterized as quackery, but it was viewed as a potentially “potent inhibitor of SARS coronavirus infection and spread”, which made it a likely candidate for testing as a Covid treatment.
        While neither may actually be effective Covid treatments, there was no reason for them to be dismissed as “Drumpf” magic, except for the requirements for Emergency Use Authorizations of the vaccines.
        The people who die “from Covid” get bacterial pneumonia, which is what really sends them across the River Styx. Ivermectin may play a role in managing that aspect. Unfortunately a propaganda campaign was conducted which basically consisted of the claims that it can’t work because it’s not an anti-viral, and it’s also horse medicine.
        Feel free to counter any of the above points.

    3. Buddy you need to log off and go outside for a bit, you’re losing your mind.

      It’s ok that there’s rotating fascist protest because they’re doing good marketing?

      Maybe it has more to do with you enjoying their message, identifying with it, and feeling like they’re speaking for you?

      That seems more likely based on the weeks of posts you’ve made about how this is all a fake liberal conspiracy to get people to wear disposable cloth masks for a few minutes a day.

    4. I think when you posted that first sentence, you came very close to saying the quiet part out loud.

      It’s not about “science” it’s about cause and effect. If I walk around licking doorknobs and spreading germs, I will make others sick, and they, in turn, will make others sick. This is no more mysterious than watching two billiard balls collide.

  8. I biked through the Legislative area on Saturday, 2 weeks ago, when the first protest happened, and then again yesterday, taking advantage of the impediment-free separated bike lanes.

    Like commenter Dave said, the participants appeared to be well behaved. That said, I really found the collective display of stupidity depressing. Five people with an IQ of 40 does not equal one genius.

    Yesterday I was struck by the significant reduction of the number if semi tractors participating. I only saw one after the realization dawned on me and I started consciously looking. I wonder if the Edmonton protest has devolved to just bored people looking for something to do on a Saturday.

  9. I wonder if the counter protestors would have been better off if they were all on bikes slowing the convoy down to bike speed. The difference would be that traffic would still be moving.

  10. I wonder why Edmonton Police Service members think they can lie their way through their display of anti-vaxx complicity?

    Looks like the low double digit police IQs start with chief McFee.

    1. Ooooh! Ooooh! I know this one! It’s because they lie their way through everything, and nobody has ever made them face consequences before, and their lives just keep getting better.

      Kinda like the insurrectionists.

  11. I can appreciate to police’s concern about safety when it comes to ticketing convoy participants. That said, a mantra that comes to mind is ‘justice must not only be done, it must be seen to be done’ and the police need to make sure we see justice done.

    One of the valid criticisms of photo radar is that tickets are issued to the owner of the vehicle, as opposed to the driver, as the machine that writes the ticket has no way of knowing who the driver was. As a result there are no demerits included in the ticket. Since the police said they will be mailing tickets to the vehicle owners, it appears there will be no demerits handed out in this situation either.

  12. To : Just me ….You have to think about the sick mind that would deliberately tell their supporters to bring their families to this, because “us nice Canadians would be horrified if…” and they don’t care ,when you have the slime posting about targeting schools ,it terrifies parents, but that’s what they want, it’s all “bullies” ever do ,intimidation, and when the “victims” stand up,they back off, but if you don’t solve the problem, they crawl back under cozy little rocks and plot how to get back at you NEXT time.
    You have to ask, who was pushing so hard to open up the borders, whose & what plans were thwarted in October, in the US and here in Nov, people seem to have forgotten that the “truckers ” were given 3mths to get vaccinated, why didn’t they start then to protest. Because someone saw an opportunity ,exploited it and when the mostly Asian truckers in BC said they were going to hold a rally because of road conditions, then it was gk time ,
    And all those gullible people who think they are going to be compensated, Bullies take, keep taking, they sure do not give back

    Side bar to Ranger:No you are not a windbag/politician , I understood you easily , and .. got the point …the problem nowadays is that Twiiter has desimated the English language as we learnt it. The last time I read a paper I came across 42 spelling mistakes ,and if you use the us dictionary in Canada, don’t be surprised if the word doesn’t exist, but ours has it with the definition.
    As Rick Mercer said ,and the sentiment amongst the mob that if we’re scared ,then just stay home—- so it’s off to the icebergs in Saskatchewan for us….but I for one am not going quietly .

  13. While the true conservatives talk about how stupid these Reformers are they continue to prove it. After Erin O’Toole proved what a fool he was praising these trucker criminals now conservative candidate Pierre Poilierve finds it smart to go against the wishes of the vast majority of Canadians and praises them also. Proving once and for all you don’t want him as prime minister. We don’t need another right wing extremists like Donald Trump catering to criminals.

    1. ALAN K. SPILLER: While walking around yesterday, I also saw saw couple of trucks belonging to the protesters parked outside of their homes. They clearly aren’t that smart.

      1. These are the same folks who put decals and flags all over their truck so you’ll know just exactly what brand of jerk they are, it’s not surprising they’re doing little to hide it.

        Be a shame if something happened to their vehicles while they were unattended

      2. Anonymous One of the guys at coffee this morning said that the liked Pierre Poilierve until I pointed out that he was nothing but another well trained former Calgarian Reformer who at the age of 16 was selling Reform Party memberships for Jason Kenney. Now he is making a fool of himself trying to become leader of the conservatives while he proves he isn’t prime minister material. I doubt conservatives will be dumb enough to elect a guy who made the mistake of praising these truckers , but you never know. They elected Reformers Andrew Scheer and Erin O’Toole didn’t they?

        This mess in southern Alberta certainly proves is how stupid people can be. My wife and I spent many years living and working in rural Alberta and never once thought farmers were so easy to fool, by these right wing extremists , apparently we were wrong. They are so screwed up they can’t even tell the reporters what the so-called freedom is they are yapping about. Even if Trudeau opened the border without proof of vaccination you can bet Biden wouldn’t.

        One senior I saw on tv announced that they had weapons and they knew how to use them and another said they were going to attack parliament like the Americans did the White House and now the police have found this cache of guns in southern Alberta.

        1. ALAN K. SPILLER: You are correct. As someone who comes from a farming background in Alberta, I can’t understand how these rural Albertans are so easily duped by these pretend conservatives and Reformers. These pretend conservatives and Reformers, and the Liberal turned Reformer, Ralph Klein, did things such as selling the Canadian Wheat Board to Saudi Arabia, when two thirds of farmers opposed this move, close down rural hospitals, done by Ralph Klein, and give over $400 million in monetary aid to a couple of American owned meat packing plants, instead of helping the farmers and ranchers, during the BSE crisis, which was also done by Ralph Klein. The UCP still continues to have no regards for rural residents, and yet these rural residents still support the UCP. How foolish can they be? Where’s the sense in this?

          1. In fairness, Anonymous, I don’t think you can say Ralph Klein had anything much to do with the same of the Canadian Wheat Board. DJC

  14. It’s hard to understand why noisy truck protests are allowed, but quiet counter-protests are not, and are met with the full force of the law. Perhaps it is because the counter-protestors are on foot and in fewer numbers. First-hand accounts from Edmonton reported that police and counter-protestors were out in almost equal numbers. If the police were concerned about counter-protestors being injured, they would not have threatened them with charges under the Critical Infrastructure Defence Act. Never mind enforcing a court injunction for noise. The Edmonton Police Service attitude seems to be, “Forget about it!”

    Police at the border in Windsor have managed to clear most of the blockaders with a strategy of warnings, towing, arrests and using police cars with flashing lights to corral the herd. Police were out in great numbers. The auto industry is a powerful lobby group and this is the most critical border for them. Doug Ford declared an emergency only after industry representatives and U.S. politicians spoke out.

    The approach at other blocked borders is quite different. Yesterday, border crossing services at Coutts were withdrawn by the federal government. All border traffic is being redirected to other crossings. Until now, the 24-hour crossing had remained open, despite the blockade. This closure might have been a purely practical move, due to difficulty moving staff in and out. However, a side effect is that the Coutts blockade has been rendered meaningless. They are blocking a highway to nowhere. Police could move in now and surround them. Will they? This border does not seem to have elicited as much reaction from the meat industry as Windsor did with the auto industry, so that’s not likely.

    We hear next to nothing from Emerson, but near Vancouver a new blockade sprang up yesterday. The Pacific Highway blockade in Surrey remains in place today.

    Ottawa remains out of control. Blockaders tore down the fence surrounding the War Memorial yesterday. It was all about Rowdies in hot tubs and a street party with a DJ. Do any of these people know why they’re there any more?

    In summary, we can conclude that next to nothing will be done about any of this unless our neighbors complain about the impact on them. They are not concerned about our nation’s capital or Edmonton. Neither are our provinces’ premiers. Jason Kenney announced through his media minion that he’ll have to spend more time in seclusion to focus on his leadership review in April. So unleash the Covid, stir up the radicals at the border with dog whistles, then run away and hide. How very typical of him. This mess seems to be working for him.

  15. Parody news website, Western Freakshow, run by disgraced alt-right politician and avid sounder, Derek Fildebandt, published yet another ridiculous piece attempting to distract their paying suckers from Canadian conservatives’ failures, of all the impotent alt-right parties.

    https://westernstandardonline.com/2022/02/poilievre-to-trudeau-the-power-trip-is-over/

    Federal alt-right pipsqueak, Pollievre, smelling quick rube cash, popped up to point out how the Liberals had a couple of dissenting voices, which is highly amusing, coming days after Skippy’s own alt-right colleagues axed the hapless O’Tool from their leadership, installing bona fide alt-right MAGAt Candy Bergen to run the smouldering remains of their party, which has acquired a Seinfeldian level of lunatic, alt-right stench.

    Lil Pierre is quoted as saying to our Prime Minister, “Do not allow your spite towards the trucker protest to stand in the way of doing the right things. This is not about saving face. Your pride and ego come after the public interest.”

    The thing is, conservatives actually believe adults are motivated by spite, pride and ego, while only right wing politicians are observed behaving with those repulsive characteristics.

    Alt-right projection is real, and amusing.

  16. Couer de bois Jack Sparrow is great. Another good one that counter protesters are doing to the honkies on zello is priceless. They’re blasting Canadian artist Grant Macdonald’s gay cowboy porno metal album Ram Ranch as they try to coordinate. Macdonald stated he was happy his music could be used to support science.

  17. Many US commentators seem shocked that supposedly polite, deferential Canadians are shutting down the national capital, blocking border crossings, and disrupting international trade. The protesters are a small, atypical portion of the populace, but there are enough of them to cause considerable mayhem. Moreover, they have recognized that motor vehicles can be powerful “force multipliers.”

    Canada’s population is about 37 million people (one-ninth of US population) of whom about 85 percent are at least two-jab vaccinated (compared to 65 percent in US). The broadest definition of the unvaccinated “base” for current Canadian protests is therefore 5.5 million.

    The Canadian labour force (employed plus unemployed-looking-for-work) is about 22 million. Vaccination rate for Canada’s age 18-65 population, most of labour force, is also about 85 percent—rate is much higher for older age groups, much lower for under-18 population. A narrower definition of the “base” would thus be the 3.3 million workers potentially affected by vaccination mandates.

    The hardcore “base” for protests encompasses the 844,000 who voted for the far-right, anti-vaxx People’s Party in the September 2021 federal election—4.9 percent of the electorate, spread too thinly to win any seats in Parliament. The Conservative Party, which won 33.7 percent of the vote and is now the Official Opposition, was pro-vaccine but did not endorse workplace mandates.

    Let’s say 10 percent of the hardcore base or 1 percent of the softer supporters are upset enough to take public action. Those proportions would account for the 50,000 to 100,000 who may be participating in, supporting, and funding the current protests across Canada. They may be no more than 0.3 percent of the population, but there are enough of them to cause significant disruption. Many of the same far-right actors were involved in the 2019 “yellow vest” protests that caused disruptions across Canada, and their experience undoubtedly contributed to the organization, strategies, and tactics in the current events. The groups have their strongest support in rural areas, especially the three Prairie provinces.

    The other significant factor in the current protests is the use of motor vehicles as weapons—as common as tire irons, as lethal as AK-47s—which gives them a potential “arsenal” of almost 24 million cars and light trucks, 600,000 medium trucks, and 500,000 heavy trucks, including about 200,000 tractor-trailers or “semis.” About 200,000 drivers work in the trucking industry, and a similar number drive trucks for utilities, governments, and the agricultural sector. About 90 percent of Canadian truck drivers are reportedly at least two-dose vaccinated, but that means up to 40,000 truck drivers are unvaccinated and thus vulnerable to losing their jobs due to mandates. The latter work-affected drivers are a significant factor in the current protests.

    The effectiveness of truck blockades is further multiplied by the unwillingness of the relatively few heavy vehicle towing companies to assist police in removing vehicles. Some tow companies and drivers support the protests, while others have been threatened and coerced. At some point, it may become necessary to mobilize the Canadian Armed Forces, if only for their tank transporters and field engineering equipment.

    The vast majority of Canadians, and their political leaders, are still polite and deferential. This national virtue is now being tested by minorities within minorities.

    I was UPI’s Ottawa Bureau Chief in October 1970 when Trudeau the Elder faced a somewhat similar test by violent minorities within minorities in the Quebec separatist movement. It was shocking to see soldiers with automatic weapons guarding Parliament Hill and public buildings, equally shocking to see mass arrests and a months-long suspension of civil liberties. Yet only 497 individuals were arrested under the War Measures Act, of whom 435 were eventually released without charge. According to a Gallup Poll in December 1970, the harsh measures were supported by 89 percent of English-speaking Canadians and 86 percent of French-speaking Canadians.

    “Hegel remarks somewhere that all great, world-historical facts and personages occur, as it were, twice. He has forgotten to add: the first time as tragedy, the second as farce.”
    ― Karl Marx, The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, 1852

    Musical accompaniment: “Crybaby Caravan”
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsWLAjQHXqI

  18. I like quotes.
    “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” – Desmond Tutu

    “When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.” – Edmund Burke

    “Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.” – John Stuart Mill

    “A child of five could understand this. Send someone to fetch a child of five.” – Groucho Marx

    Cheers and thanks for the blog 🙂

  19. The counter protestors in Edmonton are protesting just like the “truckers”. good for them. Having demonstrated at a number of large events in B.C. in the 1970s/80s, there were permits, organization, etc. goal, don’t piss off the general public. The anti vaccer truckers don’t seem to care about the general public or the country and its economy. its all about them. reminds me of a phase toddlers go through. However the police need to understand, these truckers are adults and they need to understand the game rules of society.

    it is good to see counter protestors. Lets officials and “trucker” protestors know, there are a lot of people who don’t agree with them.

    as to the police not engaging the “truckers” but rather the counter protestors, not surprising. These protests are working for some one and some thing and the police aren’t going to upset them. It could be they don’t want the law suites of the Toronto type after the G-20 protests, but again the G-20 protestors were protesting “the money, the corporate greed, etc.”. those who run the world never like to do that and their servants, the politicians will do what they want.

    these protests could have been disbanded earlier and easily. Some one isn’t doing their job. There is also the matter of, while the protestors are busy keeping the country watching, they’re not looking at other things they might find interesting. Look at the “truckers”, don’t look at the homeless, don’t look at the lack of health care, don’t look at the 2K dead due to fent. in B.C. and the list goes on. these “truckers” and their associates are terrorists and it needs to stop.

    1. The satisfying part is how so many of the dim protestors identified their home rural locales so that the 2022 Alberta Best Protestin’ Summer Ever Tour itinerary will be easy to organize.

      See seein’ ya, rural Albertans.

  20. As has been said before, these are evidently people who have been left stranded by the change in the oil industry. Too few oil-service and well drilling jobs to go around now. Notice the older vehicles and almost obsolete big rigs along with the “slumming it at the rodeo” cowboy hats. Working people and small holders who actually believed they were part of the middle class, now bewildered by the corrosive forces of globalization they blindly voted for. More to be pitied for being so easily manipulated by fascist elements. Angry and betrayed by those they once supported.

    But let’s not ignore Jack Sparrow and his group. Labouring under the same class delusions as the Honkers, minds firmly fixed on the symbols of social justice like identity and sexual politics, while ignoring the one thing essential to all social justice – a living wage.

    Both groups clad in clothing made by the slave labour which undermines global wage rates and all driving vehicles made by labour increasingly under pressure from the oligarchs empowered by captured governments around the world. All of them thinking they have agency and are free, when in fact both sides dance to the tunes of the fascist oligarchs.

    “Beware of this deadly mix: oligarchic economics and racist, nationalist populism” says Robert Reich, a former US Secretary of Labor. Heard it before.
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/feb/13/us-republicans-oligarchs-economics-nationalism

    1. Making a lot of assumptions about folks you don’t know here, what makes you think these folks aren’t committed to a living wage ?? How do you know they’re not hardcore communists dedicated to seizing the means ? You’re the only person reading this blog that understands the class struggle ?

      Then you finish with CLINTONS labour secretary ? That’s your left position?

      1. Easy there Little Bird: The simple point I was trying to make is that unregulated capitalism is socially corrosive and all sides are its hapless victims. Even Clinton’s former labour secretary, who was complicit in the later stages of that deregulation now recognizes the problem. Most of the economy was globalized in the 1880 to 1914 period and that ended in war and depression. Roosevelt’s New Deal regulated those global giants in the public interest creating 40 years of imperfect first-world prosperity. Regan, Thatcher, and Mulroney tore that down and released industrial feudalism on us once again. Regulation of big business in the public interest worked, but the real question for the left is: “is such regulation now possible in a democracy dominated by low information social media?”

        1. globalists started world war 1 is certainly a take, but It’s a really not the best one one. WW1 was a war for empire, which is why Russia pulled out IMMEDIATELY following the revolution. The new deal was largely an attempt (led by Roosevelt, correct) to buy off the American working class so they wouldn’t join Europe in Socialist revolution. These same folks then financed the rise of fascism in Europe as a bullwark against Socialism.

          It’s worth thinking about whether someone like Reich warrants listening to at all, or if they’ve been a part of the slow boiling of the left that has left us in this state to begin with. Do you think we have another hundred years to go through this process of slight reform followed by reactionary austerity from the right or should we be talking about something else ? You also used the phrase “social justice” in your previous post, which suggests you think these folks who came out to shut down this fascist adjacent protest did not have an economic critique, and were merely SJW’s. This might not have been your intent but you also mentioned globalism in your second post so I’m a little confused as to what position your advocating.

          All capitalism is corrosive, it seeks constant deregulation, and fascism is is bedfellow. I’m rather wary of anyone who thinks that globalization is itself the enemy, when a stateless classless society is what the left has been pushing for since before any of us were born.

          For the record, fascism is bad, and anyone who puts their own safety on the line to try and stop it is my allay, even well meaning centrist liberals who maybe don’t have perfect politics. Reich, Clintons, et all ? Scum.

  21. Here we go , CTV news , hundreds of guns stolen in Peterborough…it has been a relief being able to discuss and vent with you …Take Care ..

  22. Welcome to Alberta! What a disgrace.

    Here, law abiding counter-protesters are treated like criminals, and terrorists blocking the border are treated like law-abiding citizens.

    This is fascism folks!

  23. Okay, so PMJT is close to invoking the Emergencies Act. Are we at a “just watch me” moment?

    Not really.

    We are living in a different age. Alt-right mindsets engaging white supremacy and pretty everything indecent are everywhere. Even the police and the military appear to have flirtations with these mindsets. So, there is some question as to how far and how potent the government’s response will be?

    We are not on the precipice of a far-reaching police state. The government is disorganized in its mission and its actions.

    Personally, I am not opposed to a Mussolini-style of regime of police state. The trains will run on time, no will get out of line, the sound of marching jackboots is always impressive, not to mention I’d like to see Trudeau go full Il Duce just for the drama.

  24. The reason these folks are getting away with this is because they are agitating for the capitalist class. If there was a wealth redistribution goal behind this, or literally any challenge to the further dominance of finance capital these people would be getting their heads bashed in but good.

    The enemy of capital is organized labour, not racism, that’s a feature, not a bug.

  25. It will be kind of ironic if the AUPE, through their challenge of Bill 1, that gets these charges thrown out I think the union has a fairly good constitutional basis for their argument. I guess we will see how that plays out and if they get their day in court.

  26. One thing that should come out of this: any police officer running their mouth about the “thin blue line” should be laughed off the stage.

  27. Given the obvious, which is that on the whole, police seem to identify with the Honkers and act accordingly and against their presumed oaths of office to obey orders from legitimate civil authority, and that the effete among them have given material aid to planning the whole miserable shebang with the lunatics like Tamara Lich and the bigoted white racists haw hawing at their wonderfulness in Ottawa, it’s about time the Emergencies Act was invoked by the federal government.

    And Geez, wonder of wonders! Snapped out of a dead-of-winter doze, Jagmeet Singh finally surfaced to add his two cents worth on the situation. It was boilerplate blah blah, completely forgettable. Talk about missing in action, the NDP has been blowing bubbles of nothing for a couple of weeks on the Honkers so far as I’ve been able to discern.

    So predictably, the prairie province premiers said they didn’t want no damn federal Emergency measures in their sweet abodes of baackward social thought and crap handling of the pandemic. Too bad. We live in a country called Canada, not the minor potentates of balkanized right wing provinces who do not get to decide national policy for the majority, thanks all the same. Seen enough of that horsesh!t from the police who seem to think people elected them to turn a blind eye on Honkers.

    Spurred on by the not-a-secret about to be proclaimed-in-effect Emergencies Act, Alberta RCMP near Coutts awoke from their hibernation and issuance of wimpy statements like “We told them they had to move but they paid us no attention” and started to do their job clearing out the trucks and finding guess what? Arms and ammo! You could have knocked me over with a feather when I heard that! They were actually armed, these Honkers? Wow! Who would have guessed? Maybe kenney told the Mounties they’d have to look lively if he wasn’t to look like a complete fool in opposing the Emergency Act for his crybaby anti-vaxx supporters. Not supposed to work that way of course, but what the hell HAS worked properly these last two weeks? Not a damn thing.

    Bloc leader what’s his face said the Emergencies Act shouldn’t be applicable in Quebec, saying the Surete had been able to control Honkers adequately. You know what? He’s right compared to Ontario west. All Quebec has to ponder is the worst Covid death rate among provinces in Canada, but ten minutes of Gallic logic will come up with an excuse for that petty slip of governance and the nation’s crappiest old folks homes, plus a new reason why Muslims should be discriminated against in their choice of clothing. Discriminatory smugness doesn’t begin ro adequately describe Quebec.

    Skippy, the whining weasel of the SoCon CPC MPs, said something or other but nobody gives a damn what he thinks.

    All the conditions are present to end the occupation and then do f**k all about the police and the crap way this situation has been handled by everyone in “power”, except the mayor of Windsor, ON. He seems to actually be awake. Well, doing bugger all but letting pols lie like troopers without being publicly brought to account IS the Canadian way, after all.

  28. Since they found some weapons at Coutts, Kenney popped out of his burrow in full law’n’order mode. I’m surprised he didn’t dress up in a police or military uniform.

  29. Hmmm, just had an amusing idea, was this your way of pointing out someone with narrow views ??? If so, I approve and will put it into consideration when reading.

  30. I wouldn’t normally condone this, but.

    To whomever hacked into the give send go site ..that is the funniest bit of news we’ve had in the past 18 days , and kudos to the choice of songs

  31. One of my neighbours (on 4,000 ha island w/ 1100 residents, everybody here is a neighbour) posted on FB a couple days ago that she was “disappointed with people.” That’s all.

    She didn’t have to say why. I think I know what she was talking about: a pick-up with a sheet of plywood painted white with slogans in red letters exhorting Canadians to ‘stand up for freedom!’—presumably in support of the “Freedom Convoys” —had just driven by on my short suburban street, Saturn’s Day morning, followed by a gaggle of cars—less than ten—all honking their horns—maybe headed for the PPC candidate’s house who lives a block away. I saw that pickup parked up by the generals store on Freya’s Day so cars coming up the ferry hill’d be sure to see the homemade billboard in the back.

    Anyway, after reading her post and the comments I was struck by two things. First was how many concurred with her without once mentioning exactly anything about the convoy protests. —except for me: I did say that people who use their children as human shields put their kids in even more danger than they’re already in (and I didn’t mean from Covid: I meant from their parents).

    Second, it occurred to me that with 94% of us Islanders fully vaccinated, that contingency of “freedom fighters” who disturbed an otherwise quiet, sunny morning driving around honking, represent a tiny minority of us. Then I remembered BC is also the most vaccinated province of all (well, it figures: we also have the longest life expectancy, the fewest smokers, the most yoga studios, legions of Tai Chi practitioners and cyclists, &c). Then it also occurred to me that the truckers who protest the cross-border protocols, being a small minority of all truckers so-employed, must also be a very small proportion of all truckers in the country. And the more metrics I see, the more it seems a small minority is making all this fuss and disturbing the peace, blocking commerce, demanding overthrow of a government we just elected a few months ago. Now that’s gotta be a pretty small minority. Oh yeah!—that PPC candidate also got a very small minority of votes in this riding. Is there a pattern here?

    Still, so many have gotten their knickers in a bunch over this—which kinda jibes with the fact that so many have sort of semi-subscribed to some of the convoys’ complaints—kinda sorta. Both sentiments are being fooled by an illusion of size affected by the sheer volume of noise and outrageousness of verbal assaults on decency, democracy, and public safety. If this thing were really so popular, they wouldn’t have to resort to the tactics they have.

    It’s clearer than ever that in order to compensate for their popular lightness, organizers have been planning this protest for a long time, timed it for optimal sympathy (we’re all tired of Covid rules in the dead of winter, that’s true, but the vast majority remain cooperative and hopeful), mustered foreign radicalism and domestic expertise (some retired police and servicemen), provoked outrage by desecrating sacred monuments in the capital, thumbed their noses at ordinary, decent citizens, and made as much noise as possible. They even got Fox News covering the protests for American viewers like it’s part of US culture wars. Maybe that’s why they haven’t stopped: they’ve pulled out all the stops they have for this gig, ain’t no more left, and they got no other place to go—I mean, they done the provincial capitals (did they do Charlottetown? Maybe wasn’t enough of ‘em ), blocked the major border-crossings, harassed pedestrians, residents and healthcare workers—what’s next?—take hostages? (Oh, jeez, I forgot: they already did that with their own kids! My bad!)

    Maybe that’s why it so do-or-die.

    But the winter window’s drifting by and outdoor activities are occupying us more every week; the jig is up (we’ve seen this movie before—in 2019—and it’s only garnered more opprobrium than last time); agents provocateurs have been unable to goad police into martyr-making violent action; and the main thing citizens want, by far and away, is for the blockaders to just go home and stop making so much noise, not an end of protocols—even as much as we’d all like the pandemic to be over. So much for the putsch. The best laid plans…er whatever…

    Has this whole deal been a bust? Well, let’s just say it’s gonna be way harder to go for thirds: organizers have been outed; at least some of the participants will be licking their wounded pocket books when traffic fines and insurance are tallied; police will be getting called on the carpet for things they didn’t do right, and praised for things they did do right; the Conservative “resistance” has buckled like an empty carton (and will probably pay for it when Covid rates soar again because of premature reactulation), and a couple of them are tearing themselves apart trying to purchase some kind of partisan leverage from this sorry episode. The far-right has gone even farther right.

    But most of all, citizens have been alerted that such a small minority should never again be accorded freedom to take away so many freedoms (like, who would ever elect these fools?—oh yeah! I forgot: they just declare themselves government and presto—we’re all “freeeeeeeeeeeee”!!!)

    Government is moving as cautiously as it can: it doesn’t want to spoil these gains which can only be gotten gradually as we learn how to carry on with a pandemic of which nobody really knows what the next phase will be. That fact will remain when all this racket dies down.

    I’d sure like to see some cross-country victory parades after the convoys go back to their basements and start planning their grand finale. Let’s see: if consistent, it’ll start in Alberta about the end of next January after the freedom fighters gather in their bunker, Faith Goldy, Jason Kenney, Ezra Levantine, Pat King, Pierre “hareskin” Poilievre —and all the rest.
    They better rest up: there’s a long spring, summer, and fall to go yet and the rest of us are “learning to live with Covid.”

    1. I think you’re right about much of what you said in the latter half of your comments. Conservatives JUST lost BADLY to Justin Trudeaus liberals, and he’s not that popular with Canadians of all stripes, they’re just that unelectable and they know it. This is desperation, purely.

  32. I’m a little late to the party, but some good residents of Ottawa showed how to stage a counter protest. The Battle of Billings Bridge. I particularly liked that they only released the #convoyists once they removed all their flags and signs from their vehicles – also that they talked to each and every one of them.

    Personally, I would have subjected each to a 20 second blast of an airhorn from 5 feet and with their window open.

    https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/battle-of-billings-bridge-attracts-hundreds-of-volunteers-traps-convoy-for-hours

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