protest

Wednesday March 15, 2023

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday March 15, 2023

Avril Lavigne confronts topless protestor at Junos

Young Doug Ford: The Series

A wildly unpredictable Juno Awards unfolded on Monday as a topless protester charged the stage, leading to some feisty words from Avril Lavigne, while an absent the Weeknd emerged as the top winner this year.

With a few twists and turns, Canada’s biggest celebration of music did away with its typically tame proceedings shortly after the broadcast got under way. Lavigne was interrupted by a topless woman who leapt on the stage wearing pasties with paint on her that read “land back” and “save the green belt,” a reference to Ontario’s decision last fall to open a protected area of land for housing.

The pop-punk princess appeared blindsided by the crasher and proceeded to swear at her, demanding she get off the stage. The person was quickly escorted away by security.

Unfazed, Lavigne moved on to introduce a performance by Punjabi-Canadian singer and rapper AP Dhillon.

She returned later to accept this year’s fan choice award with a few choice words and another expletive.

The unexpected moment set the tone for an energetic Junos that saw the Weeknd’s smash hit Dawn FM earn him album of the year, adding to four wins he scored at a Saturday industry event, including artist and single of the year for Sacrifice. (The Globe and Mail) 

 

Saturday February 18, 2023

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday February 18, 2023

Emergencies Act report finds Trudeau met threshold to shut down convoy protest

February 10, 2022

Police dysfunction, stubborn politics and a failure of federalism turned last winter’s “Freedom Convoy” protests into a national crisis that warranted the first-ever use of the Emergencies Act, Ontario Justice Paul Rouleau concluded in a much-anticipated report.

Rouleau determined — “with reluctance” — that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government met the “very high threshold” to trigger the act and create a host of extraordinary police powers to quash the protests. But Rouleau also called the protests “legitimate,” and blamed government leaders and police for failing to “properly manage” the demonstrations against COVID-19 health measures, which he described as a predictable response to a disruptive pandemic.

“Had various police forces and levels of government prepared for and anticipated events of this type and acted differently in response to the situation, the emergency that Canada ultimately faced could likely have been avoided,” Rouleau wrote in the report, which was released Friday. “Unfortunately, it was not.”

October 27, 2022

Rouleau blamed the police for a “series of failures” that “contributed to a situation that spun out of control.” He called the crisis a “failure of federalism,” concluding that — at least sometimes — political leaders from different levels of government did not “rise above politics and collaborate for the common good.”

Rouleau also singled out Trudeau for using inflammatory language when he said during the crisis that protesters were part of a “fringe minority” with “unacceptable views.” This made the situation worse by “further embittering” protesters towards government authorities, Rouleau wrote. Even though Trudeau may have been referring to racist and extremist messages — Nazi and Confederate flags were spotted at the Ottawa protest — Rouleau wrote the prime minister should have acknowledged “the majority of protesters were exercising their fundamental democratic rights” to denounce what they saw as government overreach.

February 15, 2022

Speaking later on Parliament Hill, Trudeau expressed regret about his words about convoy protesters for the first time.

“I wished I’d have said that differently,” he told reporters.

He added that there is still a “very small number of people in this country who deliberately spread misinformation that led to Canadians’ deaths” during the pandemic.

Trudeau also recognized that governments, including his own, could have worked better together during the crisis. He pledged to carefully study and respond to Rouleau’s 56 recommendations — which call for better intelligence-sharing between police agencies, changes to the Emergencies Act and improved government transparency, among other things — within six months.

February 19, 2022

“We didn’t want to have to invoke the Emergencies Act. It’s a measure of last resort. But the risks to personal safety, the risk to livelihoods and, equally, the risk of people losing faith in the rule of law that upholds our society and our freedoms — those risks were real, and responsible leadership required us to restore peace and order,” Trudeau said.

In Calgary, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre — who expressed support for convoy protesters during the crisis — accused Trudeau of fomenting the crisis by making COVID-19 vaccines a political issue in the 2021 federal election.

“He thinks that if you’re afraid of your neighbour, you’ll forget that you can’t pay your rent. If you’re afraid of a trucker, you might forget that you’re hungry and take your eyes off of the guy who caused the problem in the first place,” Poilievre said, blaming the prime minister for inflation and a host of other problems. (The Peterborough Examiner) 

 

Wednesday January 4, 2023

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday January 4, 2023

Convoy organizer says plans to stage a 2023 protest in Winnipeg are off

Freedom Convoy 2.0 appears to be a bust.

February 10, 2022

Canada Unity, one of the anti-government protest groups behind the protests that headlined much of last year, has called off its plans to restage the event in Winnipeg in February.

“The Canada Unity Official Freedom Convoy 2.0 Reunion that was scheduled for Feb. 17 to 20th, 2023, is hereby officially being issued a 10-7 ‘out of service,” James Bauder wrote in a news release posted to the group’s Facebook page.

Bauder, who founded Canada Unity, said in December he would bring a four-day event back to Ottawa, staging it at an undisclosed spot outside the city and making daily trips to Parliament Hill. After police in Ottawa indicated they would have zero tolerance for such an event, Bauder said he would move it to Winnipeg instead.

He has now called that off, too.

In his Facebook post, he blamed non-specific security breaches and personal attacks.

Despite the fact the event was set to unfold in Manitoba, he said he is worried he or others could be charged under Ontario’s new Bill 100, which was passed last year after the first convoy protests. The law, dubbed the “keeping Ontario open for business act,” prohibits protests at protected transportation infrastructure, including airports and border crossings. It also allows for police to seize drivers’ licences and licence plates used in illegal blockades.

February 8, 2022

Bauder was among dozens of people arrested in February 2022 during the first convoy. He faces charges including mischief, and disobeying court orders and the police. One of his bail conditions bars him from travelling to downtown Ottawa.

The original convoy blocked several areas around Parliament Hill for three weeks. Demonstrations also shut down at least four border crossings elsewhere in the country.

The blockades resulting in the federal government’s decision to invoke the Emergencies Act for the first time.

In the weeks leading up to the first protest in Ottawa, Bauder penned a “memorandum of understanding” and tried to deliver it to Gov. Gen. Mary Simon. It asked her and all sitting senators to sign an agreement that would overthrow the government and make Simon, the senators, Bauder, his wife Sandra and one other man the formal Canadian government.

They would then order all other levels of government to end every COVID-19-related restriction and reinstate workers who were suspended or fired for not being vaccinated.

Bauder’s group later joined with others to create the convoy blockade that also affected several other parts of downtown Ottawa and some provincial legislatures.

As the events unfolded in Ottawa, Bauder did not appear to be among the main organizers or leaders.

November 5, 2022

A public inquiry that investigated the government’s decision to invoke the Emergencies Act held six weeks of public hearings in the fall, which laid bare the details of chaos and dysfunction both within the various groups organizing the protests and the police forces and governments trying to end them.

A final report from that inquiry is expected next month. (The Toronto Star) 

 

Thursday October 20, 2022

October 20, 2022Hamilton Spectator – Thursday October 20, 2022

Emergencies Act inquiry spells trouble for Trudeau, Poilievre

To say this will be a political and media circus is an understatement. The list of potential witnesses includes key members of cabinet, such as Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino and, most notably, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Convoy organizers including Tamara Lich, Pat King and Chris Barber are also expected to be called.

May 13, 2022

The most important part of this hearing may not be the testimony of politicians or convoy supporters, however, but that of the RCMP and intelligence services. How did they assess the threat to public safety? What advice did they give the government, or not? How was that advice treated once received? Was it exaggerated or misinterpreted in any way?

Canadians need clarity on the real state of the threat. If the government overreached for political purposes, then the Liberals will pay the price. Expect the Conservatives to try to find every opportunity to bring the government down before its self-imposed deadline of 2025. The Commission’s report is due by next February — in time for a spring budget and a confidence vote in the House that could plunge Canada into an election.

If the Commission finds that the government was justified in invoking the act, however, the shoe is on the other foot. Expect Liberals to start running attack ads featuring a smiling Poilievre and fellow Conservatives ferrying coffee to protesters. Trudeau could then either engineer his defeat over the budget, or simply dissolve Parliament and go to the polls. And if he doesn’t pull the plug in the spring, there’s always next September, when convoy leaders go to court on a number of criminal charges, and the whole circus starts again.

August 26, 2022

At a time when inflation is rampant, interest rates are rising, and the Liberal government looks increasingly past its best before date, Trudeau doesn’t have many cards to play. The one card he has is that the Conservatives failed to stand for law and order — one of the pillars of their party, no less — at a time of national crisis. And he knows that the convoy does not sit well with “the public” its proponents claimed to represent.

Polling done at the time of the protests found that a majority did not support the convoy protests, including in Alberta where 61 per cent disagreed with the goals of the protest and 67 per cent disagreed with the means. And a Nanos poll taken six months later found that 70 per cent of Canadians still take a negative or somewhat negative view of politicians who openly supported the protests. Another recent Nanos poll found that support for the convoy was one of the “negative” attributes voters held about Poilievre, together with being “too right wing,” divisive, and “similar to Donald Trump.”

Will “Memories of the Freedom Convoy” be the secret sauce that Trudeau uses to win a fourth term in office? Will the Tories founder over ill-advised Tim Hortons runs? Time — and testimony — will tell. (The National Post)

 

Thursday June 30, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday June 30, 2022

Ottawa braced for Canada Day protest by ‘freedom convoy’ supporters

Members of anti-vax convoy have vowed to maintain a presence over the summer initially mingling with the annual celebrations

April 30, 2022

Residents of downtown Ottawa are bracing for a Canada Day unlike any other, after “freedom convoy” protesters vowed to return to Parliament Hill on 1 July, and maintain a presence over the remainder of the summer.

Every Canada Day, people congregate on Parliament Hill in Ottawa to watch musical performances and fireworks on the anniversary of Canadian confederation. This year, it will probably be difficult for police to distinguish between celebrators and convoy members – which is what protesters are banking on.

In late January, groups opposed to vaccine and mask mandates drove tractor-trailers and other large vehicles into Ottawa’s downtown core and set up camp. The ensuing three-week occupation of the capital city was a traumatic experience for many locals, who faced harassment, incessant noise and other unwelcome encounters, said Ariel Troster, a candidate for city council in Ottawa’s Somerset ward.

“Many people were driven from their homes, many were subjected to harassment, there were at least two cases where people defecated on people’s front steps. There were reports of apartment buildings where convoy people took over the laundry room and wouldn’t leave,” said Troster. “Not to mention the symbols of hatred, which were quite visible not just on the Hill but in the neighbourhoods.”

February 8, 2022

Group communications on Telegram, YouTube videos and other channels show convoy sympathisers believe in white replacement theory and other conspiracies. QAnon activists and propaganda were often seen at the wintertime occupation.

It ultimately cost the city $36m in policing costs and has resulted in a proposed class action lawsuit against protest organisers.

Now that Canada has dropped most mandates, the convoyers appear to be demanding Justin Trudeau’s resignation as prime minister. They have been gaining traction with Conservative politicians, recently having held a meeting with their “allies” in parliament.

The Ottawa police service (OPS) has pledged to foil any new attempt to occupy the city. The force is under immense pressure to get Canada Day right after its many failures to police the previous occupation.

June 30, 2021

At a police services board meeting on Monday, the interim OPS chief, Steve Bell, said a heightened police presence and road barricades limiting the number of vehicles permitted downtown may not be able to keep convoyers arriving on foot away, but it will prevent people from setting up camp.

“Canada Day’s a very important day to Canadians. It’s a day where we celebrate our country and all the good things in it. But people, when they come, they need to be lawful. And they need to be respectful of our community,” Bell said. (The Guardian)