Stephen Roney's Blog, page 157
February 8, 2022
Press Conference by Ottawa Protesters
A Blockade
Those of us in Ontario are liable soon to find the cost of freedom. The Ambassador Bridge in Windsor normally carries 45% of all Canadian agricultural imports. It is not blocked. At this time of year all our fruits and vegetables are coming from further south. The shelves were already dangerously bare. Fruits and vegetables must reach their destination speedily, or not at all.
The Blue Water Bridge in Sarnia, the alternative route, is also blocked.
This is going to put massive pressure on the federal and provincial governments.
Breaking up the demonstration in Ottawa is almost irrelevant.
'Od's Blog: Catholic comments on the passing parade.
A Letter to My MP
Dear Mr. Erskine-Smith:
As my local MP, I urge you to join Joel Lightbound in insisting on moderation with regard to the current protests in Ottawa and across the country. It is not just that the world is watching, and Canada’s reputation as a free and tolerant land is in the balance. History is watching too, and will not forgive the authorities if there are any deaths or serious injuries to fellow Canadians honestly protesting as a result of government actions here.
The federal government of the day was able to put down Riel’s North-West Rebellion. But Riel is remembered as the hero, and the Conservative Party lost the support of Quebec for generations. The government was able to put down Mackenzie’s and Papineau’s rebellions. But Mackenzie and Papineau are remembered as heroes, and the Family Compact and Chateau Clique and Bond Head as villains. Before the Easter Rebellion in Ireland in 1916, the idea of Irish independence had little popular support. After its suppression by the British government, it became inevitable.
Do not allow yourself to be put on the wrong side of history. At present, the protesters sound like moderate voices, and the Prime Minister sounds uncompromising and divisive in a most unCanadian way.
You have been a good member. Do not throw it away. It is time to seek compromise and negotiation. It is time to seek unity.
Sincerely,
Stephen K. Roney
'Od's Blog: Catholic comments on the passing parade.
February 7, 2022
Raquel Dancho in the House Today
Whack-a-Mole
This could be major.
The thing about truckers is that they are highly mobile. Should the government manage to end the protests in Ottawa by bullying rather than negotiating, they can move the protest anywhere.
Apparently, trucks are now blocking the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor. I heard earlier that farmers were blocking the Blue Water Bridge in Sarnia.
Something like 60% of Canadian cross-border trade goes over these bridges.
Surely the blocking of these bridges is economically unsustainable for \Canada.
Another thing about truckers: they seem smarter than politicians.
Sinister Foreign Funding Sources
Jagmeet Singh’s biggest concern with the truckers’ protest seems to be that it is largely funded by foreign sources. By which he seems to mean, by American sources.
This is inevitably true. Is it a matter of concern? Technically, of course, we are two countries, but we could hardly be closer allies. What happens in one affects everyone in the other. Would it be a cause for concern if Alberta money was flowing into an election in Saskatchewan?
And if foreign influence is a problem now, where was Singh’s protest when Barack Obama openly endorsed Justin Trudeau an election or two ago?
'Od's Blog: Catholic comments on the passing parade.
From the Organizers
Sunday Evening at the Base Camp
Monday Morning Regrets
We are getting conflicting reports on the effects of the police crackdown yesterday on the Ottawa protests. Ottawa police chief Sloly boasted this morning that they had completely shut down one of the truckers’ staging areas, were making arrests, the demonstration was shrinking, and they were making relentless progress. But several truckers have YouTubed that the police raids had no practical effect; that they really only seized a symbolic amount of fuel, and mostly left things intact.
I think the latter must be true. To begin with, Sloly combined his claims with a declaration that the city needed much more help from all levels of government. That does not sound as though he really thinks matters are under control. The police raids were made on Sunday evening: because people have to get back to work, the size of the protest is bound to shrink for Monday morning. It sounds as though the move was strategically timed so the chief could claim he was responsible for the decline.
Sloly said before there was no policing solution available. He is under immense pressure to do something, so he is concerned with looking as though he is doing something.
One claim he made, that the funding for the protesters had been cut off, was demonstrably false. The Go Fund Me account was shut down, but donations are shifting to another platform, Give Send Go, and are already substantial. So he may be fudging or lying about the rest as well.
Possibly also the authorities hoped, vainly, that the truckers might be frightened away by a little intimidation.
The protesters have come up with a brilliant dodge for the police seizing jerry cans of fuel. Everyone has started to carry a jerry can at all times. The police cannot seize or check them all, so fuel is sure to get through.
It is hard to see how the police can get away with this tactic for long in any event. It is an obvious violation of the constitutional right to protection against unreasonable search and seizure. Since filling up your vehicle with gas is not a crime, there can be no legal justification for the police seizing private property like this. Even if they can get away with it for long enough to end the protest, surely the city is setting itself up for a lawsuit, or many. With the money donated, the truckers can probably afford the lawyers.
Meantime, the Ottawa mayor, until now uncompromising, this morning called for a mediator to negotiate with the protesters. This is an admission on his part that the confrontational approach cannot work. The little display of force on Sunday evening was probably just to give political cover for capitulating to the truckers’ basic demands. They don’t want it to look too obvious.
Theresa Tam, the chief government health officer, today stated publicly that it was about time to reexamine our approach to the pandemic, since circumstances have changed.
Again, this sounds like political cover. The medical advice has changed.
The Tories at today’s Question Period seemed excited. Their benches looked pretty full. They gave Candace Bergen a standing ovation as she rose to demand the government drop the mandates.
They smell blood in the water. They know the government will have to do this. They want to lead the parade.
The government benches looked far less crowded. The question was fielded by the government house leader—a low rank to be in command. The bigger heads were ducking.
Instead of responding by condemning the truckers as racists and terrorists who must be silenced, as had been the government’s wont until now, he insisted that most of the mandates were not the federal government’s responsibility.
Significantly, without defending them.
'Od's Blog: Catholic comments on the passing parade.
February 6, 2022
Who's Telling the Truth?
