As my colleague Mary Chastain noted yesterday, the Canadian elite declared all out war on the protesting truckers yesterday as police began to arrest leaders, manipulated the banking system to freeze funds for the demonstrations, and targeted pets.
I also noted that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has had several horrendous days in Parliament, especially the response to his statements addressing concerns about his “Emergencies Act” expressed by Conservative Party interim leader Candice Bergen and Toronto-area Member of Parliament (MP) Melissa Lantman.
It appears he will be spared further embarrassment in Parliament, at least temporarily. Parliament has been suspended over alleged security concerns, as police arrest Freedom Convoy demonstrators in Ottawa and aggressively move to end the protests.
MPs were told on Thurday night that due to the ‘exceptional circumstances’ of police closing in on Freedom Convoy protesters they needed to avoid the area around parliament for their own safety.Trudeau continues to face tough opposition in Parliament as he battles to maintain his emergency powers in a crackdown on Freedom Convoy protesters.On Thursday, legislation upholding Trudeau’s declaration under the Emergencies Act was presented in Parliament, where Conservative and Bloc Québécois MPs voiced fierce opposition.The initial schedule called for debate through the weekend on the motion to confirm Trudeau’s emergency powers, followed by a vote on Monday night.The suspension of Friday’s debate in the House of Commons was due to safety concerns, Speaker Anthony Rota said in notice to MPs, warning them that a police operation was expected and urging them to ‘stay away from the downtown core until further notice.’House leadership of all parties agreed to the cancellation of Friday’s sitting, with a plan to resume debate on Saturday and vote ‘early next week’ on the motion.Trudeaus’ Liberals, with the support of the New Democrats Party, have enough votes to ensure passage of the motion.
Bergen is moving to get the MPs back to the House of Commons on Saturday for a vote.
There is a great deal of pressure being applied to MPs of the New Democratic Party (part of Trudeau’s coalition) to vote against the “Emergencies Act”.
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association has announced that it will sue the federal government over its decision to invoke the Act.
“Emergency powers cannot and must not be normalized,” said CCLA executive director Noa Mendelsohn.She said use of the act “seriously infringes on the Charter rights of Canadians.”…”Protest is how people in a democracy share their political messages of all kinds, whether they be environmental activists, students taking to the streets, Indigenous land defenders, workers on strike, people who know that Black lives matter, and others who oppose government measures of all kinds,” Mendelsohn said.”Not every person may agree with the content of every movement.”
A reporter for a Canadian news outlet was pepper-sprayed during the Ottawa crackdown. The outlet plans on taking the police to court.
While covering the police action against the Freedom Convoy protesters in Ottawa, True North’s Andrew Lawton was pepper sprayed by police.Candice Malcolm, the editor-in-chief of True North has now hired a lawyer to take the police to court.
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