Ms Soapbox is under the weather, as such there will be no blog post today.
I expect to be fully functional next week, at least physically. It will take longer than that to restore my mental equilibrium given the ongoing mismanagement of the occupation of Ottawa, the blockade at Coutts, and the apparent inability or unwillingness of the police to disperse the illegal protesters creating havoc in our towns and cities.
I’m worried.
What happens if the police who have a duty to enforce the laws refuse to do so?
And what happens if politicians are so afraid of upsetting those who support the illegal protests that the best they can muster is a mild request suggesting the illegal protesters leave?
And what happens if the illegal protesters refuse to leave?
We all know the answer.
The people lose trust in the institutions designed to preserve peace, order and good government in Canadian society.
My heart is breaking. It should never have come to this.
Susan on the Soapbox 
Amen. This is not the Canada I grew up in, know and love. A tragic development for all involved…
Indeed Rick. I was listening to in interview with former Attorney General of Canada, Allan Rock on CBC this morning. He said the fact that citizens in Ottawa took it upon themselves to stop the convoy from getting into the city demonstrates a complete lack of trust in the police. Very sad state of affairs.
Yes, it is tragic that we let a group of fascists dictate to our country for weeks on end. they are partying and the rest of us are in mourning for a democracy.
“Mourning for a democracy”. That explains the unsettled sadness I have been feeling.
Joanne and Claudette: I agree. When this is all over there will have to be an inquiry into the failure of all levels of government to take appropriate action. This inquiry should include an examination of why, as criminologist Michael Kempa pointed out, the police were quick to clear away Indigenous protesters occupying public land but slow to do prepare for let alone clear out the convoy made up of primarily white men.
I blame our politicians, no matter their political stripes. They have guided Canadian politics into the toilet, through their divisive party politicking, where they are more worried about making themselves relevant, instead of doing what they were elected to do, which is lead the Country. When Conservative MPs came out in support of the convoy, even after it was clear the convoy leaders were demanding the removal of a legally elected government, I realized that these MPs were not willing to protect the Canadian Constitution, Canadian Democracy, or legal Canadian institutions and they were readily willing to turn their responsibilities, as the Official Opposition, and MPs, to a group of unelected truck drivers. The very foundation of what makes Canada the most wonderful and peaceful nation in the world, was under attack from within, and my MP not only did little to stop it, she condoned it. That realization broke my heart. My Canada had just changed and not for the better.
Dwight, you raised a good point when you referred to politicians using the occupation/blockade to further their political careers. Pierre Poilievre continues to support the so-called protesters, saying (1) he supports the legal right to protest (which is a different thing entirely from occupying a city and blocking critical trade routes for days on end) and (2) that Trudeau could end the whole thing by reversing the mandates and restrictions (which are for the most part a matter of provincial, not federal jurisdiction).
My MP, like yours, spoke out in support of the Ottawa occupation saying it was nothing more than a party. Well, guess what, the party is over.
Time to understand our political system. Unless it’s a national emergency the provinces have to request federal help.
JJ fair point. Allan Rock, former attorney general of Canada said the Emergencies Act is an “ill-fitting statute for this situation” but justified it on the grounds that the events of the last 3 weeks has caused people to lose confidence in government institutions, particularly the police. He said the Feds had to take action and be prepared to deploy the military if necessary “to assist police” in getting this under control.
Given that the convoy’s leadership has run rings around the Ottawa police and citizens are taking to the streets to turn back the truckers, I’m not surprised it has come to this.
Susan, sorry you are not feeling well. Hope you feel better soon. Everyone needs to read the entire ( almost) 1st section of the Saturday Globe and Mail. It his very educational on all of this, and too much for me to remember-it took me at least 2 hrs. to read it all. Do not loose hope. Read.
Thanks Katie, much appreciated. We get the Globe & Mail. I’ve saved the relevant section. It’s very informative, particularly the bit about the so-called organizers of the convoy. I say “so-called” because it’s not clear who’s in charge. There was a follow up story on the news today about the deal the Toronto mayor negotiated with an organizer, Tamara Lich, to move the trucks out of the residential area. Lich said there was a deal subject to buy-in from the truckers, then Pat King, another organizer known for his hate speech videos, says there was no such deal. It’s not clear who’s really running the show.
Get well Susan. We share your disbelief and annoyance and dread the thought that anarchy could result!
Dale
On Sun., Feb. 13, 2022, 17:54 Susan on the Soapbox, wrote:
> susanonthesoapbox posted: ” Ms Soapbox is under the weather, as such there > will be no blog post today. I expect to be fully functional next week, at > least physically. It will take longer than that to restore my mental > equilibrium given the ongoing mismanagement of the occupation” >
Thanks Dale. I keep going back to the interview with Allan Rock who said we haven’t been sufficiently diligent, we let these people get away with flaunting the law. This is corrosive to the rule of law and it has to stop.
Am I and David Climenhaga the only ones who think this is becoming another Euromaidan? We will end up with the government afraid of gangs paid by oligarchs.
Keith, this is an interesting question. I suppose if we look at the Convoy as an attempt to overthrow our democratically elected government the analogy holds. The Convoy’s organizers shrewdly latched on to vaccine restrictions as a way to rally support for their cause but I’d be surprised if everyone in the Convoy understands what that cause is.
The simple fact that one of the organizers, Canada Unity, issued an MOU calling for Trudeau to agree to their demands or be replaced by a coalition government made up of themselves, the GG and the Senate (all of whom are unelected) indicates something bigger was going on. Interestingly they’ve taken down their MOU because they said it had come to their attention it didn’t reflect the spirit or intent of the Convoy.
I’d really like the organizers from the Convoy to explain exactly what their intent is because it seems to change with each passing day. For example, what was the intent behind putting a heavily armed group of protesters into the convoy at Coutts?
As usual, you are spot on with your comments. These are indeed scary times. We look like fools who cannot or will not enforce our laws.
Valerie, we do look like fools to the international community. We’ve also damaged our reputation as a reliable trading partner by allowing the Ambassador Bridge to be closed for 6 days ($400 million/day lost) and the Coutts crossing to be closed for what is it now, 2 weeks ($40 million/day lost).
I blame the citizens of Canada for voting for politicians who put their political careers ahead of the economic well being, the law, and the democratic institutions of Canada.
Jaundiced Eye: Yes, I agree. The Calgary Herald reported that Kenney said he’d been focused on the pandemic crisis and now had to turn his attention to his upcoming leadership review. He made this comment in week two of the blockade at the Coutts border. Well now that Trudeau is taking over Kenney can sit back, focus on the leadership review, and sling mud at Trudeau for stepping in to resolve a situation he tut-tutted about while it developed into a deeper and deeper crisis.
Get better soon. All the best. Thanks for continuing to denounce extremists, fight for democracy and soldiering onward.
Thank you Anne Marie for being there by my side!
Susan Get well soon, I am sorry you are not feeling well.
This has been I think a profound stab on our reputation as a country of law and order not just internally but also internationally.
It makes me wonder what side is the police on? I think that it is a question we as citizens have the right to ask. Not sure what the answer will be but it is very concerning.
I agree with your question of the role of the police in all of this. On Saturday a handful of counterprotesters in Edmonton blocked one column of the weirdos on River Valley Road and EP”S” (“Service” being a misnomer) threatened them with being charged under Bill 1. However, they chose not to go after the weirdos who made all kinds of noise, although they had an injunction to enforce. I can’t help but think that EP”S” is at least indifferent to the weirdos, if not actively supporting them. It’s very disheartening to recognize that the majority of us who are law abiding, are pretty much on our own.
Carlos and Thorsten: I agree with your assessment. I’ve talked to friends and relatives who say they feel they’ve been abandoned by the police they’d always assumed were there to protect them. Then I think about the Indigenous people and people of colour; they experience this and much much worse every day of their lives.
Susan you just nailed it – all of us can now feel what is like to be abandoned by police every single day not just once.
Maybe we can see this as a tremendous lesson for all of us. I so much agree
Thank you Thorsten for your comment – I very much agree with you and I think from the premier all the way down to our police force (is it?) we failed miserably but Jason Kenney is thanking his stars because he is not the one making the final decision on COUTTS which is exactly what he wanted. He was incapable of doing anything about it. I can assure you if this protest was from our indigenous people in Alberta they would have been beaten and taken to prison in the end of the first day and Jason Kenney would not stop talking about the 44 million a day. Well it has been 3 weeks so just do the accounting.
Thank you for doing this Susan.
We must address each and all of these issues in a meaningful way, showing leadership of respect even for those who do not show respect for others. We must take very person’s point of view seriously, if someone is incorrect, let that become obvious to the person in error. There is an awful lot of community building we need to do to help people to learn to trust each even though they do not agree. Perhaps one of the most important things we must achieve is the development of collaboration among us all to work in common cause to quell this pandemic snd other rising societal ills.
Thanks Mike: One of the reassuring things coming out of this mess is how communities are coming together to protect themselves when the police fail to act. From what I’ve seen so far they’re doing so peacefully, which is more than we can say for some (but not all) of the participants in the Convoy.
The Beaverton is on it:
https://www.thebeaverton.com/2022/02/windsor-blockade-cleared-after-police-deploy-radical-tactic-of-doing-literally-anything/
(Also on a few previous days.)
Get well Susan.
Thanks Keith. The Beaverton has a way of making whatever it is feel less horrible.
but more ridiculous which is appropriate for what is happening
You will notice Kenny and Ford run the same programs. If it works for them, Saskatchewan and Manitoba will pick up the game. I am of the mind that the Ontario and BC premiers authored these convoys the purpose being to embarrass the Liberals.
As it stands right now there are enough conservative premiers to change the constitution should they get into office Federally. The gold they are after is the Peace River and using the Weatherford project which is designed to move 2/3 of the river south to the US with Nestle being at the head of the parade.
If the US needs water in Wyoming (and they do) they can move it from the Missouri River or the Mississippi on their own dime, not have Canada pay the bills to give them cheap water. There is a lot at stake in this next election!
John, what an important comment. Especially given the Conservatives willingness to leap into bed with business. We have to bend over backwards to satisfy the job-creators, right? As you point out, the next big battle will be water. We’re so focused on coal and oil here in Alberta (with good reason given Kenney’s love of both industries), that we may miss this one but you’re absolutely right, water will be next big battle. We can’t let the Conservatives sell it to the highest bidder. That would be insanity.
Susan, the plan to move the peace river south to cardston then msrket it usuib Nestle has been with us for 15 years now. I see Trudeau is starting entirely clean up our eastern rivers. If you feel adventurous you can find out why?
The Conservatives want to change our constitution. To do this, they need six provincial premiers on side plus the Federal Government. This is what they were after the past election when Bell Media and their 200 newspapers manipulated a wall-to-wall pallet of Conservative Governments. Only BC escaped as they didn’t have bell service. Scheer was turfed because he missed his shot on an empty goal. (According to his party)
We are down to 8 Conservative provincial leaders. This next election we have to get rid of at least 3 of them to protect our constitution into the future.
Rachel Notley lost this same election and she was the best premier since Peter Lougheed. She brought our province up from Conservative Broke to number 1 of the 10 provinces in GDP. The next election will be the most important of our lives.
John important points in your posts. I never thought about that aspect of what is going on in our country.
Wonderful to be able to discuss your view on this very important issue.
Susan: First of all, I hope you get better, as soon as possible. I am not impressed with these trucker protesters. I did hear from someone, yesterday, that within the last 2 weeks, an ambulance tried to get past these truckers on the road, and couldn’t. Very bad for someone who needs medical assistance. I’ll share some more music, to help people feel better. This is The McCoys, from 1965, doing a version of Hang On Sloopy. Rick Derringer (born Richard Zahringer), was only age 17, when this song was recorded. A good garage rock band. He is on guitar, and lead vocals. His older brother Randy, was the group’s drummer. Rick Derringer was around 14, when the group was formed.
Susan: Here is another song, which I hope can make people happy. This performance is a duet with two Sun Records alumni, Roy Orbison and Johnny Cash. They are doing the Roy Orbison song, Oh, Pretty Woman, live on The Johnny Cash Show, in 1969.
Dwayne, my social media feed is full of comments from truckers and their families who say they’re disgusted with the Convoy and the damage it is doing to their reputation and our economy.
By the way, I’ve loved Pretty Woman ever since I was a little girl. Excellent choice!
I feel the same way. Feel better soon,
Thank you Gail!
So sorry you are under the weather and the current situation adds to it I am sure. Unfortunately this is not the Canada that we know and love. But there are indications that global operatives are responsible, pouring in money and propaganda as well and that is even more sickening. The world has become a different place since the orange scourge was elected south of the border. I always thought that we could show that we weren’t like that but alas, some Canadians have been drinking the Kool-aid. Sad days for Canada.
Sharon, I read today that the leaked donor list for GiveSendGo shows there were more US donors than Canadian donors to the website with the Americans donating a little less than half of the total amount, so your point that there are indications the Convoy is more than it appears to be is bang on. Here’s the link: https://nationalpost.com/news/civil-servants-nasa-employees-and-an-american-billionaire-among-donors-leaked-in-givesendgo-hack
Kenney, who railed against foreign funded activism when it came to “anti-Alberta energy” activism, has been conspicuously quiet about this. I guess his abhorrence of foreigners interfering with Canadian politics only applies when it’s an anti-Trudeau protest, not when it’s an anti-oilsands protest. Fancy that.
Feel better and take heart Susan, the Ambassador bridge has been cleared. Despite the kid gloves they’ve been handled with Coal Rollers are finally finding out that responsibility isn’t the bane of freedom, it is a fixed cost in the price.
GoinFawr: well said.
PS I must say I love the moniker “Coal Rollers”!
Now that It appears Covid restrictions are on their way to be lifted across the country (fingers crossed) with a return to normalcy we should be reacting with unabashed joy, as displayed by an elementary school class in Las Vegas upon learning they no longer have to wear masks. Enjoy.
We’ve all been looking forward to covid restrictions ending for a long, long time ron’.
Unfortunately it’s been much longer than necessary since while most of us have been patiently doing our part to speed that eventuality along, the loudest complainers and whiners have been either deliberately or witlessly sabotaging those efforts, consequently extending the restrictions that nobody likes. Even Jason Kenney acknowledged that fact.
As long as we are sharing heart warming anecdotes about schools: I know an Alberta teacher whose class made a point of telling her that they would continue to wear their masks regardless,
“To protect you, miss.”
@ron’. A follow-up anecdote, for what it will be worth to you coming from me:
I know of at least two middle schools in Alberta today where there were barely any people unmasked.
In my experience Alberta isn’t much like Las Vegas after all, hunh, who would have thought that?
Ron, I”m with GoinFawr and Joanne on this one. There’s nothing more I can add to their excellent comments.
you were obviously only wearing a mask because it was law, not because you wanted to protect yourself or those around you. you did not accept the need. there should be no joy in seeing the mask mandates removed because it means many more people will die of covid. we can say all we want that covid is over but it is the virus that will make the decision for you.
ronmac I fully understand your point of view but using an example in las Vegas in the Canadian context is to me very biased.
First of all despite all the attempts by the media and people of your opinion and many politicians especially from Alberta, Canada and the United States are not similar at all.
We may have interconnected economies but socially and politically we are in many ways night and day. So much so that Trump calls our prime minister ‘traitor’ and lately ‘far left lunatic’. Joe Biden is not as bad as Trump but it is easy to understand that he basically tolerates our prime minister. For many politicians in the US we are just a bunch of communists.
Furthermore comparing kids reactions in Las Vegas well known as ‘Sin City’ with Canadian kids is to say the least a bit shocking.
I have not seen a reaction like this in Canada and here in Edmonton students are actually trying to continue with the mask mandate. Why? well maybe because we Canadians have a more common sense approach to important issues in our lives and we understand that protecting ourselves from a disease that can be fatal for many of us is not that big of deal to endure.
I wish Canada was as socialist as americans like to think. then we wouldn’t have thousands of people living on the streets.
So do I Joanne. Canada use to be more social democrat than it is today and to me it was a much better Canada. The trade deals which are now part of everything we do in life has not allowed us to take better care of ourselves. Instead we pamper corporations just so they do not choose to go to other countries where they can do whatever they want including exploitation of children and women in particular. To the Conservatives that is the price of doing business and they do not see or want to see it anyway. Out of sight out of mind. The neo-liberal change to the society we have now is to me a failure for Canadians although we are bombarded with propaganda otherwise. One just has to be old enough to know that it is not true. Instead of paying almost nothing for trinkets made in China we would be much better off to pay more for the same made in Canada at higher wages and decent benefits as it should be. If one can afford 3 shirts made in China versus 1 made in Canada I would gladly by 1 instead and know that another Canadian somewhere in our great nation has a decent job and does not need to be on the streets or on welfare.
The current trade rules are extremely advantageous to greedy corporations who sell products made in very poor nations for extremely low salaries and no benefits at all and in some instances very poor working conditions. Of course they do not care and they promote it. Once in a while when they are caught and quickly sing the same old song – ‘OH I HAD NO IDEA THIS WAS HAPPENING’
Susan, hope you feel better soon. We all know Kenney & crew would have implemented the ‘critical structure’ law on day 1 of the Coutt’s blockade had the protestors been BIPOC/environmental or other such ‘lefty’ types. The fact UCP MLA’s took part in those protests – well, guess that tells you what the UCP stands for. Peace, order & good government be damned. Well, if the protestors want the rule of law to be abolished they would do well to remember that means the protections they have under that law disappear too. Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it. Past time to end this. The UCP needs to be voted out asap.
Linda, you’re so right about Kenney’s bias when it comes to who gets nailed under the legislation and who doesn’t.
Now I understand that the Legislature passes the laws and it’s up to the police to enforce them, but I can’t help by wonder whether Kenney’s mealy mouthed tsk tsking at the onset of the blockade emboldened the protesters. Kenney prefaced his comments with the statement that he respected the protesters’ right to protest, but it should be a legal protest, then said he encouraged the protesters to stop the illegal blockade. Given that the protesters don’t seem to be able to distinguish between a legal and an illegal blockade, a more direct message from the premier would have been appropriate.
I know we all want everything right now
Like I want you to be feeling better right now …please feel better
But those police might just be playing a longer game, getting charges rock solid
And look at this :))
https://lethbridgenewsnow.com/2022/02/14/rcmp-arrest-11-coutts-protesters-on-weapons-related-charges/
Hope it is medicine for your soul as your body heals
Happy Valentines Day
Thank you lungta mtn: it appears you were right about the long game.
I hope you have a wonderful Valentines Day too!
I hope you feel better soon. All the gloomy news lately doesn’t help, but I hope that improves as well. I think here in Alberta, many have already lost trust in the government, one that seems to manage COVID as a political issue, not a health one. Federally, I believe not as much, at least not until up to now.
I feel the protesters have lost public sympathy as they went on, perhaps the opposite of what the organizers hoped for, and they are becoming more desperate, which is part of the problem. Some of the political response has been to wait them out and hope they will eventually tire and go away. It might still work, but those protesters are quite hard core and seem to be digging in.
So, it becomes an issue of how to manage the protests through things like noise restrictions and in Ottawa, trying to get them out of residential areas where it is more disruptive. The border blockades are another issue. The most serious one in Ontario seems to have been resolved. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Feds just leave Kenney to deal with the one in southern Alberta.
Of course, this will greatly inconvenience the 90% or so of truckers who aren’t protesting, but they will be able to get across the border at other access points in BC or Sask. The added costs and inconvenience of this will likely be borne mostly by Albertans. I suppose our Premier will have to answer for that. His quick COVID reopening seems to have not helped in resolving this blockade.
Dave, thank you for this comment. As we learned today the Feds aren’t prepared to let Kenney or any of the other premiers resolve these issues on their own. I listened to an interview with Tom Mulcair about Trudeau invoking the Emergencies Act, he supported this decision. And I do too.
It’s important to note that the preamble of the Emergencies Act states the Governor in Council (ie Cabinet) “would be subject to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Canadian Bill of Rights.” Furthermore it must “have regard to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, particularly with respect to those fundamental rights that are not to be limited or abridged even in a national emergency.”
These caveats did not exist in the War Measures Act which predated the Charter.
http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/quebechistory/docs/october/wm-act.htm .
“Good news, everyone!” – H.Farnsworth
Don’t you worry folks, this is getting sorted.
I also saw something about all the names of the donors and their messages of encouragement being leaked…stay tuned.
GoinFawr: the level of US support for the Coal Rollers is an indication of what’s really going on here. As you said, we should all stay tuned.
😣😣😣😣😥😥😥😥😣😣😣😣😲😲😠😠😠
Yvette: your emojis reminded me of how much work we have to do to finally get to 🙂
Hope you are already feeling better Susan…I share a breaking heart with you.
We have a lot to learn from the events of the past 3 weeks – things we should have dealt with many years ago – the rise of fascist militia type groups, the role of ex-military in these groups, how the alt- right have worked their way into national politics, what their funding sources are, ties to the United States’ Trump/Bannon crew, the anti-democratic nature of some police forces along with the organized relentless online violent intimidation of the public, journalists and minorities to the point where this is normalized.
A well known public health advocate in Alberta recently said that the hatred and violence directed towards him has exploded since the Ottawa occupation. How is it possible that healthcare workers, who are saving our lives at great personal cost, have have had so much hatred directed towards them…this has been engineered and encouraged by our own government.
Perhaps the convoy events and occupation will shock us into understanding we now have to make these changes or lose what we have been proud of in our country, imperfect as it is. I am so thankful that the people of Ottawa stood up to these bullies and that most of our kids came to school in Edmonton today with their masks on despite being lied to and gaslit by the Premier and Minister of Education.
I think Trudeau had no choice given the situation and the lack of action elsewhere. I am particularly happy about the changes to financial accountability and tracking. Follow the money is the first thing that needs to be done.
One question remains…what to do about provincial governments which are blithely and recklessly removing modest protections which have allowed so many of us to feel safe. Is this not itself a form of violence?
JCurrie, you’ve raised so many good points. The one I want to pick up on is your comment about the public health advocate who said the vitriol directed towards him has exploded since the Ottawa occupation.
I believe politicians like Kenney paved the way for this. First he attacked healthcare professionals, downplaying the seriousness of covid (he declared it was an endemic in June when he announced the Best Summer Ever). Then when Delta exploded he waited until the last possible minute before imposing public health restrictions. To this day he continues to refer to public health measures as unconstitutional violations of our freedoms (not true). When anti-vax protesters demonstrated in front of hospitals and harassed healthcare workers, his rebuke was mild at best.
And of course he refers to the Coutts protesters as good people (but for the ones charged with criminal offences including conspiracy to murder RCMP officers) who have the right to protest legally. Well, none of those so-called good people were engaged in a legal protest, they were participating in an illegal blockade right from the get go.
The last straw for me was the press conference where he was asked a question about the criminal charges laid at Coutts; he said it was “disturbing” and then added some people tried to “politicize” the government’s delay in dealing with the blockade.
If anyone is politicizing the Coutts blockade it’s Kenney who accelerated the relaxation of public health measures to appease the protesters and his rural caucus.
Susan: I noticed this article, yesterday. What are your thoughts on this?
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/exclusive-alberta-toughen-oil-sands-emissions-standards-that-reward-big-canadian-2022-02-14/
Dwayne, I think this is a small step in the right direction but we still have a long way to go. For example, the focus is on emissions intensity per barrel instead of reducing the absolute number of barrels produced; so while intensity per barrel is dropping (from 2000 – 2017 emissions intensity from the oil sands dropped by 33%), during roughly the same period (2000 – 2019) GHG emissions from the oil sands tripled, thereby increasing GHG for oil and natural gas by 25% (see page 109 and 122 of the federal Energy Fact Book https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/sites/nrcan/files/energy/energy_fact/2021-2022/PDF/2021_Energy-factbook_december23_EN_accessible.pdf
Also large producers can choose to measure their emissions intensity against their own facility’s past performance or against an industry benchmark. This means a producer who produces fewer emissions compared to its past performance, but still produces way more emissions than the industry benchmark will be okay.
Time is running out. We need to get serious about addressing climate change. Baby steps simply don’t cut it.
Coaly Rollers in Alberta found out what it’s like to be terrorists’ useful idiots, and were lucky enough to get away with their lives.
Will the Rollers of Coal in Ottawa figure out they are being used the same way before it’s too late for them and the country? Or are they actually with the terrorists who want to destroy the Canadian political system and install a theocracy seemingly taken from a Margaret Atwood novel?
In a, I am told, wholly unrelated matter: There are 2000 units of St.Valentine’s Day stolen Savage Arms floating around somewhere in Ontario right now. That’s two thousand small arms.
Just suggesting that, like the leader or not, our duly elected federal government has some strong justification for its actions right about now.
On a ridiculously lighter note, it is possible that counter protestors who socially engineered an interruption of the Coaly Rollers communications may have incidentally assisted police in the arrests in the RamRanch raunchiest of ways…. I haven’t confirmed the timing.
GoinFawr: one of the media reports said the 13 protesters joined the Coutts blockade pretty early on. I’m surprised it took this long to ferret them out. And Yes, the theft of 2000 small arms is very concerning. The longer the Ottawa occupation goes on the more dangerous it becomes.
Re: your clever reference to RamRanch; for those as unenlightened as I am, google says it’s a term for fake gay cowboys counter protesting the anti-vax, anti-mandate Convoy by infiltrating their online chat rooms.
https://www.dailydot.com/debug/ram-ranch-resistance-takes-over-trucker-protest-zello/
hahahahaha!
Albertans remember:
Jason Kenney, your United Conservative Party premier of Alberta (home to the Coutts’ border, and where the RCMP discovered the Coaly Rollers’ sizable stash of weaponry and ammunition, along with the intent to use them – facts that bear repeating frequently, IMO) recently spent $3.5-million on a public inquiry into foreign-funded environmentalist campaigns operating in Alberta. That included looking at funding for protests, ad campaigns, etc.
Lets all bear in mind that the Allan Inquiry found no evidence of wrongdoing, NONE.
https://edmontonjournal.com/news/politics/long-awaited-allan-inquiry-report-into-anti-alberta-campaigns-released
No weapons caches uncovered, no plot to overthrow the government or destroy infrastructure or shoot police, just an earnest desire to educate the masses about the pitfalls of burning hydrocarbons, and how to accommodate less being produced. END OF.
But of course the stupid UCP just couldn’t help themselves and spouted off about it anyway seeking to score points amongst their pointy headed base, misrepresenting the facts it uncovered, and so now are being sued by the slandered environmental groups.
The maddening thing for Albertans is they are going to get stuck with another bill on this issue: paying the lawyers to defend Jason Kenney, not to mention Albertans will be the ones paying up when he loses on yet another gamble of your money.
Remember.
Yes the law and order fiscal responsible UCPs are the biggest money loser of all time and supporters of armed goons.
Is this enough to stop Conservatives from implementing their evangelical theocracy? I am still not sure. It seems that at least 20% of Canadians support it and are willing to take up arms to force it on the rest of us. Furthermore they seem to continue denying climate change. Interesting and possibly dangerous time ahead that is for sure.
Susan: Here is another recent development from the UCP. What do you think of this?
https://globalnews.ca/news/8629124/jason-kenney-motion-opposing-emergencies-act/
These are the clowns who created the Critical Infrastructure law, to deal with just this sort of situation, but it didn’t work. This motion is an attempt to distract from their failure.
That’s just the blueslime midget being the spikestrip on the road to prosperity is all.
There should be a police line moving his nibs along if there was any justice.
Let us make endless parking at the trough of taxpayers money with no contribution to Alberta society against the law.
That should kettle most of them.
THE CLOWN wastes more of our money to satisfy his bully instinct – disgraceful
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/jason-kenney-emergencies-act-twitter-1.6358480
Sorry Dwayne I did not realize you had already posted about Jason Kenney’s taking the Feds to court
What a loser this man is – it is hard to believe anyone can have this lack of character or anything for that matter
I think we are learning more and more that we are not that nice after all. What happened in Ottawa was pretty telling and now the party starts for all of them.
I have no empathy for any of them. Time to face reality now and Tamara Lich is now saying she just wants to go home – my goodness she had 3 weeks to go home so now she goes when the judge decides and I hope she will pay the price for what she caused to everyone.
I can only imagine what the cost of this party is going to be.
Yes
Our tolerance is mostly tongue biting silence
3 beer in and the veil rises