Tag Archives: Freedom Convoy

Debating Democracy

Canadian Members of Parliament were supposed to be home today, meeting with their constituents. Instead, the House of Commons is sitting (though some MPs will be attending on Zoom). We are in a national “crisis” after all. MPs spent the weekend debating whether the Liberal government was right to invoke the Emergencies Act last Monday […]

Not With A Bang

By the time you read this, the truckers’ protest in Ottawa may be over. But many questions remain. Police on Friday and Saturday pushed demonstrators away from Parliament Hill. I watched a lot of it as it was happening, as many of the demonstrators were streaming the actions live. It seemed like a typically Candian […]

Canadian Justice

You don’t expect to hear the words “secret court hearing” when it is the Canadian legal system being discussed. For those who believe in the fundamental principles of justice it is a little unnerving. Those behind the class action lawsuit against the truckers’ convoy that has parked in downtown Ottawa for more than theree weeks […]

Scenes of Protest

I took a detour from my usual route Wednesday and walked through a couple of blocks of the ongoing truckers protest in downtown Ottawa, Freedom Convoy 2022. I figured it might be my last chance to obsereve first-hand. Police were suggesting that they might actually start to take action to remove some demonstrators and trucks […]

Just Watch Him!

Canada is now under martial law for the first time in more than 50 years. Except it isn’t. The government has invoked the Emergencies Act, however the Prime minister has said he is not calling in the military to deal with the truckers’ protest or suspending anyone’s civil liberties. Needless to say, this has many […]

The Cost of Disobedience

When I was a teenager, I was shown how best to sit on the pavement as I was waiting to be arrested. The idea was to minimize harm as the police were carting me away. I’ve been thinking about the concept of civil disobedience in the wake of the ongoing truckers’ protest that has paralyzed […]

Fire The Prime Minister?

When Freedom Convoy 2022 was announced, the truckers’ supporting groups stated the intention was to go to Ottawa, where they hoped the Governor General and the Senate acting together would form a citizen’s commmittee and act as a government, in effect removing the Prime Minister and the House of Commons. That goal has since been […]

Seeing For Myself

It wasn’t enough to watch the feeds being streamed on Facebook and YouTube, I needed to see for myself.  I had seen the truckers’ protest a couple of days last week, once in the daytime and another at night, but it was just a matter of walking through the trucks on my way to somewhere […]

Pictures of Insurrection

The city councillor for my ward (who is also chair of the police services board) was on the radio Monday talking about the “insurrection” in downtown Ottawa. The former governor of the Bank of Canada has labeled the ongoing truckers’ protest as “sedition.” What the media fails to mention in quoting these two politicians is […]

Saturday Smiles

I have written quite a bit about the ongoing truckers’ protest in Ottawa this week, but I’m letting it percolate for a bit before sharing it. Part of my problem is that I sympathize with the residents of Centretown who are tired of the noise and traffic jam and just want their lives back. Understandably, […]