Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Forgive me if this has been covered, but the protests are in Ottawa, the national capital. Are the restrictions they are protesting legislated federally?
Because here in Australia, we have some copycat protests in Canberra (our national capital) But most of the rules they are protesting about are legislated by our state governments and outside the control of the feds. For example, in NSW which is the most populated state, all rules stopping unvaxxed entering the state, going to hospitality venues etc were dropped on December 15th. They still apply in most other parts of the country.
I wonder if our protestors really understand the structure of our government and wonder if it is the same in Canada.
The brainwashed protesters prefer to believe that Trudeau/federal government can set and/or cancel provincial health health mandates as it fits the narrative they want to believe in their fantasy version of reality. They seem to have amnesia about recalling that mandates for their province have ALWAYS been announced by their provincial government. Never by Trudeau.
Trudeau does NOT have the constitutional authority to impose or remove provincial mandates. He does have authority to set mandates for federal employees, federally regulated companies and for border crossings.
Border crossing mandates were the original complaint of the truckers but that changed to all mandates after the truckers settled in to Ottawa.
Forgive me if this has been covered, but the protests are in Ottawa, the national capital. Are the restrictions they are protesting legislated federally?
Because here in Australia, we have some copycat protests in Canberra (our national capital) But most of the rules they are protesting about are legislated by our state governments and outside the control of the feds. For example, in NSW which is the most populated state, all rules stopping unvaxxed entering the state, going to hospitality venues etc were dropped on December 15th. They still apply in most other parts of the country.
I wonder if our protestors really understand the structure of our government and wonder if it is the same in Canada.
The protesters' aim originally was about mandatory vaccinations to cross the border into the US. However, that is an AMERICAN requirement. Canada has the same requirement for foreigners crossing into Canada, but they can't prevent a Canadian from returning to Canada.
That morphed very quickly into a hodgepodge of protests, boiling down to no vaccine mandates, which are in fact provincially regulated. So the federal government has no say in that.
But the gist of later additions to the protest were no vaccine mandates, dropping all mask requirements, and having Trudeau step down, with Pat King negotiating a new government with the other federal parties.
Most of the protesters are not truckers. Real truckers are working. They are Dumb Old Boys in pickup trucks. While estimates of trucks have varied, the number I have most often seen is 416 in Toronto. The number of 50,000 truckers came from Pat King and got traction when it was retweeted by hockey player Theo Fleury. When contacted by a reporter over the discrepancy between 50,000 truckers and the actual much lower number, he said "Haven't you heard of marketing?"
Well it looks like this situation has worsened quite a bit in the last 24 hours. Not only were the police not able to re-open the Ambassador Bridge, but now the Coutts, AB / Sweet Grass, MT border crossing is now also "temporarily" closed. Surrey, BC / Blaine, WA is supposedly open, but images show no traffic moving, after the RCMP announced that vehicles broke through their roadblocks and they didn't do anything to stop them, but plan to follow up with the vehicle's owner's later. Ottawa Police are waiting for reinforcements, like that will do any good. As if the protesters don't also have reinforcements on the way.
Give it a few more days and there won't be a crossing open anywhere on the border.
Well it looks like this situation has worsened quite a bit in the last 24 hours. Not only were the police not able to re-open the Ambassador Bridge, but now the Coutts, AB / Sweet Grass, MT border crossing is now also "temporarily" closed. Surrey, BC / Blaine, WA is supposedly open, but images show no traffic moving, after the RCMP announced that vehicles broke through their roadblocks and they didn't do anything to stop them, but plan to follow up with the vehicle's owner's later. Ottawa Police are waiting for reinforcements, like that will do any good. As if the protesters don't also have reinforcements on the way.
Give it a few more days and there won't be a crossing open anywhere on the border.
You're, as are those truckers running RCMP roadblocks, in for a bit of a nasty surprise.
All trucks are identified and drivers will be charged. That ends their border crossing for the next five years and if the police really wish to get nasty - there goes their CDL permit along with their CVOR certificate.
So, if all these clowns know how to do is simply drive a truck, they've just shot themselves in the foot for that - McD's doesn't need any more burger flippers. No trucking firm will hire them with a black marked transcript.
That ultimately means to feed themselves and their families, they'll be reliant upon the welfare provided by that very government they were so stridently screaming about stifling their freedom.
The rest of us get to pick up the tab for their support and their stupidity.
You're, as are those truckers running RCMP roadblocks, in for a bit of a nasty surprise.
All trucks are identified and drivers will be charged. That ends their border crossing for the next five years and if the police really wish to get nasty - there goes their CDL permit along with their CVOR certificate.
So, if all these clowns know how to do is simply drive a truck, they've just shot themselves in the foot for that - McD's doesn't need any more burger flippers. No trucking firm will hire them with a black marked transcript.
That ultimately means to feed themselves and their families, they'll be reliant upon the welfare provided by that very government they were so stridently screaming about stifling their freedom.
The rest of us get to pick up the tab for their support and their stupidity.
Which doesn't change the fact that another border crossing is now closed and the police are doing nothing to reopen it.
The brainwashed protesters prefer to believe that Trudeau/federal government can set and/or cancel provincial health health mandates as it fits the narrative they want to believe in their fantasy version of reality. They seem to have amnesia about recalling that mandates for their province have ALWAYS been announced by their provincial government. Never by Trudeau.
Trudeau does NOT have the constitutional authority to impose or remove provincial mandates. He does have authority to set mandates for federal employees, federally regulated companies and for border crossings.
Border crossing mandates were the original complaint of the truckers but that changed to all mandates after the truckers settled in to Ottawa.
So the situation is much as it is here. The federal government controls aged care facilities so can mandate masks and vaccinations for their staff but not in hospitals as they are controlled by the states. The states can and have closed their borders as our constitution allows it for reasons of health (has been challenged and upheld in court several times) The protestors go on about their constitutional rights but we do not have a bill of rights in our constitution.
Very frustrating for you all. Has not yet done too much damage here and 94% of the population over 16 are vaccinated. But that remaining 6% may yet cause havoc, that is still over a million people.
So the situation is much as it is here. The federal government controls aged care facilities so can mandate masks and vaccinations for their staff but not in hospitals as they are controlled by the states.
Correct on hospitals--they're provincial--but not on old-age homes. Here, those are provincial too.
All of the dithering about stopping this is making it look like they have more support then they do.
My city was a staging area for vehicles coming from Northern BC. I hear they had a good turnout for send off. I thought it was stupid so had no interest in attending.
The first weekend there was a rally for them. I'll go with the organizers numbers that there were over 600 vehicles and 1,000 people plus people waving signs on the side of the road as they drove around town.
I didn't hear anything after the fact about the one last Saturday so I don't know how it went. All I heard of it was someone telling someone else that he didn't go because the anti-vaxxers have taken over. I know that the local newspaper didn't send a reporter or photographer to the first event because the local anti-vaxxers have been abusive when they are reporting on the anti-vaxxer protests at schools and clinics (see link below).
Come to our event, not for honest reporting, but so that we can call you names, yell in your face and try to wreck your stuff? No thanks."
I drove by the staging area today. I'll give them a few hundred vehicles. There were way fewer vehicles then the first one. There were some women trying to get the traffic driving by to honk their support. None of us did. I have no idea if they had support around town.
I feel so sorry for the people of downtown Ottawa. All these idiots showing up to party every weekend and claiming that they are there to free everyone. I know people are there from my area. I periodically go through all of the different social media postings to see if I recognize any one. I don't care if they are there. I just know how some of them act at the best of times so expect they will make one of the people acting badly videos.
All of the dithering about stopping this is making it look like they have more support then they do.
My city was a staging area for vehicles coming from Northern BC. I hear they had a good turnout for send off. I thought it was stupid so had no interest in attending.
The first weekend there was a rally for them. I'll go with the organizers numbers that there were over 600 vehicles and 1,000 people plus people waving signs on the side of the road as they drove around town.
I didn't hear anything after the fact about the one last Saturday so I don't know how it went. All I heard of it was someone telling someone else that he didn't go because the anti-vaxxers have taken over. I know that the local newspaper didn't send a reporter or photographer to the first event because the local anti-vaxxers have been abusive when they are reporting on the anti-vaxxer protests at schools and clinics (see link below).
Come to our event, not for honest reporting, but so that we can call you names, yell in your face and try to wreck your stuff? No thanks."
I drove by the staging area today. I'll give them a few hundred vehicles. There were way fewer vehicles then the first one. There were some women trying to get the traffic driving by to honk their support. None of us did. I have no idea if they had support around town.
I feel so sorry for the people of downtown Ottawa. All these idiots showing up to party every weekend and claiming that they are there to free everyone. I know people are there from my area. I periodically go through all of the different social media postings to see if I recognize any one. I don't care if they are there. I just know how some of them act at the best of times so expect they will make one of the people acting badly videos.
That was interesting and it led me to another interesting op-ed that might add more clarity for those outside of Canada who are seeking to understand the origins of this protest https://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/...rudeau-5042309
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Ottawa Police are waiting for reinforcements, like that will do any good. As if the protesters don't also have reinforcements on the way. 
