How'd I Miss The Canadian Intelligence Community Assessment That The Freedom Convoy Is Russian?

dailymail |  Canada's state broadcaster, the Canadian Broadcasting Company, is spreading a bizarre and unfounded conspiracy theory that 'Russian actors' are behind the 'Freedom Convoy' trucker vaccine mandate protests currently being held in Ottawa and at the US border.

During a broadcast Friday on the CBC - which is funded by the Canadian government - anchor Nil Koksal offered Parliament member Marco Mendicino the theory, citing the country's current relationship with the Ukraine, a former Soviet nation currently at odds with Russia, as evidence.

'Given Canada's support of Ukraine, in this current crisis with Russia, I don't know if it's far-fetched to ask,' Koksal told Mendicino, the county's minister of public safety, during the Friday interview. 'But there is concern that Russian actors could be continuing to fuel things as this protest grows. Perhaps even instigating it from, from the outset.'

The Freedom Convoy, a coalition of 50,000 drivers protesting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's vaccine mandate for cross-border truckers that formed last month, has been described as a grassroots movement and has no known ties to Russia.  

Protests began in Ottawa last month on January 23 and at the US-Canada border in Alberta on Saturday and are still going strong, despite warnings from Royal Canadian Mounted Police that things will get ugly for revelers if they do not abandon their 'Freedom Convoy' campaign, where tens of thousands of truckers have blocked crucial roads at both locations with their parked vehicles.

Trudeau, 50, has refused to meet with the group to discuss their qualms with his new policy, which was put into effect in January and requires Canadian truckers to be vaccinated in order to enter and exit the country on their routes.  

On Tuesday, after four days of protests, police threatened to arrest truckers blockading the US border in Alberta unless they leave the area immediately.

Two Weeks Ago Sloly Asked For Help, Today He Got A Foot In His Ass...,

cbc  |   "Chief Sloly and the Ottawa Police Service have been working, with our policing partners, around the clock for three weeks to end this illegal occupation of our city," the statement said.

"This unprecedented situation, well beyond the experience of any municipal policing body in Canada, has put tremendous strain on all our officers."

The statement said the Ottawa Police Service is working with the OPP and RCMP to establish a joint incident command that it says will see more resources and expertise made available to help end what many are calling the occupation of the nation's capital.

"In future there will be an opportunity for a full review of the operation, but right now it is time to work together with our partners and focus on ending this illegal occupation," the statement said.

OPS media relations told CBC News no one was available for an interview.

The Globe and Mail recently noted that while Sloly has faced criticism for his handling of some issues, he was not known in policing circles as someone quick to resort to heavy-handed measures.

During a special meeting of the Ottawa Police Services Board Friday, police board chair Coun. Diane Deans defended Sloly's response to the crisis, saying that despite requests for help issued to the province and the federal government the OPS still did not have the resources it needed to end the occupation of the city. 

The Ottawa Police Service is "working tirelessly with the resources they have and there has been some progress. There have been over 1,700 tickets issued, there have been at least 25 arrests, police have been working to seize fuel, they've made progress on clamping down on the encampment at Coventry Rd. and in Confederation Park, but it's not enough," Deans said at the meeting.

"We do not have the resource requirement that we have asked for at this point."

Deans declined an interview request from CBC News Monday when asked about specific allegations related to Sloly's behaviour as chief of police.

Trudeau Sayyin It Don't Mean Much, But Now That His Ukro-Nazi Testicles Have Spoken...,

canada |  Around the world, liberal democracies have been facing serious and sustained threats.

We may have thought – we may have hoped – that Canada would be spared. Over the past two and a half weeks, we have learned that it is not.

This occupation and these blockades are causing serious harm to our economy, to our democratic institutions, and to Canada’s international standing.

The world’s confidence in Canada as a place to invest and do business is being undermined.

These illegal blockades are doing great damage to Canada’s economy and to our reputation as a reliable trading partner.

The blockade of the Ambassador Bridge has affected about $390 million in trade each day. This bridge supports 30 percent of all trade by road between Canada and the United States, our most important trading partner.

In Coutts, Alberta, about $48 million in daily trade has been affected by the blockades.

In Emerson, Manitoba, about $73 million in daily trade has been affected by the blockades.

Those costs are real. They threaten businesses big and small. And they threaten the livelihoods of Canadian workers, just as we are all working so hard to recover from the economic damage caused by COVID-19.

We fought tooth and nail to protect Canada’s privileged trading relationship with the United States during the NAFTA negotiations and in the face of the illegal and unjustified 232 tariffs.

We will not allow that hard-won success to be compromised. The world is watching. Our jobs, our prosperity, and our livelihoods are at stake.

That is why our government is taking action. We are resolute and determined. These illegal blockades must and will end.

As part of invoking the Emergencies Act, we are announcing the following immediate actions:

First: we are broadening the scope of Canada’s anti-money laundering and terrorist financing rules so that they cover crowdfunding platforms and the payment service providers they use. These changes cover all forms of transactions, including digital assets such as cryptocurrencies.

The illegal blockades have highlighted the fact that crowdfunding platforms, and some of the payment service providers they use, are not fully captured under the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act.

Our banks and financial institutions are already obligated to report to the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada, or FINTRAC. As of today, all crowdfunding platforms, and the payment service providers they use, must register with FINTRAC and must report large and suspicious transactions to FINTRAC.

This will help mitigate the risk that these platforms receive illicit funds; increase the quality and quantity of intelligence received by FINTRAC; and make more information available to support investigations by law enforcement into these illegal blockades.

We are making these changes because we know that these platforms are being used to support illegal blockades and illegal activity, which is damaging the Canadian economy.

The government will also bring forward legislation to provide these authorities to FINTRAC on a permanent basis.

Second: the government is issuing an order with immediate effect, under the Emergencies Act, authorizing Canadian financial institutions to temporarily cease providing financial services where the institution suspects that an account is being used to further the illegal blockades and occupations. This order covers both personal and corporate accounts.

Third: we are directing Canadian financial institutions to review their relationships with anyone involved in the illegal blockades and report to the RCMP or CSIS.

As of today, a bank or other financial service provider will be able to immediately freeze or suspend an account of an individual or business affiliated with these illegal blockades without a court order. In doing so, they will be protected against civil liability.

Federal government institutions will have a new broad authority to share relevant information with banks and other financial service providers to ensure that we can all work together to put a stop to the funding of these illegal blockades.

This is about following the money. This is about stopping the financing of these illegal blockades. We are today serving notice: if your truck is being used in these protests, your corporate accounts will be frozen. The insurance on your vehicle will be suspended. Send your semi-trailers home. The Canadian economy needs them to be doing legitimate work, not to be illegally making us all poorer.

We are announcing these measures after careful reflection. I spoke directly with the heads of Canadian banks and I would like to commend them for doing their part to uphold Canadian laws and Canadian democracy, and to protect our economy.

Team Canada has stood together over the past two years. We have trusted one another. We have leaned on one another. 

What we are facing today is a threat to our democratic institutions, to our economy, and to peace, order, and good government in Canada. This is unacceptable. It cannot stand and it will not stand.

Even Declaring Discretionary Martial Law Canada's Political Leadership Is Too Fruity To Take Seriously

cbc  |   Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has told his caucus he will invoke the never-before-used Emergencies Act to give the federal government extra powers to handle anti-vaccine mandate protests across the country, sources say.

Those sources, who were not authorized to speak publicly, said the prime minister informed the premiers of his decision this morning.

The Emergencies Act, which replaced the War Measures Act in the 1980s, defines a national emergency as a temporary "urgent and critical situation" that "seriously endangers the lives, health or safety of Canadians and is of such proportions or nature as to exceed the capacity or authority of a province to deal with it."

It gives special powers to the prime minister to respond to emergency scenarios affecting public welfare (natural disasters, disease outbreaks), public order (civil unrest), international emergencies or war emergencies.

• Government considering emergency powers with 'appropriate caution,' federal minister says

• Opportunity to end convoy protest peacefully is slipping away, experts say

The act grants cabinet the ability to "take special temporary measures that may not be appropriate in normal times" to cope with an "urgent and critical situation" and the resulting fallout. It is still subject to the protections of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Once cabinet declares an emergency, it takes effect right away — but the government still needs to go to Parliament within seven days to get approval. If either the Commons or the Senate votes against the motion, the emergency declaration is revoked.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said Monday that while he sees the prime minister's decision to turn to the Emergencies Act as "proof of a failure of leadership," he will support the declaration — which should secure its passage through a minority Parliament.

"The reason why we got to this point is because the prime minister let the siege in Ottawa go on for weeks and weeks without actually doing anything about it, allowed the convoy to shut down borders without responding appropriately," he said.

The Left Can't Do A Trucker Protest Because It Lacks The Right's Decentralized Capacity For Violence

ianwelsh  |  The left cannot do what the truckers do because if they did, they would be shut down with extreme violence — if they were even allowed to get going. Remember, the Ottawa police chief let the truckers set up, knowing in advance what they were going to do.

Note also, that the right uses decentralized action a lot. Their shooters are created by their ideology, but act individually. The truckers may have organization, but they are individuals. Each truck has to be seized individually. There is some central organization, and when its visible it’s taken out (the shut down of the GoFundMe) but mostly it’s buried in the financial and third-party weeds. Ezra Levant of Rebel news, for example, hired a lawyer to fight parking tickets for the truckers. He’s not directly involved so far as we know yet, but he is indirectly involved.

Then there’s Ontario’s Prime Minister, Doug Ford. Doug could have this stuff broken up easily, and if it truly does need the military, he’s the person with the authority to call them in (the Feds arguably can’t without passing a new law). Doug’s daughter is with the protesters.

FDR alleged (but only allegedly) once said, “You’ve convinced me. I agree with what you’ve said. Now go out and make me do it.” Doug almost certainly agrees with the truckers, but he knows that polling is against him.

“Make me do it.”

Killing people for the market is economic orthodoxy. Impoverishing people so the rich can get richer is economic orthodoxy. Taking care of people, in the US, Canada, and Britain is against the ruling ideology — it is actually not legitimate. (It is in China and Japan, as people there are viewed as productive assets, not as assets to be mined.)

For unions to do what the truckers do they would have to start by decentralizing. No significant  headquarters, few assets to be seized, and leadership that doesn’t matter because anyone can lead. If the “president” is locked up, it doesn’t matter because someone else steps up, and regular members know what to do anyway.

Plus, there needs to an implicit threat. “If you take us out by force, we will keep showing up, and you can’t lock us all up.” The “truckers” (most truckers disagree with them, including the Teamsters) belong to a movement that shows up at school board meetings, that pickets hospitals & legislatures and threatens nurses, and that is generally perceived as dangerous. Politicians don’t feel entirely safe using force and law against them, though this is (or was) far more true in the US than in Canada. The left has spent generations telling themselves that violence is always bad and that even the threat of it should never ever even be considered because Gandhi, Gandhi, Gandhi.

All people are equal, but some people are more equal than others. All protests are equal, but some protests are more equal. Some ideologies are far more equal than others.

Of Course The Origin Of The Protest Was Economic (As Was Its Ending...,)

bbc  |  If the Ottawa protest has caused maximum community disturbance, then the Windsor protest caused maximum economic disruption by shutting down one of the country's major trade arteries, the Ambassador Bridge linking Windsor with Detroit, Michigan.

More than $323m (£238m) in goods crosses that bridge every day, and for nearly a week, not a dollar has made it to the US or back.

Almost half of that is from the trade of car parts, says Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers Association.

He does not mince words when it comes to the protest.

"In Windsor we have at its core, several dozen people who are macroeconomically illiterate and absolutely disrespectful of their own community, that they would imperil the economy of the region to make a point," he said.

"Never has a tantrum cost so many people so much."

After the clearance operation, police remained behind. The bridge will reopen on Sunday or Monday.

But Volpe said the harm to the auto-parts industry will last much longer than that, because it will take three to four days to get the supply chain fully functional. The total cost of lost production and shipments he estimates at about C$1b ($790m, £580m).

He also said the damage to Canada's reputation with its US trading partner is devastating, especially as American politicians push for protectionist policies.

In a statement, Windsor police say there will be "zero tolerance" for any illegal activity. But how they will stop further blockades from springing up, while still keeping the bridge open, remains to be seen.

Sergeant Betteridge said he hopes the occupants feel they were heard and realise that further disruption is not required.

"The protesters came wanting to get a message across, and I think they did get a message across," he said.

"If anyone is thinking of breaking the law, they've seen what has happened here."

 

Canadian Vax Mandate Would Damage Owner-Operators Ability To Earn A Living

The origin of the truckers protest was economic – stemming from the  mandatory 14-day quarantine for unvaccinated drivers after crossing the border. As owner operators, this would have restricted their ability to make a livelihood. The protest then morphed into something else.

canada  |   Today, the Minister of Health, the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, the Minister of Transport, the Honourable Omar Alghabra, and the Minister of Public Safety, the Honourable Marco Mendicino, issued the following statement:

"On November 19, 2021, we announced that as of January 15, 2022, certain categories of travellers who are currently exempt from entry requirements, will only be allowed to enter the country if they are fully vaccinated with one of the vaccines approved for entry into Canada.

These groups include several essential service providers, including truck drivers. Let us be clear: This has not changed. The information shared yesterday was provided in error. Our teams have been in touch with industry representatives to ensure they have the correct information.

A Canadian truck driver who is not fully vaccinated can't be denied entry into Canada—Canadian citizens, persons registered as Indians under the Indian Act and permanent residents may enter Canada by right.

As announced in November and as we've communicated with the industry recently, starting January 15, unvaccinated Canadian truck drivers entering Canada will need to meet requirements for pre-entry, arrival and Day 8 testing, as well as quarantine requirements.

The final decision regarding entry and quarantine is made by a government representative at the port of entry, based on the information presented to them at the time.

Any individual who is symptomatic upon arrival to Canada will be directed to a Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) official and will be directed to isolate for 10 days from the time they enter Canada .

As of January 15, 2022, unvaccinated or partially vaccinated foreign national truck drivers, coming to Canada from the US by land, will be directed back to the United States.

To qualify as a fully vaccinated traveller and to enter Canada, foreign national truck drivers must:

• have received at least two doses of a vaccine accepted for travel, a mix of two accepted vaccines
  • or at least one dose of the Janssen/Johnson & Johnson vaccine
• have received their second dose at least 14 full days before they enter Canada
  • For example: if a driver received their second dose anytime on Saturday, January 1, then Sunday, January 16 would be the first day that they would meet the 14-day condition.
• Have submitted all required COVID-19 information into ArriveCAN.

Freedom Is Dangerous - (Ironically Under The Guardian's Old Comment Is Free Banner)

theguardian |  “Freedom” protests similar in form and simultaneously nebulous in broadly anti-vax/anti-mandate political goals have materialised in Britain, France and New Zealand. A convoy claiming to originate from across Europe is making its way towards Brussels. An ongoing gathering that locals alternately describe as “Spring Break for QAnon” or “Camp Covid” is encamped outside Australian Parliament House in Canberra.

Across these countries, protestors appear as a wild herd of “sovcit”, anti-vaxxer, QAnonner and more nefarious fellow travellers, alongside some more ordinary people. Sometimes it’s hard to tell whether social media content about these events has been gathered by extremism monitors, or comedians.

Participants unwilling to be injected with a free vaccine safely used on hundreds of millions of people further advise each other that drinking one’s own wee is curative and somehow “camel urine deals with cancer”. Monitors observe attendees costumed as paramedics, pilots and deceased Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Someone really wears a tinfoil hat.

In New Zealand, the monitors themselves hijacked the Telegram and Zello channels the protestors use to organise. They’ve sown chaos and crammed the convoy’s Spotify playlist with songs like Redneck Piece of White Trash, Why Don’t You Get a Job and Dumb Fuck.

In Canada, protestors have used their vehicles to blockade entire Ottawa neighbourhoods, erecting jumping castles and even saunas. Participants stiffly stage ceremonies to anoint one another faux powers of police. Amid the carnival of crank it all reads like character-based black comedy … but this investment in a parallel reality is not satire. It’s not performance. It’s complete. It’s terrifying.

Wherever this “freedom movement” manifests, a similar cast of characters emerges. Light-in-the-eyes zealots holler conspiracy theories. Grifters solicit to camera like a roll of tabloid clickbait. Burly, closed-mouth types appear to be handling secretive logistics. Around them are impassioned, often inarticulate – and poorly-costumed – clowns.

Don’t let the ridiculousness distract from the threat.

I spent a year undercover in the broadly QAnon movement researching a book; I understand well why democratic citizens may struggle to take seriously the crossed streams of alien lizard aficionados, drink-your-own-wee health enthusiasts and those people who believe democrats eat children’s faces. Even while besieged in his capital and struggling to contain the protests, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau hasn’t yet called in the army; he’s made the point that in more than 80%-vaxxed Canada, those protesting vaccine mandates are indeed a “fringe” – the truckers aren’t backed by their unions, more than 90% of their industry is vaccinated. The tomfoolery in Canberra could not be considered a representative movement of Australians either. Like New Zealanders and the Europeans, we’re a country with a high vaccination rate too.

 

Secret Money, Cross Border Insurgents, Oh My....,

thestar  |  Canadian intelligence and policing has not kept up with the “clear and present danger” represented by these well-funded groups of angry young men.

The most alarming revelation, though, is the large hole that has been blown in our walls of protection against foreign influence in Canadian political life. Conservative hysteria pre-pandemic about American environmental foundations’ funding of green groups here turned out to simply be that — hysteria.

In Alberta, the Kenney government spent millions of public dollars trying to find the secret bank accounts and found pennies. Conservatives’ reactions to the revelation that the militant truckers have access to millions of American dollars — with the promise of millions more from international neo-fascist allies — will be interesting. This flood of cash is a genuine threat to the sovereignty of Canadian democracy.

A chilling incident unfolded before my eyes this week, as I drove by the truckers’ Ottawa compound. Suddenly, two large black SUVs swept past me and turned into the protest command centre. They had New York state plates. Interestingly, they had no insignia, no flags and no slogans anywhere; they wanted to be invisible. It was an almost cinematic moment, with the bad guys surfacing at the scene of the crime.

We now need to reconsider how we prevent the flow of secret money from the U.S. into the hands of Canadian militants — or worse, from there into the war chests of the People’s Party of Canada, or even Conservative candidates. Our current election finance laws were not written to deal with this type of interference. Neither do we have the investigatory or prosecution expertise to track it being washed through third parties.

The successful blockade of three of the nation’s important north-south trucking corridors is ominous. How do we harden our ability to prevent this? Unless this ends soon with fines and even prison sentences, it sets a damaging precedent. That owners of heavy equipment or RVs can blockade a bridge, highway or an entire city is unacceptable in a democracy. Now that heavy tow truck owners have caved to the truckers’ threats, there is literally no one to remove the insurgents.

Former defence minister David Pratte eloquently summed up the inevitable end to this impasse, declaring that Ottawa has every right to use the military. He aptly observed that “when there is no one else to turn to, the military are there as a disciplined, well-trained and professional body to take orders under strict rules of engagement and get a job done. The Ottawa occupation should be treated as a national emergency. If allowed to continue, it will breed disrespect for the law … It will encourage others who abuse the constitutionally protected right to protest and who weaponize the concept of freedom.”

 

The Outbreak Of Civil War Is Political Chess, Not Checkers...,

Societies are subject to revolution when an elite faction wants it, the enforcer class is unwilling to defend the status quo, and there is a significant popular faction who want change. All three are generally necessary.

The Ottawa incident is conspicuously overshadowed by the Ambassador Bridge blockade, because the latter has serious economic consequences. We will soon know exactly how serious the Canadian Conservative Party is if the Detroit-Windsor choke point isn’t rapidly cleared. (It began clearing up Saturday morning - following an enhanced show of force)

The bridge blockades to date haven’t been happening to provinces like B.C or Quebec, but provinces with Conservative Premiers like Doug Ford (brother of Rob Ford) and Jason Kenney. It’s almost as though the protestors know that the authorities in those provinces won’t take steps to rein them in.

If I were among Canada’s current rulers, I’d be worried, not by the left, but by the right. The left doesn’t have an elite faction supporting it or the complicity of at least some police.

The vast majority of Canadian covid restrictions are provincial, not federal. The federal ones (international travel and air transport) are high-profile.

This makes it easy to sort the partisans partisans by the nature of their complaints – if the Feds/Trudeau are at fault for everything, they’re either hard-core conservatives or outright sympathizers. If [insert conservative premier(s)] are at fault for everything, they’re hardcore Liberal (possibly NDP). [Does not apply to Quebec, one half-hour later in Newfoundland.]

Ontario’s premier, Doug Ford, is keeping his head down and wants this all to fall to Trudeau – it’s not like he’s out there actively helping Ottawa, mobilizing police, or clarifying which rules are provincial. He has an election coming up in June this year. This approach is mostly being repeated in other provinces, with some differences (Quebec very different) – blame the feds, duck and cover.

It’s also very clear that Ford and others would far, far prefer the Feds have to mobilize federal resources instead of them – i.e. the military (because RCMP is provincial police force in many provinces). Trudeau does not want to be the second Trudeau to deploy the military domestically (that would drive the right berserk in a bad way).

Provincial announcements lifting restrictions (or setting timelines) have made it pretty clear the convoy protestors/their leadership (widely referred to here as #FluTrucksKlan) really do not care about the policy specifics – the only core, unmutable thing they want is Trudeau’s resignation. Draw your own conclusions.

It has not helped that the conservative party is going through its own throes of deciding between the somewhat-moderate leadership of O’Toole or throwing him under the bus and doubling down on social conservatives and anti_Trudeau everything.

O’Toole’s gone and everyone angling to replace him has been flirting with the protests – swerving back to hrumph-hrumph when they sense it’s getting really unpopular. Not that anyone expected courage from the federal conservatives, but unified party leadership might have kept the twitter-happy from getting too far over their skis and outright associating with the very nasty parts of the protest. (We shall see but I think this will hurt them long-term)

There are lots of ‘normal Canadians’ who symphathize with parts of the ‘movement’ complaints about covid restrictions. Some of those non-awful people are out protesting. Some will come out and hold signs supporting. Some just say ‘I don’t like this convoy stuff, but I am pissed off about …[insert own thing].” No-one I know thinks schools have been handled well – not a single person – but they mostly disagree about what should have been done. (Schools of course entirely provincial responsibility, some delegation to municipalities – but that doesn’t stop about a quarter of the pop from blaming Trudeau anyway).

But the leadership of the convoys is a different matter – they’ve just found a social wave they can surf and grift. Most of these have just been throwing lines out hoping for a hit for ages.

Ottawa Police Services Chief Peter Sloly Is In A Tough Spot

theline |  I don't honestly know the backstory of the how and why the Ottawa protest was allowed to settle into the downtown core the way it did. It was obviously a massive intelligence and planning failure, but what kind of failure? And whose? Did they not have enough information? Bad information? Did they have good information that, for whatever reason, they didn’t accept or trust? That's not the sort of thing you can discover wandering the site. But I can tell you that some of the protesters themselves are surprised by how easy it was for them to set up shop.

I have the terrible feeling, and I've spoken with five separate sources in government roles or in adjacent security positions who all confirmed this, that Sloly is one of the damn few people in Ottawa who understands the situation he's in, and he's trying to get everyone else to notice, or at least to catch up to his understanding. My sources, alas, seem to think that most others involved in decision-making are only just now starting to realize the enormity of the challenge in the capital. Sloly figured it out last week.

The chief is very political. I say that with no disrespect. Becoming the chief of a major police force isn't something that happens because you catch the most bad guys. It happens because you're good at working your way up through the power structures of a very particular institution. Sloly talks like a politician. But if you listen closely, and if you follow along across his briefings, you start to see a theme. From the moment he first mentioned that there might not be a policing solution to this protest, and hinted that we need the armed forces, he's been signalling to the public that Ottawa, as a city, has lost control of itself. That's a blunt description, but as I noted in a Twitter thread after a pretty remarkably stark Ottawa Police Services Board meeting on the weekend, Sloly was clear: the city needs to be rescued. It has lost control, it is outnumbered, and it cannot fix this problem with the resources on hand. 

Rescued from what? The crowd around Parliament Hill is mostly — not entirely, but mostly — peaceful. I grant that; I've seen it with my own eyes. And a few minutes' walk from those sites, now that the horns have been largely silenced by a court order, the city feels quite normal. The idea that Ottawa needs rescuing may seem absurd, but it's not. The longer this goes on, the harder it will become to convince the protesters to leave, and the harder it will be to stop others from joining in. The Ambassador Bridge, which links Windsor to Detroit, is now blocked. Would that have happened if Ottawa had been cleared quickly and decisively?

The inaction that has so infuriated Ottawans, and the very visible displays of police ineffectiveness as protesters fuel trucks from jerrycans despite the city’s stated plan to stop such activity, cannot be easily explained, and no doubt has multiple contributing causes. Some is probably simply political expediency, with all the various leaders wanting someone else to take the blame in case it goes badly (which it likely will). Some is probably just necessary delay while plans are made and logistics arranged. And then there’s just the good, old-fashioned problem of our expectations being a problem, as I’ve written about here. Canadian officials are struggling to realize just how deep in the muck they are, despite what seems like increasingly exasperated efforts by Sloly (and I believe a few others) to get them caught up to the present. I don't think most of our leaders are there yet.

Also, there’s this: there's another element of the protest that's nothing at all like a festival.

 

Freedom Convoy Has Tactics And Strategy Informed By Police And Military Training

cbc  |  For nearly two weeks anti-vaccine mandate demonstrators and their big rigs have entrenched themselves in Ottawa's parliamentary district and its neighbourhoods.

Despite a strategic strike by police to cut off supplies to truckers encamped in the city's downtown core, protesters appear to still have the upper hand on police. 

It's a success that experts partly attribute to the deep knowledge of law enforcement and military tactics that exist in the convoy's organizational structure.

The group Police on Guard, formed during the pandemic, has endorsed the truck convoy. On its website, it publicly identifies more than 150 mostly retired police officers who are against government-imposed public health measures, such as vaccine mandates. More than 50 former Canadian Forces soldiers are also named on its site.

The organization says it has "boots on the ground" in Ottawa and has linked to YouTube videos of its members participating in the protest.

Furthermore, the leadership team for the protesters calling themselves the Freedom Convoy includes:  

• Daniel Bulford, a former RCMP officer who was on the prime minister's security detail. He quit last year after refusing to get the vaccine and is the convoy's head of security.

• Tom Quiggin, a former military intelligence officer who also worked with the RCMP and was considered one of the country's top counter-terrorism experts.

Tom Marazzo, an ex-military officer who, according to his LinkedIn profile, served in the Canadian Forces for 25 years and now works as a freelance software developer. 

The leaders of the Freedom Convoy refuse to be interviewed by journalists unless they consider them friendly to their cause, and CBC News has been barred from their media conferences. In a video posted from one of those news conferences posted on social media, Quiggin gives his assessment of the political and police response in Ottawa, which he calls "the opposition." 

"I would say the opposition at this point doesn't actually have a strategy. They have a sort of weak goal and that they want the streets cleared, but they have no real idea how they want to get there," he said.

In the video, Quiggin says that during his tenure at the RCMP, he worked with the Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (INSET). INSET was created to thwart terror threats following 9/11 and includes top officials from CSIS, Canada's spy agency, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and municipal police forces.

It's unclear what Quiggin's role at INSET was at the time.

In that same video, he referenced the blockades at the border crossing in Coutts, Alta., and parallel protests in Toronto, Quebec City and Sarnia.

Trudeau's Empty Threats - Freedom Truckers Still On The Ambassador Bridge

dailymail  | Freedom Convoy truckers are STILL on US-Canada bridge after both a 7 pm court AND midnight deadline from Ontario police to forcibly remove them came and went

• Freedom Convoy truckers are still on the US-Canada Ambassador Bridge - in defiance of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's 7pm and then midnight deadlines to clear the road on Friday
• Protesters blocking the busiest land border in North America - the bridge between Detroit and Windsor -  refused to leave, despite a Canadian judge on Friday evening granting an injunction against their presence
• Ottawa police were on the scene with threats to forcibly remove the truckers who have been blocking the busy bridge for days
• But the big showdown never came as police declined to move in on the hundreds of protesters milling around on the comparatively mild 38 degrees Fahrenheit evening
• Police patrol cars were parked with their lights flashing, but few officers were visible. 
• Conservative Ontario Premier Doug Ford on Friday declared a state of emergency, threatening fines and jail 
• US group 'Convoy to Save America' is launching convoys from Nashville and New York City this weekend
  

Juliette Kayyem Said The Quiet Part Out Loud Or Why 3-Letter Agencies Put America Last...,

zerohedge |  Harvard professor, CNN analyst and former Obama admin undersecretary of Homeland Security Juliette Kayyem has called for violence and vandalism against Freedom Convoy protesters who have amassed on the bridge that connects Detroit, Michigan to Windsor, Ontario.

The convoy protest, applauded by right wing media as a "freedom protest," is an economic and security issue now. The Ambassador Bridge link constitutes 28% of annual trade movement between US and Canada. Slash the tires, empty gas tanks, arrest the drivers, and move the trucks ✔️ https://t.co/nvRQTfPWir

— Juliette Kayyem (@juliettekayyem) February 10, 2022

"The Ambassador Bridge link constitutes 28% of annual trade movement between US and Canada," tweeted Kayyem. "Slash the tires, empty gas tanks, arrest the drivers, and move the trucks."

In addition to a monumentally stupid idea considering the logistics of moving trucks with no fuel and slashed tires, one has to wonder if Kayyem is saying the quiet part out loud when it comes to how Democrats respond to non-BLM protests.

The blockade, now in its fourth day, has drawn the attention of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who called on Canadian authorities to reopen the bridge, according to the Epoch Times.

"The blockade is having a significant impact on Michigan’s working families who are just trying to do their jobs. Our communities and automotive, manufacturing, and agriculture businesses are feeling the effects. It’s hitting paychecks and production lines. That is unacceptable," the Democratic governor said in a Thursday statement.

"It is imperative that Canadian local, provincial, and national governments de-escalate this economic blockade," she added, without suggesting how. "They must take all necessary and appropriate steps to immediately and safely reopen traffic so we can continue growing our economy, supporting good-paying jobs, and lowering costs for families."

According to Kayyem, slashing tires, stealing gas, arresting the protesters, and somehow moving all the trucks is the way to go.

 

The CIA Architected The Truck Strike And Other Economic Attacks Against Salvador Allende

NYTimes |   The Central Intelligence Agency secretly financed striking labor unions and trade groups in Chile for more than 18 months before President Salvador Allende Gossens was overthrown, intelligence sources revealed today.

They said that the majority of more than $8‐million authorized for clandestine C.I.A. activities in Chile was used in 1972 and 1973 to provide strike benefits and other means of support for anti‐Allende strikers and workers.

William E, Colby, Director of Central Intelligence, had no comment when told of The Times's information.

In testimony today before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Secretary of State Kissinger asserted that the intelligence agency's involvement in Chile had beeen authorized solely to keep alive political parties and news media threatened by Mr. Allende's minority Government. The clandestine activities, Mr. Kissinger said, were not aimed at subverting that Government.

Among those heavily subsidized, the sources said, were the organizers of a nationwide truck strike that lasted 26 days in the fall of 1972, seriously disrupting Chile's economy and provoking the first of a series of labor crises for President Allende.

Direct subsidies, the sources said, also were provided for a strike of middle‐class shopkeepers and a taxi strike among others, that disrupted the capital city of Santiago in the summer of 1973, shortly before Mr. Allende was over thrown by a military coup.

At its peak, the 1973 strikes involved more than 250,000 truck drivers, shopkeepers and professionals who banded to gether in a middle‐class move ment that, many analysts have concluded, made a violent overthrow inevitable.

The Times's sources, while readily, acknowledging the intelligence agency's secret support for the middle classes, insisted that the Nixon Administration's goal had not been to force an end to the Presidency of Mr. Allende.

The sources noted that a request from the truckers union for more C.I.A. financial aid in August, 1973, one month before the coup, was rejected by the 40 Committee, the intelligence review board headed by Secretary of State Kissinger.

Where You Think American Truckers Got The Idea From In 1973?

NYTimes |   The 23‐day truckers’ strike has had “catastrophic” repercussions on Chile's already ailing economy, the Government said today.

The first detailed report on the ‘economic consequences of the walkout said that agriculture was seriously threatened, industry had slowed and supplies of commodities had reached “a crucial point.”

“This is a political strike aimed at overthrowing the Government, with the help of imperialism,” said Gonzalo Martner, Minister of National Planning and one of the chief policy makers for President Salvador Allende Gossens's socialist Government.

Left‐wing newspapers have accused the United States of financing the truckers’ strike and the anti‐Government campaign in the opposition news media in an attempt to carry out an “economic coup d'etat.”

Meanwhile, the Government continued behind‐the‐scenes efforts to reach an agreement with the National Confederation of Truck Owners and bus and taxi associations, who demand guarantees that the transport industry will not be taken over by the state.

There is no official estimate of the losses caused by the walkout but reliable sources put them at about $100‐million —half of the $200‐million that last October's month ‐long strikes were officially said to have cost.

People have suffered more from the current strike because the country had not built up its supplies after the October stoppage. However, the damage is not so great because the movement is not general by any means. Business and professional associations have threatened to join the truckers, as they did last year, but have not yet done so.

Production in general is expected to decline by about 10 per cent this year—if the strike is settled soon.

The official report on the walkout, published by the National Office of Planning, said that half of the country's more than 40,000 trucks were off the road. The striking truckers maintain the industry is totally paralyzed.

If This Fat Bastard Had His Way - There Would Be No Funding For The Freedom Convoy

globeandmail |  The Ontario government says it has successfully petitioned a court to freeze access to millions of dollars donated through online fundraising platform GiveSendGo to the convoy protesting COVID-19 restrictions in Ottawa and at several border crossings.

The province obtained an order from the Superior Court of Justice that prohibits anyone from distributing donations made through the website’s “Freedom Convoy 2022″ and “Adopt-a-Trucker” campaign pages, said a spokeswoman for Premier Doug Ford.

Ivana Yelich said the order binding “any and all parties with possession or control over these donations” was issued Thursday afternoon. She cited a section of the Criminal Code that allows the attorney general to apply for a restraint order against any “offence-related property.”

Hundreds of semi-trucks rolled into downtown Ottawa two weeks ago to protest COVID-19 vaccine mandates and health restrictions and now trucks are also blockading border crossings in Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario.

Donors initially raised more than $10-million through GoFundMe, which announced last Friday it was pulling the plug on the campaign and that the money would be refunded. The site said it initially believed the demonstration was going to be peaceful, but withdrew its support after police and local leaders raised concerns it had become an “occupation.”

Convoy organizers quickly set up new campaigns on Christian fundraising site GiveSendGo. As of Thursday, “Freedom Convoy 2022″ had raised $US8.4-million and “Adopt-a-Trucker” had amassed more than $686,000.

Explainer: The Ottawa protests’ havoc is spreading from Windsor to Alberta. Where are the trucker convoys now?

GiveSendGo posted a statement on Twitter Thursday night about its “Freedom Convoy” campaign.

“Know this! Canada has absolutely ZERO jurisdiction over how we manage our funds here at GiveSendGo,” it said.

“All funds for EVERY campaign on GiveSendGo flow directly to the recipients of those campaigns, not least of which is The Freedom Convoy campaign.”

Organizers have also touted the cryptocurrency Bitcoin as another way to generate funds for protesters and avoid other potential fundraising shutdowns, including during a news conference that was livestreamed to supporters on Wednesday.

Ontario’s move to freeze access to the donations comes the same day as an all-party House of Commons committee of MPs heard testimony from deputy directors of Canada’s financial intelligence hub about how it doesn’t cover crowdfunding sites like GoFundMe.

Justin Trudeau You Know You Done Fucked Up, Right?

AP  |  A blockade of the bridge between Canada and Detroit by protesters demanding an end to Canada’s COVID-19 restrictions forced the shutdown Wednesday of a Ford plant and began to have broader implications for the North American auto industry.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, meanwhile, stood firm against an easing of Canada’s COVID-19 restrictions in the face of mounting pressure during recent weeks by protests against the restrictions and against Trudeau himself.

The protest by people mostly in pickup trucks entered its third day at the Ambassador Bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario. Traffic was prevented from entering Canada, while U.S.-bound traffic was still moving.

The bridge carries 25% of all trade between the two countries, and Canadian authorities expressed increasing worry about the economic effects.

Ford said late Wednesday that parts shortages forced it to shut down its engine plant in Windsor and to run an assembly plant in Oakville, Ontario, on a reduced schedule. 

“This interruption on the Detroit-Windsor bridge hurts customers, auto workers, suppliers, communities and companies on both sides of the border,” Ford said in a statement. “We hope this situation is resolved quickly because it could have widespread impact on all automakers in the U.S. and Canada.”

Shortages due to the blockade also forced General Motors to cancel the second shift of the day at its midsize-SUV factory near Lansing, Michigan. Spokesman Dan Flores said it was expected to restart Thursday and no additional impact was expected for the time being.

Later Wednesday, Toyota spokesman Scott Vazin said the company will not be able to manufacture anything at three Canadian plants for the rest of this week due to parts shortages. A statement attributed the problem to supply chain, weather and pandemic-related challenges, but the shutdowns came just days after the blockade began Monday.

“Our teams are working diligently to minimize the impact on production,” the company said, adding that it doesn’t expect any layoffs at this time.

Stellantis, formerly Fiat Chrysler, reported normal operations, though the company had to cut shifts short the previous day at its Windsor minivan plant.

“We are watching this very closely,″ White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said earlier of the bridge blockade.

American Truckers Too Broke, Disorganized, And Beaten Down To Attempt A Freedom Convoy

foxnews  |  Multiple Capitol Hill sources tell Fox News they are unaware of any plan for truckers to duplicate anything in Washington. Still, Fox is told there have been conversations about what would happen if 18-wheelers and other rigs paralyzed the Capitol.

Don’t call C.W. McCall and Rubber Duck just yet.

For starters, the U.S. Capitol Police have prohibited large trucks from creeping anywhere near the Capitol complex since just after 9/11. There has been increased surveillance around the Capitol for potential "truck bombs" and other threats after the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. Police routinely divert or pull over trucks that roll onto prohibited streets.

Of course, you can’t really pull over every truck if a convoy of trucks rolled toward Capitol Hill. That was the problem on Jan. 6. The Capitol Police didn’t have the wherewithal to quell thousands of protesters.

That said, there is historic precedent for an over-the-road, over-the-top, motorized demonstration in Washington.

Farmers routinely began jamming up traffic in Washington, D.C., to protest farm prices in the late 1970s. In the winter of 1978, thousands of farmers rode their tractors to Washington, snarling traffic on I-66 in Virginia. Tractors putted along at 15 mph.

A confrontation between seven farmers and police prompted seven arrests. A group of farmers set off on foot, marching along Pennsylvania Avenue. Choruses of "Let’s go get ‘em out" of jail echoed through the D.C. streets.

The farmers then unloaded goats to graze on the Capitol grounds. Officials declared that the farmers created a "monstrous rush-hour traffic jam." The tactics of the farmers were so aggressive that the stunt turned off lawmakers to their plight.

The Washington Post characterized the farmers as "growing more militant" in their approach. Farmers stormed out of a meeting with House Agriculture Committee Chairman and future House Speaker Tom Foley, D-Wash. Foley told them he favored legislation to help boost prices for agricultural commodities - couldn’t guarantee a bill would turn higher profits for farmers. 

Undaunted, the caravans of tractors returned to Washington in January 1979.

Thousands of farmers lumbered down I-270 and the Beltway toward the heart of the city, driving tractors, combines and hauling everything from planters to balers. Capitol Police brought in extra officers to deal with the farmers and barred their agricultural implements from the Capitol grounds.

 

Unless You're One Of The 9% Owner/Operators - Trucking Is Now A Shitty Gig Economy Job....,

TIME |  It’s hard to imagine another profession where people don’t get paid for hours they spend at work—unless it’s gig economy jobs where Uber drivers don’t get paid for the time they spend waiting for a passenger to order a car. Some of the problems in trucking arose because the job essentially went from a steady, well-paid job to gig work after the deregulation of the trucking industry in the 1980s, says Steve Viscelli, a sociologist at the University of Pennsylvania and the author of the book The Big Rig: Trucking and the Decline of the American Dream.

Deregulation essentially changed trucking from a system where a few companies had licenses to take freight on certain routes for certain rates into a system where just about anyone with a motor-carrier authority could move anything anywhere, for whatever the market would pay. As more carriers got into trucking post-deregulation, union rates fell, as did wages. Total employee compensation fell 44% in over-the-road trucking between 1977 and 1987, he says. Today, drivers get paid about 40% less than they did in the late 1970s, Viscelli says, but are twice as productive as they were then.

Now that truck drivers are gig workers, the inefficiencies of the supply chain are making the jobs worse and worse, as Grewal has discovered. “So much of this is about the inefficient use of time. Is there a shortage of truck drivers? Probably not. But they are certainly being used less and less efficiently,” Viscelli says. “That’s the long term consequence of not pricing their time.”

Ironically, the louder the narrative becomes about the “shortage” of truck drivers, the more resources pop up to funnel people into driving. In 1990, the trucking industry figured it needed about 450,000 new drivers and warned of a shortage; in 2018, before the pandemic, the industry said it was short 60,800 drivers.