Canadian Politics: Brownnosing

[Zorral]

Trial begins for leaders of Ottawa-jamming ‘Freedom Convoy’ truck protests

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/09/05/canada-truck-protests-lich-barber/

Quote

 

TORONTO — The trial is set to open Tuesday for two of the main organizers of the so-called “Freedom Convoy” demonstrations that paralyzed Canada’s capital, snarled trade at critical U.S.-Canada border crossings and spurred copycats from New Zealand to the Washington Beltway.

Tamara Lich and Chris Barber face charges including mischief, obstructing police and counseling others to commit mischief in the weeks-long protests against pandemic health measures and the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The spectacle of trucks and crowds in the streets making downtown Ottawa virtually impassable last year drew international attention — and support and money from some in the United States.

In the aftermath, authorities have also come under scrutiny. The city’s police chief resigned during the protests. A public inquiry this year found that the response to the protests was marred by failures in policing and finger-pointing over jurisdiction among officials at all levels of government.

Lich and Barber are among the most prominent of the 140 people who were charged in Ottawa, and their case is likely to draw national attention because of what it might portend for other defendants and the movement more broadly.

Mischief can encompass activity ranging from erasing computer data to torching a building. Offenders face life sentences in cases where they endanger others, analysts said, but most who are convicted don’t serve time or are sentenced to time served.

“On the legal side, it’s kind of a boring case, a banal case,” said Joao Velloso, a law professor at the University of Ottawa. “But the stakes are high on the public opinion and political side because while other protesters already pleaded guilty a long time ago, they didn’t … and trials provide a stage” for their narrative.

“The central issue,” they said in a statement, “will be whether the actions of two of the organizers of a peaceful protest should warrant criminal sanction.”

The protests began in late January 2022, when hundreds of big rigs and other vehicles rolled into Ottawa and jammed downtown streets, including the main drag in front of Parliament, for nearly three weeks. Authorities here called it an “occupation.”

Their spark was rules imposed by the United States and Canada that barred unvaccinated truck drivers from crossing the border, but they attracted a range of anti-government activists, far-right figures and opponents of pandemic measures more broadly. Many truckers were vaccinated and opposed the protests. ....

 

 

[Fragile Bird]

Man, I can’t believe, no, yes I can believe, those damnable Conservatives on the last day of their policy meetings in Quebec voted to end surgical and pharmaceutical care for trans kids.

And these are the guys who are going to form the next government, because the it’s time for a change away from Liberals.

I really do despair of humanity.

[JGP]

None of those resolutions are binding... but yeah. :/

I don't think they'll be invited to form Gov unless they can get the Bloc onside, or Quebec in general. Hard to see either happening at this point but I've been wrong before. 

Think we're at the point where Trudeau needs to hang it up as lead and let Freeland establish a fresher identity for the Libs, maybe. 

[maarsen]

I have been listening to CBC about the e.coli outbreak in Alberta. The biggest outbreak since Walkerton and the Alberta govt. downplayed it. Not a good look.

[JGP]

 

The UPC should be ashamed of themselves, and all the Albertans that extended their tenure.

The red tape bugbear will always strike back.

[Fragile Bird]

I was stunned to read that they are attributing it to the big cockroach infestations at the locations…

[maarsen]

46 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

I was stunned to read that they are attributing it to the big cockroach infestations at the locations…

Probably not, but it is a sign of bad housekeeping. To put it bluntly e.coli comes from shit. No handwashing or dirty food is the usual way it comes in. 

Walkerton was the deathknell  for the Harris government and took years before the Tories were trusted with government again.

Edited September 13, 2023 by maarsen

[Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II]

Is Trudeau well liked in Canada ? Everyone keeps hating on him on social media lately.

[maarsen]

4 hours ago, Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II said:

Is Trudeau well liked in Canada ? Everyone keeps hating on him on social media lately.

There are some in Canada who dislike him because of his name, and some who dislike where he comes from. However disliked he is the opposition party most likely to gain power if he loses an election has a track record of selecting leaders who tend to be short on political likeability.

[AncalagonTheBlack]

57 minutes ago, maarsen said:

There are some in Canada who dislike him because of his name, and some who dislike where he comes from. However disliked he is the opposition party most likely to gain power if he loses an election has a track record of selecting leaders who tend to be short on political likeability.

What's the mood in Canada over these serious allegations?

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/18/credible-evidence-india-behind-killing-of-canadian-sikh-leader-says-trudeau

[JGP]

1 hour ago, AncalagonTheBlack said:

What's the mood in Canada over these serious allegations?

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/18/credible-evidence-india-behind-killing-of-canadian-sikh-leader-says-trudeau

Can't speak to the mood in Canada per se; myself, angry. India expelled one of our diplomats in retaliation for the observation [rolls eyes]

[maarsen]

5 hours ago, AncalagonTheBlack said:

What's the mood in Canada over these serious allegations?

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/18/credible-evidence-india-behind-killing-of-canadian-sikh-leader-says-trudeau

Too soon to say but Chinese interference in Canadian politics looks to be really small potatoes now. 

[JGP]

Reading this morning about the mess Rota made, whew man.

[Lord of Oop North]

5 hours ago, JGP said:

Reading this morning about the mess Rota made, whew man.

No kidding, there was no surviving that fuck up. 

[maarsen]

19 hours ago, JGP said:

Reading this morning about the mess Rota made, whew man.

The man has a Political Science degree. There was no real excuse for what he did.  He had a staff just for this sort of stuff. I guess his career in politics is over.

[Frey family reunion]

5 hours ago, maarsen said:

The man has a Political Science degree. There was no real excuse for what he did.  He had a staff just for this sort of stuff. I guess his career in politics is over.

I don't think it takes a political science degree to have had red flags raised about someone who was fighting Russians in eastern Europe in World War II.  That would have mainly been Germany or at least affiliated with Germany.  It's fairly amazing that this idea didn't seem to cross anyone's mind.

Edited September 27, 2023 by Frey family reunion

[maarsen]

Anyone who didn't sleep through a high school history course should have been aware of the basic facts. Of course we have MPs who don't understand that the Speaker is not a government MP but basically the boss of Parliament.

[SpaceChampion]

There was an indigenous premier of NWT in the 80s, an Inuk one currently for Nunavut, and a Metis one in Manitoba the 1800s, but this is good.  First First Nations identifying premier of a Canadian province.

Edited October 4, 2023 by SpaceChampion

[JGP]

Fucking A

[Fragile Bird]

I don’t watch a lot of tv, and it’s been a while since I watched 22 Minutes on the CBC, but a Pierre Poliviere video about his children popped up on my news feed and I thought I was going to die laughing. I tried to find it on YouTube and couldn’t, but I saw other 22 Minutes PP videos and they are just hilarious.