Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Invokes The Emergencies Act

[Rick Plant]

Glad these thugs are finally being taken off the streets and put behind bars where they belong. There is no reason for thugs to come to these demonstrations armed with weapons or to block off highways, streets, and bridges with big rig trucks and tractors. That is terrorism and an illegal occupation of major Canadian cities.   

Convoy protest organizers Tamara Lich, Chris Barber arrested in Ottawa

Two key organizers of the so-called Freedom Convoy, Tamara Lich and Chris Barber, have been arrested in Ottawa, CBC News has learned.

Lich was arrested Thursday evening and Barber earlier in the day by Ottawa police. Both remain in police custody and are expected to be charged criminally, according to sources.

The two have been described as key leaders of the protest in Ottawa, which has now hit the three-week mark.

Their arrests were among several made Thursday. Barber was seen a few blocks from Parliament Hill in handcuffs between two police officers.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/tamara-lich-chris-barber-arrested-ottawa-1.6355960


Canadian police arrest 2 leaders of protesting truckers

Hundreds of truckers clogging Canada's capital stood their ground and defiantly blasted their horns Thursday, even as police arrested two protest leaders and threatened to break up the nearly three-week protest against the country's COVID-19 restrictions.

Busloads of police arrived near Ottawa's Parliament Hill, and workers put up extra fences around government buildings. Police also essentially began sealing off much of the downtown area to outsiders to prevent them from coming to the aid of the protesters.

"The action is imminent," said interim Ottawa Police Chief Steve Bell. "We absolutely are committed to end this unlawful demonstration."

Police arrested organizers Tamara Lich and Chris Barber around Parliament Hill, but officers were not moving in force on the demonstrators. Police took Lich into custody late Thursday.



Police continued negotiating with the protesters and trying to persuade them to go home, Bell said. "We want this demonstration to end peacefully," he said, but added: "If they do not peacefully leave, we have plans."

Many of the truckers in the self-styled Freedom Convoy appeared unmoved by days of warnings from police and the government that they were risking arrest and could see their rigs seized and bank accounts frozen.

"I'm prepared to sit on my ass and watch them hit me with pepper spray," said one of their leaders, Pat King. As for the trucks parked bumper-to-bumper, he said: "There's no tow trucks in Canada that will touch them."

King later told truckers to lock their doors.

Amid the rising tensions, truckers outside Parliament blared their horns in defiance of a court injunction against honking, issued for the benefit of neighborhood residents.

Ottawa represented the movement's last stronghold after weeks of demonstrations and blockades that shut down border crossings into the U.S., inflicted economic damage on both countries and created a political crisis for Trudeau.

The protests have shaken Canada's reputation for civility and rule-following and inspired similar convoys in France, New Zealand and the Netherlands.

"It's high time that these illegal and dangerous activities stop," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declared in Parliament, not far from where the more than 300 trucks were parked.

"They are a threat to our economy and our relationship with trading partners," he said. "They are a threat to public safety."

Ottawa police began locking down a wide swath of the downtown area, allowing in only those who live or work there after they pass through one of more than 100 checkpoints, the interim chief said.

Police were especially worried about the children among the protesters. Bell said police were working with child-welfare agencies to determine how to safely remove the youngsters before authorities move in.

Early this week, the prime minister invoked Canada's Emergencies Act, empowering law enforcement authorities to declare the blockades illegal, tow away trucks, arrest the drivers, suspend their licenses and take other measures.

On Thursday, Trudeau and some of his top ministers took turns warning the protesters to leave, in an apparent move by the government to avert a clash, or at least show it had gone the extra mile to avoid one.

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said the government began freezing truckers' accounts as threatened. "It is happening. I do have the numbers in front of me," she said.

Ottawa police likewise handed out leaflets for the second straight day demanding the truckers end the siege, and also helpfully placed notices on vehicles informing owners how and where to pick up their trucks if they are towed.

The occupation has infuriated many Ottawa residents.

"We've seen people intimidated, harassed and threatened. We've seen apartment buildings that have been chained up. We have seen fires set in the corridors. Residents are terrorized," said Canadian Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino.

The protests by demonstrators in trucks, tractors and motor homes initially focused on Canada's vaccine requirement for truckers entering the country but soon morphed into a broader attack on COVID-19 precautions and Trudeau's government.

The biggest, most damaging of the blockades at the border took place at the Ambassador Bridge between Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit. Before authorities arrested dozens of protesters last weekend and lifted the siege, it disrupted the flow of auto parts between the two countries and forced the industry to curtail production.

The final blockade, in Manitoba, ended peacefully on Wednesday.

The movement has drawn support from right-wing extremists and veterans, some of them armed — one reason authorities have hesitated to move against them.

Fox News personalities and U.S. conservatives such as former President Donald Trump have egged on the protests. Trudeau complained on Thursday that "roughly half of the funding to the barricaders here is coming from the United States."

Some security experts said that dispersing the protest in Ottawa could be tricky and dangerous, with the potential for violence, and that a heavy-handed law enforcement response could be used as propaganda by antigovernment extremists.

Trucks were parked shoulder-to-shoulder downtown, some with tires removed to hamper towing.

"There is not really a playbook," said David Carter, a professor at Michigan State University's School of Criminal Justice and a former police officer. "I know there are police chiefs in the U.S. looking at this and developing strategic plans and partnerships to manage a protest like this if it should occur in their cities."

The presence of children also complicated the planning. As a showdown seemed to draw near, Canadian Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair said: "To those who have children with them, this is no place for children. Take them home immediately."

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/canadian-police-arrest-truck-protest-leaders-tamara-lich-chris-barber/

[Richard Smith]

"Freedom Convoy" organizer Tamara Lich has been arrested by ⁦Ottawa Police.

She looks like a really dangerous terrorist.  Perhaps a "neo-Nazi."  Canada is apparently a hot bed of fascism.  Who knew?  Trudeau is acting like a Soviet era dictator in the final death throes of Communism.  Let's go Brandeau!   He rules by divine right.  No ordinary Canadian has any right to question him.  Straight to the gulag with them.  And their little dogs too since he even threatened to take pets away from protestors like the wicked witch of the west

[Rick Plant]

She looks like a really dangerous terrorist.  Perhaps a "neo-Nazi."  Canada is apparently a hot bed of fascism.  Who knew?  Trudeau is acting like a Soviet era dictator in the final death throes of Communism.  Let's go Brandeau!   He rules by divine right.  No ordinary Canadian has any right to question him.  Straight to the gulag with them.  And their little dogs too since he even threatened to take pets away from protestors like the wicked witch of the west

She organized illegal blockades and an illegal occupation of major Canadian cities. That's against the law. Her radical thug friends were plotting to kill police. Stand up for law and order. Back the blue. 

Four ‘Freedom Convoy’ protesters charged in plot to kill Canadian cops
https://nypost.com/2022/02/16/freedom-convoy-protesters-charged-in-plot-to-kill-cops/

[Rick Plant]

WATCH LIVE: Police start to clear out 'Freedom Convoy' protesters in Canada's capital



Canadian police have begun a massive operation to clear the trucker-led protests against Covid health rules clogging the capital for three weeks, with several arrests made.

Hundreds of heavily armed officers gathered in the early morning on the edges of downtown for the start of what officials say will likely be a multi-day clearance process.

Overnight two protest leaders were arrested and charged with mischief and counseling others to break the law.

"Some protesters are surrendering and are being arrested," Ottawa police tweeted.

They warned protesters that "you will face severe penalties if you do not cease further unlawful activity and remove your vehicle and/or property immediately."

The so-called "Freedom Convoy" started with truckers protesting against mandatory Covid vaccines to cross the US border, but its demands have grown to include an end to all pandemic health rules and, for many, a wider anti-establishment agenda.

At its peak, the movement also included blockades of a half-dozen US-Canada border crossings including a key trade route across the Ambassador Bridge between Windsor, Ontario and Detroit, Michigan -- all of which have been lifted.

One of the arrested protest organizers, Tamara Lich, was heard telling truckers as she was being led away by police late Thursday to "hold the line."

Parliament closed

Lawmakers cancelled a parliamentary session on Friday, with Speaker of the House Anthony Rota citing "exceptional circumstances" and an "ever-changing" situation in the streets outside the seat of Canada's democracy.

Government workers and MPs were asked to stay away, while anyone already in the parliamentary precinct -- where the truckers have dug in -- were urged to shelter indoors.

On Thursday police had given protesters a final warning to leave, as barricades went up to restrict access to the downtown protest zone.

Criticized for failing to act decisively to end the protests, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau this week invoked the Emergencies Act, which gives the government sweeping powers to deal with a major crisis.

It's only the second time such powers have been invoked in peacetime.

Lawmakers, who are split over the move with only a small leftist party backing Trudeau's minority Liberal government, were debating its use when parliament was shut down.

Trudeau has said the act was not being used to call in the military against the protesters, and denied restricting freedom of expression.

The objective was simply to "deal with the current threat and to get the situation fully under control," he said Thursday. "Illegal blockades and occupations are not peaceful protests... They have to stop."

Police this week arrested dozens of protesters at border crossings, including four people charged with conspiracy to murder police officers at a checkpoint between Coutts, Alberta and Sweet Grass, Montana.

They also seized dozens of vehicles, as well as a cache of weapons that included rifles, handguns, body armor and ammunition.

Authorities also froze the bank accounts of protesters and chocked off crowdfunding and cryptocurrency transactions supporting the protesters.

Watch live video, courtesy of CBC News, in link below:

https://www.rawstory.com/watch-live-2656724317/

[Rick Plant]

The Canadian Trucking Alliance applauds the Government of Canada's use of the Emergencies Act to end illegal blockades as does any sane individual. The CTA is against these illegal blockades by right wing fascists.   

[Richard Smith]

The real threat to the peace is on the streets now.  Cracking the heads of peaceful citizens and trampling women on horseback like something from the Russian revolution.  Even the Canadian clergy is disgusted with Trudeau.  He is finished.

TO: the Prime Minister and Federal Government,

We are writing to you as representative pastors of Christian congregations from across the nation and as law-abiding citizens who respect the God-defined role of civil government and uphold the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the highest law of our land, which recognizes the supremacy of God over all human legislation. 

For the past two years, we have sought to respectfully and peaceably make known to all levels of government our profound concern about the indefinite suspension of civil liberties, coercive mandates and perpetual state interference in the life, freedom and worship of the church – freedoms guaranteed by both our inherited Common Law tradition and Charter. We have also prayed earnestly for our governing authorities, met with them, written letters and petitions, peacefully gathered for protest with other concerned citizens and in some cases filed lawsuits. We have used every lawful means at our disposal to be heard and taken seriously. Yet at every turn, we have been largely ignored, brushed aside, insulted and even told we in no way represent Canadians.

In recent weeks, the hugely popular truckers convoy containing many Christians (including pastors), has captured the imagination not only of this nation but other nations around the world, laying bare that what we have expressed and argued for months is indeed representative of the concerns of millions of ordinary Canadians who value peace, personal responsibility and liberty. The Ottawa protest has presented your government with a wonderful opportunity to meet with and speak to ordinary Canadians lawfully and peaceably requiring the restoration of their constitutional rights. However, in response to their singing, praying, dancing, candy floss, bouncy castles, speeches about the constitution and outpourings of patriotic love for the country, your government has not only refused to meet with these citizens to hear their concerns, you have insulted, denigrated and lied about them, further dividing a hurting and broken nation.

As ambassadors of Christ, whilst we respect your office as a public servant and honour the limited role of civil authority as a ministry of public justice, we do not hesitate to fulfill our responsibility as servants of the living God by unapologetically reminding you that Jesus Christ is Lord and King and the ruler of the kings of the earth. He sets up kings and pulls down the mighty from their thrones and none can stay his hand. In the words of the same scriptures engraved on the Peace Tower in Ottawa and written into our very national Coat of Arms:

Now therefore, be wise, O kings; Be instructed, you judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way, When His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him. (Ps. 2: 10-12)

Mr. Trudeau, with great respect, you are neither the king nor the ruler of Canada. Both you and your colleagues are public servants sent for a short time to Parliament at our behest as citizens to govern under God in terms of the Canadian Charter and to seek a harmony of public legal interest. You do not grant people rights and responsibilities that are theirs as God’s image-bearers and a free people. Since you do not grant them, you have no authority to remove them.

Your government does not grant people the right to their bodily integrity, the right to work or earn a living, the right to decide for their children or to be with their families or dying loved ones, the right to gather to worship and obey God, the right to travel in their own land or enter and leave. Civil government exists to protect these pre-political and fundamental freedoms, not bestow and remove them as if it can function in the place of God.

As such, we as Christian pastors condemn in the strongest possible terms your unprecedented invoking of the Emergency Powers Act (1988) with the intent of bringing unaccountable state power to bear on peaceful citizens – "men women and children" – who have been stripped of their fundamental freedoms for two years and who have in many cases lost everything as a result of your government's mandates. There is no national emergency and to invoke one to crush peaceful political dissent is a totalitarian act of repression displaying weakness not strength. These tyrannical actions are exposing this government and people to the judgment of God, and we are deeply concerned that you do not appreciate the significance of God’s wrath upon a rebellious and lawless nation.

We implore you to step back from the brink, restore the constitutional freedoms of the people, respect the God-given rights of our citizenry and above all to humble yourself and take a knee before Christ the King lest you perish in the way. We urge you to repent of the sins of pride, rebellion against God, and bearing false witness. You have not displayed a brotherly care and love for these honest hard-working people who have tried to peacefully bring their very serious concerns to your attention.

Our hope and prayer for you and your government is that you will lift the emergency measures, end these lawless mandates, and enact justice for a people who elected you to that purpose.

For He shall have dominion from sea to sea (Ps. 72:.

Pro Rege,

 

Rev. Dr. Joseph Boot

Rev. Dr. Michael Thiessen

Rev. Dr. Aaron Rock

Rev. Jacob Reaume

Rev. Nate Wright

 

Plus the undersigned

​

Rev. Benjamin Hicks
Rev. Riley Toews
Rev. Chris Cousine
Rev. Joshua Enns
Rev. Alex Kloosterman
Rev. Dan Anderson
Rev. Scott Jacobsen
Rev. Steve Bainbridge
Rev. Trevor Stephens
Rev. Will Schuurman
Rev. Marty Elson
Rev. Greg Armstrong
Rev. Steve Richardson
Rev. Marcello Fracassi
Rev. Mark Reimer
Rev. Rene Pomerleau
Rev. Randy Frey
Rev. Tony Costa
Rev. Charles Van Hoffen
Rev. Eric Honsberger
Rev. Tyler Ellis
Rev. Tim Stephens
Rev.Andrew DeBartolo

Rev. Tim Tysoe

[Rick Plant]

The people of Canada have spoken and they want these illegal blockades to end and for these right wing fascists to go home. Canadians overwhelmingly support the Emergencies Act to end this illegal right wing funded occupation. Faux Propaganda and the right wing loons ranting against the crackdown are in the clear minority and they are just screaming inisde their own echo chamber to the sheep. The radical right does not believe in law and order. They support civil unrest, anarchy, and chaos to overthrow the government.   

Two-thirds support Trudeau's use of Emergencies Act against protesters: poll

Two-thirds of Canadians support Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision to invoke the Emergencies Act to help handle the protests across the country, according to a new survey.

The Maru Public Opinion poll shows majority support for the measure in every province across the country with more than 70 per cent of those in B.C., Atlantic Canada and Quebec strongly in favour of the move while 65 per cent of those in Ontario approve. Those most likely to oppose invoking the Act can be found in Alberta (49 per cent) and Saskatchewan (43 per cent) where premiers of both those provinces have voiced their displeasure with the move.

The poll also finds 82 per cent of Canadians believe the situation in Ottawa has gone on for too long with 71 per cent calling it an international embarrassment for Canada.

Six in 10 Canadians say it’s time to clear out the protesters even if it means some people may get hurt, or worse, with half of those surveyed saying they support how the police have handled the situation with protesters.

The survey revealed 56 per cent believe premiers have caved into the protesters demands by easing public health measures and mandates even though many provincial leaders say they were doing so because the time had come to lower COVID restrictions. Almost seven in 10 Canadians say regardless of political stripe, politicians who have contributed to or supported these protests should be voted out of office.

The survey was conducted between February 14 and 15, 2022 using a random selection of 1,518 adults who are Maru Voice Canada panelists and is accurate +/- 2.5 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

https://toronto.citynews.ca/2022/02/17/trudeau-emergencies-act-poll/


Two-thirds of Canadians support military force to end Ottawa protests: poll

A new poll finds more than two-thirds of Canadians would support the use of military force to help clear out Ottawa protesters, while support for the truckers has fallen to 20 per cent – both for what they are protesting and how they are going about it.

The latest survey by Maru Public Opinion finds 64 per cent approve using the Armed Forces to clear out trucks with heavy tows while 53 per cent support the use of force by Ottawa police to remove truckers, their families and others who refuse to leave. This includes the use of tear gas and other methods, with the understanding that such measures could result in injury.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been asked on several occasions about bringing in the military to assist with the Ottawa protests. While he claims everything is on the table, he says he is “concerned about violence” and that every precaution is being taken to keep people safe.

Democracy Threatened

Two-thirds of Canadians believe Canada’s democracy is being threatened by the protesters while 67 per cent of those asked believe the truckers are being heavily funded by foreign interests. Six in 10 equate the current protests to the same mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol back on January 6, 2021.

Forty-six per cent blame the truckers for inciting and escalating the protests over the past two weeks.

As for what punishment the protesters should face, two thirds say anyone aiding and abetting them should face fines and prison terms while six in 10 would like to see the truckers face fines and jail terms of up to two years. Similar majorities would also like to see them forfeit their vehicles, commercial and personal licenses for up to two years. Only one in three Canadians believes they should be left alone, that it is their right to protest as they are currently doing.

The poll was conducted Feb. 9 and 10, 2022 among a random selection of 1,506 Canadian adults who are Maru Voice Canada panelists and is accurate within +/- 2.5 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

https://toronto.citynews.ca/2022/02/12/two-thirds-of-canadians-support-military-force-to-end-ottawa-protests-poll/