Roundup: Arrests begun as overwrought debate underway

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Debate on the emergency orders began yesterday with all of the leaders staking out their positions. And I will note that there is a legitimate argument from the Conservatives that the Emergencies Act shouldn’t have been invoked—but then they take argument that Trudeau didn’t do enough beforehand to deal with the situation, never mind that the Ottawa Police are the police of jurisdiction, that Doug Ford did virtually nothing to help never mind that this was well within his jurisdictional purview, and of course, they argue that Trudeau caused this by being mean to the extremists who organised this whole thing, and that he hasn’t capitulated to their demands. And thus, a good point is lost in the fog of utterly dishonest partisan posturing. It should also be noted that civil liberties groups are going to court to oppose the Act’s imposition, but their otherwise valid points are divorced from the reality that this is not a peaceful or legal protest—it’s an event organized by anti-government extremists. This is not a good faith protest, it’s an illegal occupation, and that colours events.

With this in mind, the House of Commons will be sitting all weekend in order to debate the emergency order the fact that they will be sitting almost entirely around the clock over the long weekend means that they have speaking slots for virtually every single MP, which is egregious and overkill. If anything, it’s the height of parliamentary narcissism. Yes, this is an unprecedented action, but you do not need every single MP to stand up and read a prepared speech that parrots the talking points that their party leader has decided upon. That’s not debate, it’s not edifying, and it’s just an exercise in providing clips for MPs’ websites and social media channels. It defeats the purpose of what Parliament is about, and debases the point of debate (not to mention that everyone is already burned out from the past three weeks of insanity and this robs the employees, staffers and most especially the interpreters of the long weekend that they all needed). If they haven’t made up their minds on the imposition of the emergency orders by end of day tomorrow, then maybe public life isn’t for them.

Update: Sittings in both Chambers were cancelled due to the ongoing police action, so we’ll see when they resume. The point stands, however.

Grifter Occupation: Day 22

Finally, as the third week of this occupation ticks past and onto the fourth, we are seeing police action. The downtown core is being closed off with over 100 checkpoints in order to prevent new arrivals—particularly of grievance tourists trying to join the “winter carnival”—and two of the main occupation organisers have now been arrested and charged with mischief and conspiracy to commit mischief. As well, the courts have frozen more of their funds including their cryptocurrency, which further imposes a financial stranglehold on them, making it ever more uncomfortable for them to stay there. And this is an important point—instead of using the Emergencies Act to perpetrate force on these occupiers, they’re using financial tools to make them want to leave voluntarily, which is a very big change from when the War Measures Act was used, along with the military’s aid to civil powers, in 1970.

It also looks like the federal government will be providing some kind of financial relief to businesses impacted by the occupation in Ottawa—but the plans to unveil the details today have been derailed by the situation on the ground, and the announcement was postponed, but there is at least some indication now that they will be getting something rather than just waiting on a lawsuit.

The Integrated Terrorism Assessment Centre warned of extremist involvement in the occupation, but Ottawa police apparently ignored the warnings. TVO spoke with the Provincial Towing Association of Ontario about why they’re so reluctant to involve themselves in carrying out police orders to tow the trucks in these blockades or occupied zones.

Good reads:

  • Health Canada has authorised the Novavax vaccine for use in adults, but the planned Montreal production facility is not yet up and running.
  • Following NATO meetings, Anita Anand was non-committal about adding more forces to Eastern Europe, given the capacity challenges the Canadian Forces faces.
  • Pedro Rodriguez says he’s open to amending the online streaming bill, but he wants there to be some kind of agreement between experts.
  • The federal government is offering cities $750 million in a one-time payment to help offset transit revenue shortfalls as a result of the pandemic.
  • In spite of paid sick leave (in federally-regulated sectors) legislation having past two months ago, the regulations to implement it are still months away.
  • A Coastal GasLink work site in BC was attacked and vandalised, and Conservatives are already trying to whatabout this in comparison with the Ottawa occupation.
  • Stephen Harper’s former chief of staff, Ian Brodie, will head the committee organizing the Conservative leadership race.

Odds and ends:

https://twitter.com/Canadian_Crown/status/1494319484278038531

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4 thoughts on “Roundup: Arrests begun as overwrought debate underway”

  2. As someone who helps a member write speeches, I can assure you they are not all “prepared speech that parrots the talking points that their party leader has decided upon.”

    We spent a lot of time yesterday deciding what she wanted to say and how to say it, and no one saw it before she delivered it expect the courtesy copy provided to the interpeters and Hansard.

    You are regularly a staunch defender of the importance of the work of Parliament. It’s unfortunate you would so casually dismiss the right — even the responsibility — of members to put their views on a national emergency on the record.

    I have been disappointed with the level of this debate at times too. But your broad brush dismissal is unsupported and unwarranted.

  3. They have made up their mind. Public life isn’t for them because they’re of one mind that everything under the sun and reported in the *Sun* is “Trudeau bad.” They’re not interested in serving their country or respecting Parliament. They’re interested in getting their 15 minutes of infamy and riling up more friendly-sausage-maker insurrectionists in the future, with their one-note rallying cry of Trudeau bad, Trudeau bad, Trudeau bad.

  4. Clearly the first and most consequential mistake was letting the trucks come downtown. They’re virtually impregnable.

    But the money really shifted my opinion about the seriousness. Trucks are expensive and as long as it was coming out of their pockets, you could assume the protest was limited by that. What protest needs to be funded to this degree?

    I don’t know what other laws would have allowed them to access bank accounts, but to me that’s the key. Where is it coming from? I don’t see how to dismiss that. Can you reach that amount in $100 donations?

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