Roundup: The first witnesses at the inquiry

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The first day of witness testimony took place at the Emergencies Act Public Inquiry, hearing from citizen representatives about what they went through during the illegal occupation, as well as two of the city councillors whose wards were most affected, and representatives from affected BIAs. There was a common theme in there—people feeling afraid and terrorized by the collection of far-right extremists, grifters, conspiracy theories and grievance tourists who made up the occupation; and more to the point, they felt abandoned by the Ottawa City Police, who were the police of jurisdiction.

Which brings me to my other point—that the NDP, and MP Matthew Green in particular, are trying to return to this bullshit narrative that the federal government “abandoned” the city and didn’t show leadership during the occupation, which is completely false. There was no jurisdiction that they could exert—the Ottawa police, as established, were the police of jurisdiction, and there is no mechanism by which the federal government can bigfoot them or assert jurisdiction. Even the Emergencies Act allowed for the RCMP to be deployed under the command of the Ottawa police, with expedited swearing-in that enabled them to do their jobs. There is nothing that the federal government could have done to “show leadership” up until they invoked the Act. I know the NDP like to pretend that there’s a Green Lantern ring somewhere, and that all it takes is “political will” to do something, but there is no “political will” section of the Constitution. Real life doesn’t work like that, and the NDP need to grow up and start criticising the government for things that are actually their fault, not the things that aren’t, because it weakens their credibility when it comes to the real problems.

Ukraine Dispatch, Day 233:

Ukrainian forces continue to press their advantage in the Kharkiv region, as the Russians say they will have completed their mobilisation within two weeks. The first 200 Ukrainians have completed their training in the UK with British and Canadian trainers, which includes offensive tactics, not just defensive ones. Here is a look at the city of Lyman, and how much it suffered under four months of Russian occupation.

Good reads:

  • At the IMF meeting in Washington, Chrystia Freeland called Russia’s invasion of Ukraine one of the biggest threats to the world economy at the moment.
  • Marco Mendicino says he’s committed to RCMP reform. (A reminder about my column that perhaps the best thing is to dismantle them and start over).
  • Mendicino also says there is no timeline for moving legislation to strengthen our sanctions enforcement, saying “weeks instead of months” (which may not help).
  • The federal government is pushing back against a Google-sponsored survey about the online news bill, calling it an attempt to avoid accountability.
  • The military is easing its vaccine mandate, but still firing those troops who refused vaccines because they disobeyed legal orders.
  • A strike at the Seaspan shipyard is going to further delay our new supply ships.
  • Global takes a deep dive into the problems of immigration detention in Canada.
  • France’s new ambassador to Canada has a few choice words about our defence capabilities and our over-reliance on the Americans.
  • The chair of the parliamentary Canada-Taiwan Friendship Group says that Taiwan should be granted membership in international organisations.
  • The point has been made that Scott Moe’s risible “White Paper” completely ignores the issue of Indigenous resource rights.
  • Jason Markusoff thinks through what Danielle Smith’s plan to make vaccination status a protected human rights category will actually mean.
  • Trevor Tombe looks at the data to dismantle the “greed-flation” narrative.

Odds and ends:

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3 thoughts on “Roundup: The first witnesses at the inquiry”

  1. The Conservatives beat out the BQ only because for everyone else in Canada the Block are irrelevant and the Cons have zero policies for Canada going forward. Enter the NDP. Their leadership has no conception of what Federal powers and responsibilities are. They do Canadians the greatest of disservice because of this ignorance.

  2. Why isn’t anyone from Ford’s government hauled in to testify? He went snowmobiling instead of doing his job, and passed the buck to the Feds to “make it the PM’s problem.” For that matter, why aren’t there any CPC representatives in the hot seat? This might not have gotten as bad as it did if Bergen, Scheer, and especially Skippy Trump hadn’t gleefully *emboldened* and “legitimized* these thugs as “freedom fighters.” Who donated to Skippy’s campaign and how much of it was in Bitcoin? “How much? How much?”

  3. It wasn’t just Ottawa. Just as important to the nation as a whole, I think, were these issues:
    – the border blockades and US trade disruptions. The US was demanding that Canada “do something”.
    – the need to re-establish respect for rule of law and for elected authorities. The longer the disruptions went on, the more disrespect the public had toward inept policing, the circus atmosphere in Ottawa, the overall craziness.
    – the spreading chaos in cities as people gave up on police and tried to stop the trucks themselves. For example, the FluTruxKlan truckers tried to “occupy” Vancouver, Edmonton, etc, and individual people were lining up in the streets to stop them, to the apparent dismay of police.(eg Battle of Billings Bridge)

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