The premier of Canada’s Ontario province declared a state of emergency on Friday as an international blockade by truckers protesting COVID-19 vaccine requirements entered its fifth day, and a two-week-old blockade of the capital Ottawa continued.
Premier Doug Ford said he will convene the provincial cabinet on Saturday to enact orders that make it “crystal clear it is illegal and punishable to block and impede the movement of goods, people and service along critical infrastructure”.
“Let me be as clear as I can — there will be consequences for these actions, and they will be severe,” he said in a Friday announcement.
“This is a pivotal, pivotal moment for our nation.”
Truckers have slowed or halted border transit causing parts shortages that shut down car plants in both the United States and Canada.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke with US President Joe Biden on Friday about the border obstructions saying they “are having significant direct impacts on citizens lives and livelihoods”, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
Trudeau “promised quick action in enforcing the law” the White House said.
A demonstration that began in January as a convoy, travelling across Canada in protest against COVID vaccination requirements for truckers has morphed into broader complaints about the Liberal government and attracted proponents of the anti-vaccination movement.
The capital of Ottawa is under siege “I call it a siege because that is what it is. It’s an illegal occupation. This is no longer a protest. With a protest, you peacefully make your point and you go back home,” Ford said.
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The Ontario leader pledged new legal action against protesters, including fines and potential jail time for non-compliance with the government’s orders.
The city of Windsor, on the US border, meanwhile, planned to seek an injunction at an afternoon court hearing against members of the self-proclaimed “Freedom Convoy” who have used dozens of trucks to bottle up the Ambassador Bridge connecting Windsor to the US city to Detroit.
Federal, provincial, and local authorities have hesitated to forcibly remove the protesters, reflecting a lack of manpower by local police, Canada’s reverence for free speech, and fears of potential violence. But pressure to open the border crossings is mounting, with Ford, General Motors, Toyota and Honda closing plants or cancelling shifts.
The Biden administration has urged Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government to use its powers to end the blockade. Michigan’s Governor Gretchen Whitmer on Thursday called on Canadian authorities to quickly resolve the standoff.
On a normal day, about 7,400 trucks cross the bridge between Detroit and Windsor every day, many laden with car parts [File: Paul Sancya/AP Photo]
The Ambassador Bridge is the busiest US-Canadian border crossing, carrying 25 percent of all trade between the two countries. The standoff came at a time when the car industry is already straining to maintain production amid shortages of computer chips and other supply-chain disruptions.
“American legislators are freaking out, and rightfully so,” said Nelson Wiseman, a political science professor at the University of Toronto told the Associated Press. “Pressure is now being exerted by the White House on Trudeau to act more decisively.”
Hundreds of demonstrators in trucks have paralyzed the streets of downtown Ottawa for almost two weeks, and have closed three border crossings in all: at Windsor, opposite Detroit; at Coutts, Alberta, opposite Montana; and at Emerson, Manitoba, across from North Dakota.
“This is an unprecedented demonstration. It has significant levels of fundraising, coordination, and communication. They have command centres established here and across the country and beyond this country,” Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly said.
On Friday, amid signs that authorities might be prepared to get tough, police in Windsor and Ottawa awaited reinforcements from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the federal police force.
Ottawa’s mayor has asked for 1,800 additional police officers, nearly doubling the manpower available to the city’s police force, which has 2,100 officers and civilian members.
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Canadian trucker Harold Jonker told Al Jazeera the vaccine mandate, which requires truckers to be vaccinated or comply with quarantine rules, has shut down half of his company’s business.
“Mandates and lockdowns are harmful to society. They have been harmful for two years. When they go, we’ll go,” said Jonker, one of the truckers protesting in Ottawa.
Until now, the Canadian government reaction to the protests has been marked by disagreements over who is in charge. Canada’s emergency preparedness minister said this week that Ontario has ultimate responsibility, while the province’s transport minister said it is the federal government’s job to secure the border.
“The problem is stretched police forces for all three levels of government,” Wiseman said “If anyone ‘takes responsibility’, they will be charged with failure when things are not resolved quickly or if things go badly.”
The Canadian Anti-Hate Network has reported in detail that the convoy was organised by known far-right figures.
In Canada, about 85 percent of drivers are vaccinated, according to the Canadian Trucking Association.
Leaders of the Conservative Party opposed to Trudeau have supported the truckers as the continuing blockade escalate into a political problem for the prime minister. The Freedom Convoy has been promoted and cheered on by Fox News personalities and has attracted support from former President Donald Trump.
A protester waves a French flag at a convoy made of trucks, motorcycles and camper vans in Lyon, France, on February 11 as authorities banned threatened road blockades inspired by protests in Canada [Laurent Cipriani/AP Photo]
The protests have spread outside Canada, as well. Demonstrators angry about pandemic restrictions drove towards Paris in scattered convoys of camper vans, cars, and trucks on Friday in an effort to blockade the French capital, despite a police ban.
In the US, the Department of Homeland Security has warned that truck protests may be brewing in the United States. The agency said the protests could begin in Southern California as early as this weekend and spread to Washington, DC, around Biden’s scheduled State of the Union address to Congress in March.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
