Police are undertaking one of the largest law enforcement operations in Canadian history to seal off and clear downtown Ottawa of demonstrators and large trucks that have been clogging up the streets for three weeks.
The multi-day operation started on Friday and involves hundreds of riot police, mounted officers and special obstacle-removal teams to deal with truckers who refuse to leave their rigs, according to a senior source with direct knowledge of the cordon-off-and-clear plan.
On Friday, House of Commons Speaker Anthony Rota cancelled the House of Commons sitting, where MPs were to debate the federal emergency declaration, citing the expected police operation. The Senate has also cancelled sittings and told Senators not to come downtown. The Commons will resume sitting Saturday to debate the emergency measures, according to Government House Leader Mark Holland.
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TODAY’S HEADLINES
PROTEST ORGANIZERS ARRESTED – Police have arrested two organizers of a three-week protest against pandemic restrictions and set up a perimeter around downtown Ottawa with almost 100 checkpoints to try to bring an end to the blockade, warning demonstrators who remained that “action is imminent.” Story here.
ONTARIO JUDGE FREEZES MILLIONS OF DOLLARS RAISED FOR OTTAWA PROTEST – An Ontario Superior Court judge in Ottawa has frozen millions of dollars, including funds held in cryptocurrency, that have been raised for the ongoing convoy protests in the nation’s capital. Story here.
GOVERNMENT URGED TO GRANT VISA-FREE UKRANIAN ACCESS TO CANADA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government is facing calls to grant Ukrainians visa-free access to Canada so they can more easily flee a war with Russia. The Official Opposition on Thursday called on the government to allow visa-free travel from Ukraine, at least on a temporary basis. Story here.
EXEMPTION FOR UNVACCINATED TRUCKERS HANDLING COVID-19 VACCINES AND MEDICAL DEVICES – Unvaccinated truckers bringing COVID-19 vaccines and medical devices into Canada to combat the pandemic are exempt from testing and quarantine requirements at the border, a government order says. Story here.
POLICE INVESTIGATE ATTACK ON PIPELINE WORKERS – RCMP are investigating allegations that a group of about 20 people, some of them armed with axes, attacked security guards and smashed vehicle windows at a Coastal GasLink work site. The incident took place near Houston, B.C., where workers are building the Coastal GasLink pipeline, a key part of the LNG Canada project now under construction in Kitimat, B.C. Story here.
SASKATCHEWAN NDP LEADER QUITS – Saskatchewan NDP Leader Ryan Meili is stepping down as the embattled party begins searching for a new leader. Mr. Meli, the party leader since 2018, announced his resignation at his constituency office in Saskatoon on Friday morning. He will be staying on as leader until then, at his decision. Story here from the Saskatoon StarPheonix.
CANADA PAST OMICRON PEAK – The country’s top doctor says Canada is past the peak of the COVID-19 wave caused by the Omicron variant. Story here.
THIS AND THAT
TODAY IN THE COMMONS – The Commons is closed due to the police operation to clear protesters in Ottawa.
PARLIAMENT HILL CARILLONNEUR STEPS AWAY FROM THE HILL KEYBOARD – Q & A WITH DR. ANDREA MCCRADY – Friday’s police operation to clear protesters from downtown Ottawa forced the cancellation of one last performance by Dr. Andrea McCrady on the Peace Tower Carillon before the tower is off limits due to the renovation of Centre Block. The Carillon, opened in 1927, is a series of 53 bells – ranging in weight from 4.5 kilograms to 10,090 kilograms – played on a keyboard in the tower. They have been a Parliament Hill tradition since Canada Day, 1927. Dr. McCrady was born in America, but came to Canada in the 1970s to study medicine at McGill University. She began playing the carillon in 1971 as an undergraduate in the United States. She retired from medicine in 2006 to continue studying the carillon. Since 2008, Dr. McCrady has been Canada’s Dominion Carillonneur, with duties that include performing music in regular performances, promoting carillon studies and researching and adapting music for the carillon.
Dr. McCrady spoke to the Politics Briefing newsletter earlier this week, before Friday’s operation.
How would you describe your work?
Most Canadians have no clue what the carillon is all about. I am up in the tower performing live on a huge but very expressive instrument, like a weird mix between an organ or a piano or a threshing machine. It’s very unusual, but it is a concert instrument that can express a huge range of feelings and a big range of repertoire.
Your office is high up in the Peace Tower. How do you get there?
Well, I used to joke that I have the highest office on Parliament Hill. That is a small room that houses the playing keyboard, nestled inside the belfry and that is about two thirds of the way up the tower. My real office where I am speaking to you from is in East Block. I have a keyboard but it’s not attached to the bells.
How long will it be before you are back at your keyboard after this week?
That has yet to be determined. Work on the tower will begin as soon as next week. The carillon work will begin in late April, early May. The pandemic and these protests have certainly put wrinkles in the plan, but it is the house administration’s sincere wish that the work on the carillon will be complete well in advance of its 100th anniversary on July 1, 2027. We would love to be able to celebrate that by pealing off the bells in a big concert, but it’s yet to be determined.
So you’re going to be away for quite a substantial period of time.
I’m not playing in the tower, but I am not retiring. I am actively teaching the carillon through Carleton University and to a CEGEP student in Montreal. I have done a lot of arrangements I am going to digitize. I am going to catalogue the huge audio file. And I will continue to practice on my practice keyboard, and when travel restrictions lift, I will be playing music concerts in Canada, the United States, Europe.
How will it feel being away from the keyboard in the tower for a long period of time?
Other people ask me this question and it feels like a job interview. `What do you see yourself doing in five years?’ This instrument has been part of my life for the last 13-plus years. It is such a magnificent instrument. No two carillons are alike. They each have their own unique voice.
What impact have the protests had on your work?
It’s very discouraging. It’s disappointing. We had plans for this month of February, leading up to the tower closing, to just basically do the Peace Tower’s Carillon’s Greatest Hits. I have a whole slew of special recitals planned. And one by one, they got cancelled as the protest continued. Finally, it was decided that I could safely go up the tower. By the way, ever since Centre Block turned into a construction site, I have to have permission from the construction management at public works to play, and I wear a full construction PPE to enter the site – hard hat, goggles, reflective vest, steel-toed boots. I wasn’t prevented from playing due to the protests. I have played over and above many protests. It was the construction site that has to close for safety reasons so I couldn’t access the tower. This week, they decided, `Well, well. She better [perform].’ I have been glad that I could play any of these programs and I just keep worrying, `Uh oh. Is the police action going to happen. Will I even be able to play tomorrow.’ It’s one day at a time. There are no makeup dates. They do plan to start work inside the tower this spring so this is it.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
THE DECIBEL – British Columbia’s health officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, is on Friday’s edition of The Globe and Mail podcast talking about some of her decisions in managing the pandemic in the province, where she sees the pandemic going in the near future and what it’s like being the face of public-health measures. The Decibel is here.
PRIME MINISTER’S DAY
Private meetings. The Prime Minister participates in a meeting to discuss Ukraine hosted by U.S. President Joe Biden with the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Romania, the United Kingdom, the European Union and NATO. The Prime Minister also chairs the fifth meeting of the Incident Response Group on the illegal blockades.
LEADERS
No schedules released for party leaders.
OPINION
The Globe and Mail Editorial Boardon how, if COVID-19 doesn’t clear the bar for the Emergencies Act, does this: “The Conservatives and Bloc Québécois say they will vote against the motion. The New Democrats support it, and have the votes to give the Liberals a majority. However, on Thursday NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said in French that, ‘We are ready to pull our support if we no longer need to continue, if the measures are no longer necessary, or if the government adds powers.’ Good. Looking at the facts on the ground is the best way to consider which, if any, emergency powers are necessary, and how long to allow them to run for. Reasonable people can disagree as to whether activating the Emergencies Act, and the suite of legal tools the government crafted from it, made sense seven days ago. But whatever the strength of the arguments then, improved circumstances leave them considerably weaker today.”
Campbell Clark (The Globe and Mail)on a state of emergency that some truckers don’t believe is real:“Police were saying action is imminent, but many of the truckers didn’t believe it. The Emergencies Act, the written warnings from police to leave or face arrest, the government’s warning that bank accounts will be frozen – those are, to a number of the drivers parked on Ottawa streets, just blank threats. That’s one of the things that is most jarring about the standoff on Wellington St., even as the Emergencies Act was invoked. Many of the truckers didn’t believe it was true. And they didn’t entertain the notion that the protest could end badly.”
Rita Trichur (The Globe and Mail)on how the trucker blockades expose the weaknesses of Canada’s anti-money-laundering regime: “As it turns out, those horn-blaring, hockey-stick-wielding, flag-waving rabble-rousers have pulled off a feat that has long eluded even the most erudite financial-crime experts. Not only have they exposed shortcomings in Canada’s anti-money-laundering and anti-terrorist-financing regime, they’ve spurred the Trudeau government to fix them, at least temporarily. And in relatively short order, to boot.”
Robyn Urback (The Globe and Mail) on why Pierre Poilievre’s support for the convoy is not the fatal political decision it seems: “At first glance, Mr. Poilievre’s support of the convoy might seem to be a poor strategic decision. While it might not be a deal-breaker in Conservative circles, Mr. Poilievre will have to face the general electorate if he wins the CPC leadership, and that electorate overwhelmingly opposes the convoy, according to polling. But Mr. Poilievre’s eye, no doubt, is on the long game: An election is likely years out, and by that time most people’s memories of the protest will have faded (with the exception, perhaps, of those immediately affected in Ottawa’s downtown core).”
Kelly Egan (Ottawa Citizen) on Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson and the practice of politics most cruel: “I’ve always thought of Jim Watson as a cunning political operator. But not a cruel man — until that city council meeting on Wednesday. It was enough to make a grown man cry. In fact, it pretty much did. It was difficult, almost painful, to watch Coun. Mathieu Fleury deal with the resignation of his pal and ward neighbour, Rawlson King, from the police services board, as a matter of principle.”
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Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
MONTREAL – NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says he will not be taking advice from Pierre Poilievre after the Conservative leader challenged him to bring down government.
“I say directly to Pierre Poilievre: I’m not going to listen to you,” said Singh on Wednesday, accusing Poilievre of wanting to take away dental-care coverage from Canadians, among other things.
“I’m not going to listen to your advice. You want to destroy people’s lives, I want to build up a brighter future.”
Earlier in the day, Poilievre challenged Singh to commit to voting non-confidence in the government, saying his party will force a vote in the House of Commons “at the earliest possibly opportunity.”
“I’m asking Jagmeet Singh and the NDP to commit unequivocally before Monday’s byelections: will they vote non-confidence to bring down the costly coalition and trigger a carbon tax election, or will Jagmeet Singh sell out Canadians again?” Poilievre said.
“It’s put up or shut up time for the NDP.”
While Singh rejected the idea he would ever listen to Poilievre, he did not say how the NDP would vote on a non-confidence motion.
“I’ve said on any vote, we’re going to look at the vote and we’ll make our decision. I’m not going to say our decision ahead of time,” he said.
Singh’s top adviser said on Tuesday the NDP leader is not particularly eager to trigger an election, even as the Conservatives challenge him to do just that.
Anne McGrath, Singh’s principal secretary, says there will be more volatility in Parliament and the odds of an early election have risen.
“I don’t think he is anxious to launch one, or chomping at the bit to have one, but it can happen,” she said in an interview.
New Democrat MPs are in a second day of meetings in Montreal as they nail down a plan for how to navigate the minority Parliament this fall.
The caucus retreat comes one week after Singh announced the party has left the supply-and-confidence agreement with the governing Liberals.
It’s also taking place in the very city where New Democrats are hoping to pick up a seat on Monday, when voters go to the polls in Montreal’s LaSalle—Émard—Verdun. A second byelection is being held that day in the Winnipeg riding of Elmwood—Transcona, where the NDP is hoping to hold onto a seat the Conservatives are also vying for.
While New Democrats are seeking to distance themselves from the Liberals, they don’t appear ready to trigger a general election.
Singh signalled on Tuesday that he will have more to say Wednesday about the party’s strategy for the upcoming sitting.
He is hoping to convince Canadians that his party can defeat the federal Conservatives, who have been riding high in the polls over the last year.
Singh has attacked Poilievre as someone who would bring back Harper-style cuts to programs that Canadians rely on, including the national dental-care program that was part of the supply-and-confidence agreement.
The Canadian Press has asked Poilievre’s office whether the Conservative leader intends to keep the program in place, if he forms government after the next election.
With the return of Parliament just days away, the NDP is also keeping in mind how other parties will look to capitalize on the new makeup of the House of Commons.
The Bloc Québécois has already indicated that it’s written up a list of demands for the Liberals in exchange for support on votes.
The next federal election must take place by October 2025 at the latest.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante is defending her decision to turn off comments on her social media accounts — with an announcement on social media.
She posted screenshots to X this morning of vulgar names she’s been called on the platform, and says comments on her posts for months have been dominated by insults, to the point that she decided to block them.
Montreal’s Opposition leader and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association have criticized Plante for limiting freedom of expression by restricting comments on her X and Instagram accounts.
They say elected officials who use social media should be willing to hear from constituents on those platforms.
However, Plante says some people may believe there is a fundamental right to call someone offensive names and to normalize violence online, but she disagrees.
Her statement on X is closed to comments.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
