Freedom Convoy protests [Split from All things 2019-nCoV]

[RangerRay]

View of Russia's Role in the Far-Right Truck Convoy | The Journal of Intelligence, Conflict, and Warfare

journals.lib.sfu.ca

Interesting read about the influences over the protests

No surprise there. Russian state media usually promotes anything that sows chaos and division in the west.

 

[Remius]

Trudeau met threshold to invoke Emergencies Act, commission finds

The Public Order Emergency Commission has concluded that the federal government met the threshold for invoking the Emergencies Act to bring an end to the 'Freedom Convoy' protests and blockades.

www.ctvnews.ca

Decision is out on the EA.

 

[Navy_Pete]

Trudeau met threshold to invoke Emergencies Act, commission finds

The Public Order Emergency Commission has concluded that the federal government met the threshold for invoking the Emergencies Act to bring an end to the 'Freedom Convoy' protests and blockades.

www.ctvnews.ca

Decision is out on the EA.

So basically, was justified, but could have been avoided with earlier intervention/better coordination between levels of government. That seems reasonable, but unfortunately the biggest culprits on the municipal side have retired anyway and have avoided any real responsibility for this disaster and the LRT mess.

Some kind of equivalent to the 129 catchall for elected officials who failed to do their basic duty would be nice (with suitable restrictions to make the thresholds really high to prevent abuse).

 

[ArmyRick]

Trudeau met threshold to invoke Emergencies Act, commission finds

The Public Order Emergency Commission has concluded that the federal government met the threshold for invoking the Emergencies Act to bring an end to the 'Freedom Convoy' protests and blockades.

www.ctvnews.ca

Decision is out on the EA.

Thanks for posting. I couldn't find this on google as soon as it was announced it was released.

 

[Quirky]

Some kind of equivalent to the 129 catchall for elected officials who failed to do their basic duty would be nice (with suitable restrictions to make the thresholds really high to prevent abuse).

Like with all government organizations, including the CAF, no accountability.

 

[brihard]

Some kind of equivalent to the 129 catchall for elected officials who failed to do their basic duty would be nice (with suitable restrictions to make the thresholds really high to prevent abuse).

Elections.

2000 pages. Ugh, this will be a while. Though it looks like they’ve broken the report into 5 or 6 volumes, a couple of which won’t really be necessary to go through to understand the conclusions reached and why.

 

[Navy_Pete]

Elections.

2000 pages. Ugh, this will be a while. Though it looks like they’ve broken the report into 5 or 6 volumes, a couple of which won’t really be necessary to go through to understand the conclusions reached and why.

Sure, except Watson retired before he could be punted as Mayor. Aside from this, really should be held accountable for the shady BS on the LRT. It only came to light because the province did an inquiry, as the city refused to do one, and neutered the 'independent audit' to the point of being useless.

 

[Blackadder1916]

Full text available at NP (through Scribd actually)

FULL TEXT: Commission 'reluctantly' rules Trudeau justified to use Emergencies Act to end Freedom Convoy

Justice Rouleau delivered the Public Order Emergency Commission's verdict. Read the full report and his statement on the verdict

nationalpost.com

(edited to add)

And from the Commission's site

Final Report

On April 25, 2022, the Government of Canada established the Public Order Emergency Commission (POEC) to inquire into the circumstances that led to the declaration of emergency that was in place from February 14-23, 2022, and the measures taken for dealing with the emergency.

publicorderemergencycommission.ca

 

[Remius]

Like with all government organizations, including the CAF, no accountability.

I think that the fact that they held an actual inquiry (which the PM himself had to appear at) disproves your statement.

 

[brihard]

I think that the fact that they held an actual inquiry (which the PM himself had to appear at) disproves your statement.

I suspect the PM could have relatively easily avoided testifying by asserting some sort of privilege or confidence. Much of his decision making could likely have legitimately been shrouded in cabinet confidence. The fact that he and other senior federal government figures testified is indeed a positive tick mark in the accountability column.

The report is now available. Volume 1, the overview and executive summary, comes to 273 pages.

Final Report

On April 25, 2022, the Government of Canada established the Public Order Emergency Commission (POEC) to inquire into the circumstances that led to the declaration of emergency that was in place from February 14-23, 2022, and the measures taken for dealing with the emergency.

publicorderemergencycommission.ca

 

[RangerRay]

Based on what I am reading at this time, it appears to have been justified because the local police couldn’t/wouldn’t deal with the matter and three levels of government played hot-potato for three weeks. Not a ringing endorsement of the Feds’ decision to use this.

“You guys shit the bed on this, so of course you had to use The Emergencies Act.”

 

[Lumber]

Based on what I am reading at this time, it appears to have been justified because the local police couldn’t/wouldn’t deal with the matter and three levels of government played hot-potato for three weeks. Not a ringing endorsement of the Feds’ decision to use this.

“You guys shit the bed on this, so of course you had to use The Emergencies Act.”

Right, so, the feds should have just let the situation continue to deteriorate with the hope that's the other levels would eventually (hopefully soon) get their shit together?

That's why he said he only "reluctantly" said it was justified; because it shouldn't have needed to be.

The report also makes it clear that the use of the EA in this instance was exactly what the feds said it was: it was specific, limited, and most importantly, temporary.

 

[daftandbarmy]

The report also makes it clear that the use of the EA in this instance was exactly what the feds said it was: it was specific, limited, and most importantly, temporary.

Which is all the excuse they need to do it again, somewhere else, right?

 

[FSTO]

Which is all the excuse they need to do it again, somewhere else, right?

Oh the howls when it is evoked against non-white young men.

 

[Brad Sallows]

"We had to use extraordinary powers because we were incompetent."

Future Bright Young Staff to the people being advised: "So, if the crisis were not prevented from escalating by early effective intervention..."

 

[Navy_Pete]

"We had to use extraordinary powers because we were incompetent."

Future Bright Young Staff to the people being advised: "So, if the crisis were not prevented from escalating by early effective intervention..."

Yes, by local police, then provincial authorities. The feds stepping in should be last resort.

Good timing for the weekend with the noise being made around coming to Ottawa again; sounds like this encourages the OPS to keep a tight rein on any normal protests and step down hard on a deviation from that, in early effective intervention. Cool if they want to protest, just don't be arseholes about it and harass normal people trying to go about their day.

 

[winds_13]

Right, so, the feds should have just let the situation continue to deteriorate with the hope that's the other levels would eventually (hopefully soon) get their shit together?

That's why he said he only "reluctantly" said it was justified; because it shouldn't have needed to be.

The report also makes it clear that the use of the EA in this instance was exactly what the feds said it was: it was specific, limited, and most importantly, temporary.

What do you mean by continue to deteriorate?

If I recall correctly, when the EA was enacted the border blockades had already been cleared, the egregious honking in downtown Ottawa had all but stopped for over a week and there was active movement of trucks off many of the streets in the city's core... what about the situation was deteriorating?

It seemed that the protesters were steadfast in continuing their demonstration, but that it was steadily becoming more civil. The inquiry demonstrated that there were no intelligence reports suggesting that the protests were likely to become violent. The government argued that the definition of a "national security threat" layed out
in the act was out of date and that they were following a newly proposed definition... of course, they refused to disclose this new definition to the public or the inquiry.

One could also argue that there is the perception of bias in the case of Justice Rouleau, as he has ties to the Liberal Party, including former employment as a federal staffer.

 

[RangerRay]

Right, so, the feds should have just let the situation continue to deteriorate with the hope that's the other levels would eventually (hopefully soon) get their shit together?

That's why he said he only "reluctantly" said it was justified; because it shouldn't have needed to be.

The report also makes it clear that the use of the EA in this instance was exactly what the feds said it was: it was specific, limited, and most importantly, temporary.

Absolutely not. They should have done their jobs in the first place instead of playing silly-bugger and hot-potato. Based on my reading, they invoked the Emergencies Act because no one did their jobs for 3 weeks and allowed things to deteriorate.

 

[daftandbarmy]

What do you mean by continue to deteriorate?

If I recall correctly, when the EA was enacted the border blockades had already been cleared, the egregious honking in downtown Ottawa had all but stopped for over a week and there was active movement of trucks off many of the streets in the city's core... what about the situation was deteriorating?

It seemed that the protesters were steadfast in continuing their demonstration, but that it was steadily becoming more civil. The inquiry demonstrated that there were no intelligence reports suggesting that the protests were likely to become violent. The government argued that the definition of a "national security threat" layed out
in the act was out of date and that they were following a newly proposed definition... of course, they refused to disclose this new definition to the public or the inquiry.

One could also argue that there is the perception of bias in the case of Justice Rouleau, as he has ties to the Liberal Party, including former employment as a federal staffer.

“Corrupt politicians make the other ten percent look bad.”

― Henry Kissinger

 

[brihard]

Absolutely not. They should have done their jobs in the first place instead of playing silly-bugger and hot-potato. Based on my reading, they invoked the Emergencies Act because no one did their jobs for 3 weeks and allowed things to deteriorate.

Just a note of caution on this- within Ontario the feds were not able to really act against the protests in a law enforcement capacity until approached by the police of jurisdiction. In normal circumstances, RCMP are not empowered to simply step in over Ottawa Police or the OPP for public order matters. Typically, federal augmentation of public order policing requires a request from or some standing arrangement with the police of jurisdiction. Likewise for the OPP to step in and act within the policing jurisdiction of a municipality. The ball was in Ottawa's court.