(OTTAWA) The police will be more numerous in Ottawa on Saturday, while counter-demonstrators are expected in the streets of the city center paralyzed for eight days now by the “convoy of freedom”. On Friday, the demonstrators ignored two elected Conservatives who urged them to go home: they continued to fill up with propane tanks, gas cans and food for the BBQs.
Updated yesterday at 9:37 p.m.
The Ottawa Police Service announced on Friday the deployment of 150 more officers to areas of the city hardest hit by the protest. Its leader, Peter Sloly, said he expected the possible arrival of 300 to 400 additional trucks in the city, 1,000 to 2,000 demonstrators who came to support the convoy, and about 1,000 counter-demonstrators. And while painting this portrait, he stressed that the situation remained “very unstable”.
PHOTO JUSTIN TANG, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Ottawa Police Service Chief Peter Sloly
And there is still no date set for a removal of vehicles whose horns and fumes have become major sources of irritation for area residents, noted Chief Sloly. Along the Rideau Canal, a wooden house has even been built, described as a “community canteen” on social networks. On Friday, preparations were made for the next day’s crowd, ignoring a Conservative call to pack up.
“They are not in government at the moment, it does not change anything. If there’s someone who has to kick us out, it’s gonna be [Justin] Trudeau,” says a man who says his name is “Jay” behind the wooden counter. He therefore does not take offense at the hardening of the Conservative Party’s position on Friday by Pierre Paul-Hus, on Twitter, then his colleague Luc Berthold, during question period.
BLAIR GABLE PHOTO, REUTERS ARCHIVES
Conservative MP Pierre Paul-Hus
I spent the week undergoing the Siege of Ottawa. If truckers’ motivation could be [compréhensible], the current situation is quite different. I ask that we clear the streets and that we stop this occupation controlled by radicals and anarchist groups.
Conservative MP Pierre Paul-Hus, on Twitter, Friday
The day before, the deputy Paul-Hus had asked the interim leader Candice Bergen to rectify the situation, according to our information.
During question period, his colleague Luc Berthold echoed his remarks. He pleaded that after a week, it was “time to end the protest in Ottawa and [de] put an end to the restrictions which are at the origin of it”. The training asks for the lifting of the compulsory vaccination for truckers.
Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino told him that he had responded to a request from the City of Ottawa for reinforcements and that Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers would be deployed. “We have to respect the laws. […] The RCMP will be there to support the Ottawa police who have jurisdiction in this file, ”he explained to his interlocutor.
A tone that does not please everyone
However, the opinion of Quebecers is not unanimous. Niagara Falls Conservative MP Dean Allison, who has given a platform to anti-vaxxers in the past, said he disagreed with his colleague Pierre Paul-Hus’ comments on social media.
This shift also occurs the day after the publication, in the Globe and Mailof an email that new interim leader Candice Bergen sent to ousted leader Erin O’Toole earlier this week about how to deal with truckers.
PHOTO ADRIAN WYLD, THE CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES
Candice Bergen, new interim leader of the Conservative Party of Canada
“I don’t think we should ask them to go home,” she recommended in this message also sent to the entourage of the former leader. “I understand that the mood could soon change. So we have to turn this into a problem for the prime minister, ”added the acting chief.
She did not participate in question period on Friday. In a statement, she said that “regardless of political stripe, we all want an end to the protests and an end to the restrictions”, and urged truckers to “stay[r] peaceful”.
Several conservatives went to meet the truckers and demonstrators who paralyze the streets of the capital. On Wednesday evening, elected officials and a senator from Saskatchewan went to be photographed in front of a heavyweight, which outraged the mayor of Ottawa. “It’s an absolute shame,” reacted Jim Watson.
Blanchet demands action
The leader of the Bloc Québécois, Yves-François Blanchet, also expressed his fed up in a press scrum. He believes that a crisis unit must be set up to resolve the impasse, and that talks must be held with the spokespersons of the truckers’ movement.
BLAIR GABLE PHOTO, REUTERS ARCHIVES
Yves-François Blanchet, leader of the Bloc Québécois
The Bloc leader found it “revealing that the mayor of Ottawa raises his voice and raises the possibility of the army”, an avenue that seems “intense” to him, but which testifies to a “distress that is setting in”, in the capital, where we observe a “loss of patience of the citizens, a loss of enjoyment of the right to live in peace”.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday that a call for the military is not in the cards, at least not yet.
According to former federal Minister of Justice Allan Rock, the City of Ottawa should consider the legal avenue.
“Memo to the City of Ottawa Legal Department: There is sufficient evidence that would warrant filing a motion in Superior Court for an injunction prohibiting the incessant truck horns that constitute a nuisance. The order could also force them to leave. Take care of it! “, he wrote on Twitter.