(Ottawa) Chasing the demonstrators who blocked the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor quickly became a priority for the authorities given its economic importance. The report of a telephone conversation between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Ontario counterpart, Doug Ford, suggests a strong sense of urgency to end this blockage.
Posted at 1:44 p.m.
“I’m going to be in their ass with a wire brush,” replied the Ontario Premier to Justin Trudeau who pressed him with questions about the plan of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) to act. The report of their discussion held on February 10 was entered into evidence at the Commission on the state of emergency on Tuesday.
A convoy of three-kilometre-long trucks had been blocking the bridge that connects the Ontario city of Windsor to that of Detroit in the United States for three days. Overwhelmed by the scale of the events, the local police had asked for help from the OPP.
“It’s costing us 500-600 million in trade and we’ll hit 3.1 billion tomorrow,” Ford said. He then seeks legal means to give “more tools” to the police because they are “a bit shy”. “I can’t give them orders,” he recalled.
“You shouldn’t need any other tools — legal tools,” Justin Trudeau countered. They are shutting down Ontario’s economy and causing millions of dollars in damage daily and harming the lives of others. »
PHOTO ADRIAN WYLD, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Dana Earley, OPP Superintendent of Police Operation
Later in the conversation, he asks Doug Ford if he has any idea of the OPP’s plan to drive out the protesters. “They can’t discuss it for three weeks, they have to act immediately,” said the Prime Minister of Canada.
OPP Superintendent of Police Operations Dana Earley testified Tuesday that the Windsor situation was a priority. She claimed to have experienced no political interference in the course of her assignment. A police operation eventually cleared the trucks on the night of February 13-14, before the federal government resorted to the Emergencies Act the same day.
The “Freedom Convoy” was still paralyzing the streets of downtown Ottawa for nearly three weeks. During his meeting with Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister Ford then seemed to pay little attention to the situation in the federal capital, accusing in passing the former Ottawa police chief, Peter Sloly, and Mayor Jim Watson of having “mismanaged” it. He says Mr. Sloly has lost control of his troops.