Trucks, comedians and Covid: Links 1, February 7, 2022

1. Comedienne Heather McDonald passed out onstage after her second joke…

About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

53 Replies to “Trucks, comedians and Covid: Links 1, February 7, 2022”

  1. Do the Ottawa cops intend returning the fuel to their rightful owners?
    If not, can the individual cops be charged with theft and their chief cop be charged with facilitating a crime?

    And have Gofundme returned the money they have taken from the truckers? Or is that another instance of theft?

    • Here, THIS MORNING, we have a protestor in charge who says they have more than enough fuel stocked elsewhere and they aren’t budging. They have everything they need.

      They don’t blame the police officers, rather those issuing the orders. The officers were not happy with having to remove the fuel containers… they didn’t want to be there and they were cold.

      https://twitter.com/RealGoule/status/1490695220337459200?s=20&t=M5qAXaXQ89TotemnJRJe8w

      ELSEWHERE, I read Mayor Watson is now calling on Trudeau to handle the situation. IMO, Watson knows the cops don’t appreciate harming the protestors and there ain’t anything he can do legally where he wins.

      • This proves everything sloly said is a lie. According to my translator. Well they did take fuel.

  2. CBC – Ottawa protest: What comes next?

    Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson talks about declaring a state of emergency and the ongoing protests in the city.

    And former Ottawa police chief Charles Bordeleau discusses how the protests have been handled and what policing options are available.

  3. global news – Ottawa police dismantle trucker camp as residents, protesters set to clash in court

    Ottawa police dismantled a logistics camps on Sunday night used by truckers and their supporters where they could assemble fuel and materials, just hours after the city declared a state of emergency, giving it the ability to bypass normal procedures.

    Later Monday, a hearing will commence regarding a lawsuit calling to hear arguments in a proposed multi-million-dollar class-action lawsuit by Ottawa residents who want trucker protesters encamped downtown to stop the honking.


  4. ctv – Freedom Convoy | Police target fuel supply for demonstration in Ottawa

    Protesters say police seized 3,200 litres of fuel during a raid at the Ottawa Baseball Stadium on Coventry Road Sunday evening.

    ( age restricted on YT )

  5. CBC – Removing trucks could be almost ‘impossible,’ say heavy towing experts

    Incredibly difficult without co-operation from drivers, say those in the field

    Heavy-duty towing experts say it will be difficult or impossible to remove the hundreds of heavy trucks entrenched in Ottawa’s downtown — unless the drivers allow it.

    CBC counted 40 trucks on Kent Street and 109 on Wellington Street Friday, with dozens more on other streets spread around the downtown core. Then on Saturday, Ottawa police said 500 heavy trucks were in the so-called “red zone.”

    Trucker Lloyd Crowe from Picton, Ont., has been parked just a couple of blocks away from Parliament Hill since last weekend, but he’s not worried about being towed.

    “If you know anything about truck air brakes, once you pull that button, all 18 wheels are locked,” Crowe told CBC on Wednesday.

    “Nothing can move it, except maybe a big wrecker. And no wrecker worth his salt is going to come anywhere near this, because they’re on our side.”

    City struggling to find willing towing companies: sources

    CBC spoke to multiple towing companies across Ontario and while many weren’t willing to be interviewed, several sources told CBC that the companies contracted by the City of Ottawa were refusing to tow trucks involved with the demonstration.

    The city would not confirm or deny this, saying only that its bylaw department “uses several contracted services to assist with towing vehicles throughout the city.”

    On Sunday, the city declared a state of emergency, which among other things will make procurement more flexible, according to city solicitor David White.

    While the city likely has some vehicles with heavy-duty towing capacity for large OC Transpo vehicles, they also did not provide a response when asked how many they had.

    Bylaw and regulatory services director Roger Chapman said in a statement that 28 vehicles associated with the protest had been towed “for impeding traffic and blocking laneways,” but it is not clear if any of those were commercial trucks.

    Towing companies fear backlash

    David Allen, president of Gary’s Towing in London, Ont., said while towing a truck that doesn’t want to be moved would be hard, it is physically possible — even if the air brakes are engaged.

    Heavy-duty tow trucks can transfer air from their system to the trucks to release the brakes, Allen said. Failing that, they could “cage” the brakes, which involves manually backing the brake off each individual wheel.

    “We have all the capabilities on our tow trucks to do it … but I don’t think anyone would want to,” he said.

    That’s because many companies who provide heavy towing would be hesitant to risk their relationships with trucking companies, Allen said.

    The backlash against tow trucks brought in to help clear the blockade at the border in Coutts, Alta., has dissuaded many towing companies from taking work in Ottawa, he noted.

    “It’s the trucking industry you have to service on a regular basis,” Allen said. “It would be really detrimental to our business to get involved with something like that.”

    ‘Virtually impossible’ without driver co-operation

    Heavy towing is a much more complicated process than towing a regular car or pickup, said Randy Whan, who owns Ward’s Towing in Kingston, Ont.

    Hooking up a commercial truck to a heavy-duty tower — sometimes called a “wrecker” — takes at least 30 minutes, Whan said.

    They have to hook onto the truck’s front axle, then supply air to the truck to release the brake and remove a driveline of some kind — difficult or almost impossible without the driver’s co-operation, Whan said.

    “In the end … the trucker’s going to say whether you’re taking that truck away or not.”

    He added the average large truck has a lot of equipment, such as chains weighing 15 kilograms or more, that could be used to prevent someone from towing their vehicle without consent.

    Hooking up the truck also puts the employee in a vulnerable position, as they need to go under the truck, he added.

    “I honestly can’t see it being done,” he said. “Every person that would send a [tow] truck in there is putting their driver at risk for being injured … You start removing those vehicles, you’re going to have some pretty angry people.”

    Could take several days

    With hundreds of trucks parked downtown, removing them all — if it could be done — would still take multiple days of round-the-clock effort.

    Even in a best-case scenario with driver co-operation, it would take at least 10 hours to tow just the 40 trucks on Kent Street, Whan said.

    But there’s also the fact trucks are not often stopped in the ideal positions to tow, meaning workers have to spend extra time winching them.

    “If you’re in a tight parking lot, or you’re hooking up on a 45-degree angle, obviously things are going to change a little bit and it’s going to be a little bit harder,” Whan said.

    One previous job that involved towing more than 30 trucks and 28 cars in difficult positions took his company over 18 hours, he said.

    It also takes time to tow the trucks to wherever they’re being relocated to, and if the City of Ottawa did attempt it, they’d need to find a sizable space to put them.

    Trucks could come back

    Police don’t think towing the trucks is an effective solution, said Matt Skof, president of the Ottawa Police Association.

    “You can tow all you want — they’re just going to return to the location, so it hasn’t resolved the issue,” Skof said. “And where are you putting all these vehicles?”

    Towing large trucks is “incredibly logistically difficult,” Skof said, and any trucks removed would likely be quickly replaced by new ones arriving. Even if barriers were set up to prevent their re-entry, that would just push the problem to another part of the city, Skof said.

    “Blocking off the streets after you’ve towed everybody, [they could] then occupy another location outside of it,” he said. “Then you’ve done nothing.”

    Some activists have alleged the Ottawa Police Service’s treatment of the truck convoy has displayed a double standard, since in November 2020, officers moved in on a group blocking an intersection to protest the force’s treatment of Black and Indigenous people within days.

    But Skof said removing the convoy is a more difficult task: “You’re talking about pedestrians for one thing, versus vehicles that weigh thousands of pounds.”

    The decisions on how to ultimately break up the protest lie with Ottawa police Chief Peter Sloly, Skof said.

    Sloly said Saturday the force still does not have a timeline for removing all trucks.

    https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-protest-truck-tow-remove-1.6339652

  6. Ontario Liberal leader calls for provincial state of emergency

    Liberal Leader calling for three steps in ending the protests in Ottawa.

  7. BBC – Canada capital Ottawa declares state of emergency over trucker protesters

    ….. There have also been reports of racial attacks.

    • CBC – Ottawa police chief wants staffing boost as protesters continue to refuel convoy

      Police chief tells reporters he needs 1,800 more officers, civilians to ‘turn up the heat’

      Police Chief Peter Sloly has told a meeting of Ottawa city council he needs an influx of almost 2,000 police officers and civilians to “turn up the heat” on the ongoing protest in the city’s downtown core.

      City councillors are gathering Monday afternoon for a special meeting that includes more information on police needs and is expected to include a future review of the city response.

      On Friday, Sloly said he doesn’t have enough staff to end the protest, which has extended to day 11 in the nation’s capital.

      At noon Monday, Sloly told reporters the new police strategy announced Friday helped make this weekend’s protest smaller compared to the previous weekend. He said police are currently making incremental progress toward ending the demonstration, but more help would “turn up the heat” on protesters and end it more quickly.

      He went on to tell city councillors at the meeting he wants 1,800 more police and civilian workers to be able to take meaningful action, which almost matches the 2,100 police and civilian staff currently employed by the Ottawa Police Service.

      On CBC Radio’s Ottawa Morning on Monday, Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson said requests will go to both federal and provincial governments for more officers to help out.

      “We’re going to require significant more police resources to bring a semblance of order to get more presence in the neighbourhoods,” Watson said.

      The mayor added at the meeting he’s asked for provincial permission to increase fines for noise, idling and blocking roads.

      In terms of his own questions for Sloly, Watson said he plans to ask when residents can expect to see the increased police presence.

      Watson says he also knows a motion is coming forward to council for “a full, independent, comprehensive review” of the decisions and actions by various levels of government and the city, including the police force, in response to the ongoing demonstration.

      That post-mortem review will be completed once the situation downtown is resolved, he said.

      State of emergency: What will it achieve?

      Watson explained the municipal state of emergency, announced Sunday, is “mostly an administrative tool” that allows staff to “bypass procurement bylaws if we need equipment, supplies,” in response to what he called an occupation of Ottawa’s downtown core and surrounding neighbourhoods.

      That tool, he said, gives more authority to the city manager and makes staff “more nimble” to purchase whatever’s needed in response to the protest, without a long series of consultations and agreements.

      “It [also] sends the signal to the other two orders of government that this is a serious situation and we’re going to need their continued support in terms of additional police officers,” said Watson.

      Over the weekend, city solicitor David White told city councillors the declaration of a state of emergency “does little” in terms of legal authority and does not give more power to Ottawa police.

      In a statement, Ontario’s solicitor general Sylvia Jones emphasized politicians can’t direct police but discussions were ongoing “to ensure [Ottawa police] have every necessary resource they need to keep their community safe.”

      Ottawa caught between ‘2 warring factions’

      When asked if the mayor will take to the streets and engage with protesters, Watson said the issue is not within his jurisdiction.

      “This is a federal issue, not a municipal issue. We’re caught between these two warring factions,” said Watson, who added he’d meet with protest organizers about their “grievances” after the protest ends.

      He also said he suggested to his federal counterparts to use a “high-profile, respected senior states person” to act as a mediator between protesters and decision makers, and to mediate a solution to resolve this stalemate.

      “There seems to be little movement on either part,” he said. “I’m not going to condone their activities by showing up and having a chit-chat with them. I want them to leave.”

      https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/watson-state-of-emergency-update-1.6342156

      =================================
      UK – the independent – Canada truckers – live: Ottawa asks Trudeau to double size of police force as ‘HATEFUL OCCUPATION’ continues

      […]The “freedom truck convoy” has attracted support from many US Republicans including former President Donald Trump, who called Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a “far left lunatic” who has “destroyed Canada with insane Covid mandates.”

      Police report that multiple arrests have been made related to the protest as Mayor Jim Watson warns that someone may get killed or seriously injured because of the irresponsible behaviour of some of those involved.

      […]the mayor called “an aggressive and hateful occupation of our neighbourhoods” that has nothing to do with vaccine mandates.

      ———————————–

      Judge bans air horns at protests

      A judge will order a 10-day injunction against the use of air horns at protests — a big complaint of people living in downtown Ottawa after 11 days of disruption and noise.

      The wording of the order is still to being decided on and a lawyer representing the police will be consulted as to how the ruling will be enforced.

      https://twitter.com/glen_mcgregor/status/1490771310955442179
      —————————————-

      https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/canada-truckers-protest-live-convoy-b2009350.html

  8. europravda -Thousands of protesters against vaccine mandates and other restrictions have descended on Canada’s capital in what the police chief has likened to a ‘siege’.

  9. the sun – Vaccine mandate protesters shut down downtown Ottawa

    PROTESTERS rallied in cities across Canada in support of the truck drivers to protest against vaccine mandates and other coronavirus restrictions.

    Anti-vaccine protesters were rallying in Toronto and Quebec City among other cities in Canada on the day, waving Canadian flags and holding placards to call for the ending of vaccine mandates.

    Vehicle convoys and rallies also came to the the Canadian capital of Ottawa on Saturday night to join in on the second week of a protest, despite multiple measures taken by Ottawa police to taper off the protest.

    The protest in Ottawa was first staged by the truckers on Jan 29 to voice opposition to the Canadian government’s vaccine requirement for truckers crossing the Canada-United States border.

  10. BFMTV – “Convoi de la liberté”: le maire d’Ottawa déclare l’état d’urgence

  11. FOX News – Canadian truckers start new fundraiser after GoFundMe cut off funds to ‘Freedom Convoy’

  12. ctv news – Feds call for end of ‘unlawful, disrespectful’ protests

    ( 20 min 35 )

    + comments on the YT page

  13. COVID-19 vaccine mandates take centre stage in explosive House of Commons exchange

    The topic of COVID-19 vaccine mandates took centre stage during Monday’s session of question period in Ottawa’s House of Commons amid ongoing anti-mandate demonstrations.

    Interim Conservative Party Leader Candice Bergen demanded answers on when Canadians could see vaccine mandates and other public health guidelines removed.

    Meanwhile, Liberal House Leader Mark Holland said the country is “not ready” to strip federal health mandates just yet, in a move to protect those most vulnerable from the pandemic.

    “We’re all tired. We’re all frustrated. But we have to ask how we can continue to sacrifice to keep those safe around us, to make sure we follow public health measures and do our best to get out of this pandemic keeping as many people safe and alive as possible,” argued Holland.

  14. global news – In a passionate delivery on Monday evening, Justin delivered remarks, stating how the COVID-19 pandemic has been hard for all to deal with — including children and especially health-care workers.

  15. Legal injunction ‘one more tool’ for police to bring quiet back to Ottawa

    Lawyer Christine Johnson discusses a new injunction granted to silence noise from demonstrators in downtown Ottawa.

  16. REBEL NEWS – ‘Most people are going to be waking up to the fact that the news has been lying for many years’

    ( 11 min )

  17. REBEL NEWS – Cops seizing fuel in Ottawa? Protesters on scene reveal the story

    ( 10 min 21 )

  18. “‘..and Jesus loves me most.’

    As soon as she delivered the joke, she just collapsed and hit her head on the floor.”

    Apparently Jesus’s timing is better than Heather’s.