{"id":404798,"date":"2022-02-11T19:10:15","date_gmt":"2022-02-11T16:10:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/u-s-security-officials-offer-to-help-ottawa-clear-border-blockade\/"},"modified":"2022-02-11T19:10:15","modified_gmt":"2022-02-11T16:10:15","slug":"u-s-security-officials-offer-to-help-ottawa-clear-border-blockade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/u-s-security-officials-offer-to-help-ottawa-clear-border-blockade\/","title":{"rendered":"#U.S. security officials offer to help Ottawa clear border blockade"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#U.S. security officials offer to help Ottawa clear border blockade<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

\n Politics Insider for Feb. 11: The blockade causes auto showdowns; Pierre Poilievre doubles down on anti-mandate stance; Canada’s strife makes global headlines\n <\/div>\n
\n Welcome to a sneak peek of the\u00a0<\/em>Maclean\u2019s\u00a0Politics Insider\u00a0news<\/a>letter.\u00a0Sign up\u00a0to get it delivered\u00a0straight to your inbox in the morning.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Americans interested:<\/strong> U.S. security officials called Ottawa on Thursday to offer American help clearing the blockade on the Ambassador Bridge between Windsor and Detroit, Alexander Panetta<\/strong> reports<\/a> for CBC.<\/p>\n

The White House said Thursday the U.S. federal cabinet and senior administration staff are now seized<\/strong> with this issue. \u201c[They] have been engaged around the clock to bring this to a swift end,\u201d the White House said in response to questions from CBC News. The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden<\/strong> said Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas<\/strong> urged his Canadian counterparts Thursday to use their own federal powers to end the blockade at the Canada-U.S. border.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Gone to court:<\/strong> The blockade has caused shutdowns at auto plants on both sides of the border. The City of Windsor is seeking an injunction to get trucks rolling across the border again, the Globe<\/em> reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens<\/strong> said he hopes the Superior Court of Ontario will soon grant the injunction to end the \u201cillegal\u201d blockade, now in its fourth day,\u00a0<\/b>and restore traffic across Canada\u2019s busiest link with the United States. \u201cThis is a national crisis<\/strong>,\u201d Mr. Dilkens said at a news conference on Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

No go:<\/strong>\u00a0The blockade seems to have finally got the attention of Doug Ford<\/strong>, whose government moved to freeze millions of dollars donated to the blockaders through online fundraising platform GiveSendGo, CP reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The province obtained an order from the Superior Court of Justice that prohibits anyone from distributing donations made through the website\u2019s \u201cFreedom Convoy 2022\u2033 and \u201cAdopt-a-Trucker\u201d campaign pages, said a spokeswoman for Premier Doug Ford. Ivana Yelich<\/strong> said the order binding \u201cany and all parties with possession or control over these donations\u201d was issued Thursday afternoon. She cited a section of the Criminal Code that allows the attorney general<\/a> to app<\/a>ly for a restraint order against any \u201coffence-related property.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

GiveSendGo said on Twitter<\/a> that Canada is not their boss, basically.<\/p>\n

More to come:<\/strong> Late Thursday, Evan Solomon<\/strong> tweeted that we can expect Ontario to take more action<\/a> today.<\/p>\n

Reverse!<\/strong> The federal Conservatives reversed course on Thursday and called for the blockades to end, the Globe<\/em> reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am asking you to take down the blockades,\u201d interim Conservative Leader Candice Bergen<\/strong> said in the House of Commons Thursday morning. \u201cIt\u2019s time to remove the barricades and the trucks for the sake of the economy.\u201d Before her election as interim leader, Ms. Bergen met with protesters blockading downtown Ottawa last week and called them \u201cpassionate, patriotic and peaceful.\u201d She has since called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to extend an \u201colive branch\u201d to the demonstrators and meet with them.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Not reversing:<\/strong> Pierre Poilievre<\/strong>, the frontrunner and only declared candidate for the leadership of the CPC, has not backed down from his support for the convoy. He released an open letter<\/a> Thursday calling for the government to end vaccine mandates.<\/p>\n

Moe criticized:<\/strong> Scott Moe<\/strong> is also declining to tell the blockaders to stop, which the opposition in Saskatchewan thinks is bad, CBC reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Manitoba, too:<\/strong> A blockade shut down the main border crossing between Manitoba and the U.S., the Winnipeg Sun<\/em> reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

BBC view:<\/strong> The BBC has a good roundup<\/a> of the state of things in Ottawa, where the protest continues, and the city is struggling to get trucks towed.<\/p>\n

Tow threats:<\/strong> CTV reports<\/a>\u00a0that Police Chief Peter Sloly<\/strong> says a \u201cfull criminal investigation\u201d is underway into threats against a towing company.<\/p>\n

911 choked:<\/strong> Callers, apparently Americans who want to support the protesters in Ottawa, choked 911 lines with nuisance calls on Thursday, Global reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Protest fun:<\/strong> The Citizen<\/em> reports<\/a> that an OPP officer was letting protesters get their pictures taken in his cruiser.<\/p>\n

Protesters\u2019 lament:<\/strong> Global\u2019s Alex Boutilier<\/strong> has an interesting story<\/a> revealing the view from the side of the protesters,\u00a0who complain the authorities are \u201ccreating a political space where violence can occur.\u201d This version of events\u2014where the convoy\u2019s enemies are smearing it\u2014is detailed in \u201cintelligence briefs\u201d prepared for convoy supporters, purportedly\u00a0\u201cintel reports\u201d written by Tom Quiggin, an independent researcher who formerly was a Canadian security official.<\/p>\n

Dug in:<\/strong> Quiggin features in a worrying in-depth report<\/a>\u00a0from the CBC\u2019s Judy Trinh<\/strong>, who points out that organizers with police and military expertise\u2014including a former member of the Prime Minister\u2019s protection detail\u2014seem to be helping protesters dig in in Ottawa.<\/p>\n

Insurrectionist:<\/strong> In the Calgary Herald<\/em>, Don Braid<\/strong> writes that<\/a> the protesters are increasingly revealing themselves to Canadians.<\/p>\n

By this stage the protesters themselves are becoming almost irrelevant. We know their core ideology \u2014 rejection of elected government, belief in some overriding \u201cauthority of the land\u201d, which only they of course represent, and the conviction that their issue trumps all others. The very thing they claim to abhor most, vaccine mandates and other COVID-19 measures, are falling all over Canada. But the trucks are not moving out. This is insurrectionist thinking with a single end point, authoritarianism.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Drag it out:<\/b>\u00a0Andrew Coyne<\/strong>, writing<\/a> in the Globe<\/em>, suggests that the Canadian political class should work on lowering the temperature, and we should strive to make the situation duller.<\/p>\n

Let us recall first that greatest of political maxims, where there\u2019s time there\u2019s hope. Time allows for more creative thinking, for more pieces to be put on the board, for complicating what had had seemed to be simple and simplifying what had seemed to be complex \u2013 and for that uniquely Canadian solution to seemingly insoluble dilemmas, boredom. Russia, it was said, had General Winter on its side in any great conflict. Well, we have General Torpor, and should exploit this advantage to the fullest.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Still a good country:<\/strong> Our domestic strife is making headlines around the world, leading variously to gloating<\/a> and fact-checking<\/a>, but Canadians should not let that bother us too much, writes<\/a>\u00a0Lawrence Martin <\/strong>in the Globe<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Why not start with Canada\u2019s ranking in a list of the best countries on a wide range of indices directed by U.S. News and World Report? That ranking is number one. Top of the heap. Greatest nation of them all. How about the current cause of upheaval, our supposed lack of freedoms? In a study based on political rights and civil liberties, Freedom House gives Canada one of its highest rankings, fourth overall and best among G7 countries. On the quality of its democracy, Canada ranks fifth, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit\u2019s latest democracy index. A fine measure of a country\u2019s progress is education. Canada, according to an OECD study, is the most educated country on the planet. On standard of living, studies put Canada fifth best, on health care sixth, on racial equality second. On immigration \u2013 a grading for countries on their welcoming of foreigners \u2013 this country stands first. On economic freedom, the best countries for doing business, a study by Forbes magazine puts it sixth. Canadians aren\u2019t boasters. But given all the flack coming their way, it\u2019s occasionally helpful<\/strong> to put things in perspective.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u2014 Stephen Maher<\/strong>
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