Prediction: We can come back and revisit this prediction in a couple of years. Since the truckers have been hanging out with fascists, they will become increasingly radicalized and supportive of the fascist movements (hard to believe there is more than zero) in Canada. The right will blame those of us who pointed out this was all about fascists and getting money and supporters in the first place (hence this prediction) including by people on this board. They will say that we caused them to become fascists by calling it out.
And today, they’re blocking one of the routes the convoyers were planning to use.
This just shows that the police line about how there was no way to prevent the original convoy from setting up shop in downtown was BS. Ottawa isn’t that big, and has several such key intersections that, if you control them, you can severely limit access to downtown. This is especially true for large trucks.
Arrests being made and cars being towed at the Windsor border crossing now.
And I still think that any big rig trucks anywhere in the downtown Ottawa area should immediately have their insurance voided, and any drivers with commercial licenses should lose them. Let them take the bus home.
Unless it’s specifically forbidden by the terms of coverage, they can’t deny for that reason.
Oh, today the Ottawa police said their enforcement activities had to be paused for a bit because of illegal activity.
I’d be surprised if insurance covered illegal acts. There’s a lot of fine print in these contracts.
I am aware of that. It would be illegal no matter who was doing it. You seem to be under a weird misapprehension that I support the protest.
Canada has long been a country where the main three political parties were actually quite similar and essentially moderate with small deflections. I do not see this changing much. The proudest moments of Canada’s military were defending democracy in WW2. Yes, there is some American influence. However, support for a guy like Bernier was very modest (3%) in the last election, and that was when Trump was at his zenith. Most Canadians do not really espouse or support extreme political views. In fact, some sort of Covid screening process for people entering Canada is still broadly supported.
This will not soon change - despite attempts to portray extremism as mainstream or very common. They are still minority movements which protest, along with a hodgepodge of other groups. Everyone is tired of Covid.
As someone very experienced in the insurance industry, I can attest you do not get coverage for performing illegal activity on most, if not all, insurance policies*. In addition, even if the insurance company makes the mistake of not adding such a clause to their contract, they’re definitely going to stipulate coverage on the trucks only extends to work-related activities.
Canada has long been a country where the main three political parties were actually quite similar and essentially moderate with small deflections. I do not see this changing much. The proudest moments of Canada’s military were defending democracy in WW2. Yes, there is some American influence. However, support for a guy like Bernier was very modest (3%) in the last election, and he is not actually terribly extreme, and that was when Trump was at his zenith.
Most Canadians do not really espouse or support very extreme political views. In fact, some sort of Covid screening process for people entering Canada is still broadly supported. Canada’s very character and history is based on consensus and accommodation.
This will not soon change - despite attempts to portray extremism as mainstream or very common. They are still minority movements which protest, along with a hodgepodge of other groups. That does not mean they are not significant or worrisome. Everyone is tired of Covid, and policies should mainly seek to mitigate higher risk activities.
Oh I’d agree they won’t get coverage if the vehicle is damaged AT THE PROTEST.
Point
… or driving to, or driving away from, or in use to support, or, frankly, in ANY non-work use.
Or, perhaps most to the point, if the vehicle is damaged in the process of removing it from its blockade position. Too bad, so sad…
The question being debated here is: Would the truckers’ insurance merely deny any claims for damage that occur during or about this protest? Or would the insurance companies altogether cancel (or refuse to renew) their policies because of this? If they do the latter, that would put the truckers entirely out of business. (ETA: Of course, the government could accomplish the same by revoking their commercial driver licenses.)
As Mark Twain put it:
Figures often beguile me, particularly when I have the arranging of them myself; in which case the remark attributed to Disraeli would often apply with justice and force: “ There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.”
Good to see more cracking down getting under way:
And this is the worst part of these absolutist idiots. There are legitimate discussions to be had on some issues, but in demanding to just drop all COVID policies, it’s impossible to have reasonable discussions on these points.
Covid screening for travelers is exactly one such issue. Demanding PCR tests for travel back into Canada has several real problems. They’re expensive and sometimes hard to find. They take longer to return results, and as such, the rules give you a window of 72 hours between getting the test and returning to Canada.
This means I could test negative on Monday, get infected on Tuesday, and fly home Wednesday, and so far as the government is concerned, I’d be perfectly okay. That’s a problem. When PCR test were to only ones available, we just had to accept the problems inherent in this system.
But now we have rapid antigen tests. They’re less accurate, but produce results much faster. So, now we need to decide, is a more accurate, but slower, test more or less valuable than a fast but less accurate test?
A group of local citizens set up a blockade as part of a counter-protest, described here in the Ottawa Citizen: Counter-protesters blockade Freedom Convoy on Riverside Drive | Ottawa Citizen
From the artical, speaking of useful idiots there is the following:
"Ashley Lapierre, of Cornwall, was one of those caught in the impromptu blockade.
She drove from Cornwall early Sunday morning to show her support for the ‘Freedom Convoy’ occupying downtown Ottawa, but instead spent the day in her car, surrounded by counter-protesters.
“I find it kind of sad. I was kind of hoping everybody could unite,” she told this newspaper. “I’ve been nothing but hated since I got here.”
“At this point,” Lapierre added, “I’d just like to go home to my kids.”"
and
"Jordan Johnson, 35, of Ottawa, walked to the scene of the blockade with a flag to support the trapped ‘Freedom Convoy’ drivers and engaged anyone who approached him.
“I’m not causing trouble, I’m just showing support to the people in trucks,” he insisted. “I’ll be honest, I’m disappointed there are so many counter-protesters. It’s a lot more fun when they’re on my side; it’s a lot more fun downtown.”"
It boggles the mind
Ottawa residents, at least a thousand strong, tried to confront the “Freedom” convoy this weekend. They will do it again, because fury is building.
The City of Ottawa and Ottawa police “service” continue to do nothing. They allegedly made a deal to get the truckers off residential streets but there is doubt that there really is anyone to make a deal with or that the occupiers care.
There’s going to be serious violence unless something is done, and I am starting to think that what needs to be done might be the province taking over law enforcement in Ottawa, because the mayor and police chief are, obviously, cowards and incompetents.