I’m surprised there isn’t a thread about the truck protest in Ottawa. I hope Ottawa Dopers are doing okay, and daily life isn’t too disrupted.
Out in the semi-suburbs, there’s not too much impact. I’ve seen a few yahoos driving around, is all.
The biggest impact for me is that most of my usual cross-city routes are unreliable, so I’m reluctant to try visiting my mother right now, for fear of being caught in Stupid Traffic. Since I drive a truck, I really don’t want to be mistaken for these idiots.
I’ve got Facebook friends who live right in the middle of it, and they’re not happy at all. One tried to report a bonfire in the middle of an intersection Monday night, and the police basically blew them off.
Ottawa lawyer has started a lawsuit (class action) suing the organizers for $10 million, general nuisance and punitive damages.
So one of the truck organizers is suing the lawyer:
“@JustinTrudeau I’m suing the lawyer that is suing the protestors because the root of all this mess is you”
How does that even make sense?!? I’m going to sue someone other than the person who is “the root of all this mess”! Did they just admit that the actual suit they’re filing has no merit?
I’d ask who would be stupid enough to hire a lawyer this stupid, but I guess we’ve seen the answer to that this week…
I think the protestor is acting for himself, suing the lawyer who started the class action.
It’s interesting to compare what’s happening in Ottawa to what’s happening in Toronto, and especially in Vancouver. Apparently in Van, a large contingent of cyclists and pedestrians blocked off the planned routes for their convoy into the city, and forced them to back their way out of the city.
You can’t let people like this get a foothold in your city, because once they’re established, it’s far harder to move them back out. Ottawa should have done the same, but those in charge backed down without even trying. They claimed it would be “impossible” to seal off downtown, but that’s bullshit. Ottawa’s downtown isn’t that big, and only has a few routes that such large trucks could take to get into the core. Give me 300 cops with their vehicles, and a supply of portable barriers, and I could plan a blockade that would be almost impossible for large trucks to circumvent.
“I’m a lover, not a fighter.” - Michael Jackson to Paul McCartney, “The Girl is Mine”
Good article about the convoy here. https://readpassage.com/p/the-trucker-convoy-is-not-a-workers-revolt/ Quick take: the trucking industry has been plagued with worsening conditions over the last 40 years, largely because of the busting of unions and the growth of “owner-operators,” a category that shifts risks but not rewards onto them. The result is a bunch of people facing a tough time and no good way to push back. At this point, they’re blinded by their fear and anger.
As Walter Benjamin said, “Fascism sees its salvation in giving these masses not their right, but instead a chance to express themselves."
Did things get better or worse this weekend?
Sort of stable. Some more convoyers showed up, but so did a counter-protest. From all reports, there was very little mixing of the two groups. A few convoyers tried to troll the counter-protest, but didn’t get much traction.
Being a trucker is nothing BUT health and safety mandates, I thought. How much pressure in the tires, how many hours/miles you can drive in a day, how much weight you can load, even the special drivers license and seat belts, speed limits, etc.
All mandates related to health and safety.
I don’t think it’s about mandates at all. They just want a chance to Trump rage. So, of course there was nazi flags, public pooping and demands to cancel a legitimate government. It’s Trumpism for sure. Canadians have good cause to fear American culture bleeding across the border.
They seem to think proclaiming, ‘We won’t leave till we get our way!’, makes them look hard ass, but they just sound like children. No wonder the trucker association denounced them.
And hysterically, these mandates will likely be swept away in a few weeks with or without these antics.
I’m curious how things are going in Toronto, the mayor was talking tough last night, had extra forces call in, roads already closed etc. I just hope it’s peaceful.
Well, except for the guy throwing dog poop at someone else.
The thing that really annoys me is that they’re trying to frame it as “No one is listening to us! I thought this was a democracy!”, less than six months after an election in which the pandemic response was a major issue.
We’ve listened to you, and then your side lost the election. That’s how democracy works. Can all this crap about how Trudeau must resign.
We’ll form an impenetrable barrier - a gauntlet, if you will.
And the people that tried to set an apartment building on fire.
Can’t they just start towing the trucks away? Or are there no heavy wrecker operators that aren’t symps?
The truck protesters are saying that no heavy towing company will take the contract from the Ottawa city police, because every single towing company supports the protest.
Off the record, reps from the heavy towing companies are saying that if they take the contract from the police, they will be boycotted by every trucker, and their business will go down the tubes.
Up to the reader to decide which explanation is correct.
I think the US (at least parts of it) basically sanctioned motorists running over those types in this sort of situation.
#Murica !
[So sorry for all of you enduring this bullshit. I’m watching.]
My money’s on the “off the record” response.
So…the Canadian military doesn’t have any tow trucks of its own?
The PM has said that the military would only be called in if absolutely necessary.
He has a family history to live down.
I was just thinking that, @Northern_Piper, and probably while you were posting, I was reviewing the famous Pierre Trudeau “Just watch me” interview. For those whose memories need refreshing, or who never saw it in the first place, here it is:
Basically, Pierre Trudeau called out the military to quell unrest in the streets of Montreal. A terrorist group had kidnapped a British trade delegate, and had kidnapped and killed a Quebec cabinet minister. The reporter is questioning him as to how far he would go to restore and maintain order.
Trudeau: “Just watch me.”