Many Canadians have been shocked over the course of the pandemic to discover just how much our governments struggle with what look to the untrained eye like simple tasks: managing a border closure; procuring, distributing and administering a reasonable number of COVID tests; improving ventilation in schools; holding a coherent press conference. This week, many of us watched slack-jawed as a convoy of truckers laid siege to downtown Ottawa, shutting local businesses — some of which were only legally allowed to reopen on Monday — and justifiably infuriating local residents.
With no end in sight, Ottawa police aren’t just doing next to nothing about it. Chief Peter Sloly has suggested “there may not be a policing solution to this demonstration.”
As I wrote earlier in the week , the idea that police only let conservatives and Caucasians get away with this sort of thing is a fallacy. If Idle No More or Occupy had rolled into Ottawa in a fleet of massive, horn-blaring trucks, the outcome would likely have been broadly similar. Scissors beat paper, paper beats rock and truck crushes rock into gravel. It speaks to and exacerbates a full-blown crisis of confidence in policing in this country — one that has been gathering steam for many years on the right as well as the left.
The basic deal with protest in this country is that you get some period of time to inconvenience other people in the name of your cause — your time will vary depending on which police force is in charge of ultimately putting its foot down — but at some point, it needs to end. A week of shutting down the nation’s capital is more than generous, in my view. But, to borrow a line from The Simpsons, the cops have tried nothing and are all out of ideas. On Friday, CBC reported the police force hired crisis-management gurus Navigator last week “to handle protest messaging” — as if carefully chosen words and subtle messaging could convince people the Rideau Centre is actually open and their ears aren’t actually ringing from the air horns.
This is not a manageable crisis for the Ottawa police. It’s existential.
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See Also:
(1) Trucker convoy: Cities across Canada mobilize as anti-mandate protests spread
(2) Where did all of the THOUSANDS of trucks end up in Ottawa? Diverted by police AWAY from downtown
(3) Who is Tamara Lich — the ‘spark that lit the fire’?
(4) Alberta’s vaccine passports on the way out as UCP caucus hits boiling point
(5) Government using millions of taxpayer dollars to fund election debates
Watch:
Media Silent On Solution For Convoy Chaos: Trudeau Should Quit
Notice how not a single mainstream media organization offer this simple suggestion? There’s a darn good reason why. How many readers think it is a good idea to tell your boss to quit their job? There’s the answer. The reason for this current structure comes in a form media choose not to reveal. Why would they, when it would be a case of biting the hand that feeds them?
Media Silent On Solution For Convoy Chaos: Trudeau Should Quit (capforcanada.com)