Earlier this afternoon, the people who organized the Freedom Convoy protest in Ottawa held a press conference to describe the current status of the trucker protest. At 12:50 of the full interview below the lawyer for the group also discusses the status of the GoFundMe account, which is under review.
As the Ottawa police chief ponders the deployment of the Canadian military to remove protestors and is concerned that more protest groups are likely to arrive in support of the existing convoy, city officials in Quebec have deployed a proactive strategy – block the streets with city trucks.
A Radio Canada journalist in Quebec shares the following picture:
Quebec City officials have moved municipal trucks into place to block the streets from protest trucks. Yes Alice, Canadian officials are blocking the streets with trucks in order to stop trucks from blocking the streets. Brilliant!
Meanwhile, as many of the locals join in celebration and merriment with the protest groups, some of the more leftist Ottawans are now protesting at the police department for not removing the protestors. They accuse the Freedom protestors of “running amok.”
(Via CBC) – […] Rhys McGaw, a downtown resident, and others gathered for a second night on Wednesday to object to what they view as inaction by police. “In my neighbourhood, on my street, down the street, in the stores of Centretown or Lowertown — that’s where people are just running amok,” McGaw said.” (more)
Despite earlier requests by city officials for the Canadian military to get involved, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says -from his secret bunker- that’s “not in the cards.” Trudeau also doubled down on his position that he will not negotiate with the Freedom Convoy protestors.
However, the prime minister did affirm that RCMP officials will be present in Ottawa to provide safe space emotional counseling for residents experiencing trauma and psychological violence committed by the scruffy and unmasked working-class horde now occupying Parliament Hill.
The border crossing between Coutts, Alberta (CA) and Sweet Grass, Montana (USA) continues to be closed despite truckers opening a lane in either direction as a show of good faith. The dynamics in this regional part of the larger Freedom Convoy protests are very interesting. The Alberta protests are in support of the larger trucker protest taking place in Ottawa.
Last night, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney (the Robert the Bruce character in the province), disparaged the truckers in the protest group and claimed, without evidence, that violence was taking place in the confrontation between RCMP and the Truckers. It was all lies.
Just like Justin Trudeau makes stuff up for media stenographers to draw an alternate framework of reality, so too did Jason Kenney have the same motive. The painfully political Kenney, a visible elitist and detached politician, was playing his controlled opposition role and attacking the Freedom Truckers.
Just to give appropriate understanding for how detached these conservatives in Canada are from the people they claim to represent, Jason Kenney’s political worm traits were on full display during his prepared remarks on Tuesday. However, 24 hours later, as soon as his brother in controlled opposition Erin O’Toole was removed from political power, suddenly Premier Kenney has a change of heart and proclaims his allegiance to the Truckers, saying, “I’m on your side.” The slime oozes from this guy.
Despite all that, the truckers remained focused -reinforced their ranks- and engaged in conversation with the rural Ministers of Alberta’s Legislative Assembly (MLA’s). The MLA’s are apparently slightly less slimy creatures akin to political clan leaders in the province.
Several days ago CTH presented the following meme/metaphor, because history has a tendency to rhyme:
Those who recognize and appreciate history will note that whenever hardline leftism is confronted anywhere in history, there always comes an inflection point when the ruling state police have to make a decision.
When the Chinese communists decided it was time to rid themselves of the dissident protests in Tiananmen Square, the local military encircled the student and academic activists in an effort to protect them (pictured above). However, the ruling Chinese officials were not happy, and sent for the Mongolian army divisions, those without familial connections in the movement, to do the dirty work. The rest of history you likely know.
In Ottawa, Canada, again another exhibition of confronting hardline totalitarian leftists, the voices of those within the Freedom Convoy movement are similarly not going to be deterred. The protestors want the government COVID dictates removed, they want vaccine passport rules dropped, they want mandated vaccinations and forced medical procedures stopped, and they want their freedom back.
Into this equation and confrontation, The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and local law enforcement are also unlikely to want to bring blood and violence upon the streets. However, the hardline leftists will not allow dissent to challenge their power. As history repeats, the local police are now opening the possibility of bringing in the military.
Yes, history is rhyming again.
The Canadian “Freedom Convoy” of truckers, representing the voices of the forgotten working-class men and women of Canada, have achieved a resounding victory today on behalf of Middle Canada. The conservative opposition in Canada has removed Erin O’Toole as opposition leader. This is a great first step in Canadian politics for the working class.
Erin O’Toole was a pathetically weak voice who refused to stand boldly on behalf of the working-class protestors.
Middle Canada has risen up and said enough, it is time for the insufferable government regulations to end and normal people to regain their freedom and liberty.
Instead of accepting the role of advocacy for the constituents he proclaimed to represent, Erin O’Toole showed his alignment with the government oppressing the people.
It is often said that times of great consequence create moments that must be recognized by strong political leaders.
Not only did O’Toole fail to realize the moment and fail to capitalize on the opportunity the truckers had brought to his office, but he also openly opposed the commonsense voice of the people. Today he was removed by a vote of 73 to 45.
One hundred eighteen of the opposition MPs were present to remove him from party leadership. This is what representative government should look like; notwithstanding the need to look even more closely at those who voted to keep him around.
Yes, in the larger analysis, the truckers gained a massive victory today by removing a political pontificating pustule of pomposity. Well Done!
The business and financial wires are melting down today as ADP Payrolls, the nation’s largest private sector payroll providing service, releases data from January showing a drop of 301,000 jobs. [ADP Raw Data Here]
The financial, economic and business pundits are completely caught off guard and using the words “shocked”, “unexpected” and “surprised,” within their analysis. These employment numbers just don’t align with an economy growing at 6.9%, as measured by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). However, for CTH readers who have carefully scrutinized the economic claims and looked at the bigger picture through the prism of kitchen table checkbook economics, these results are not a surprise.
Every sector of the employment picture on Main Street USA is hit. The pundits, following the narrative first seeded by the White House on Monday, are pointing to Omicron as the justification inside their review. That’s nonsense. For the better part of seven months these same pundits first claimed Delta, then shifted to Omicron as a way to explain the structurally weak economy. All of that is nonsense.
What we are witnessing are the outcomes of massive inflation now hitting the labor market. A drop in demand, and a subsequent drop in the employment of goods and services, is an unavoidable outcome of inflationary pressure on wages.
Let me say it again, on a macro level, natural consumer DEMAND has dropped – we are only now starting to see it surfacing in the statistical measures.
This is why White House spokesperson Jen Psaki made that weird statement on Monday.
The pathetic Canadian Prime Minister continues to attach hate-filled labels against ordinary working class Canadians who are protesting for the removal of COVID-19 mandates and restrictions.
These Alinsky attacks against his own countrymen are genuinely creepy and uncomfortable to see. Trudeau is continuing to melt down in a very public way. Other than a very small circle around him, I doubt these statements are generating much support.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) are the federal police for Canada. As many local law enforcement communities have refused to move against their own citizens, the Canadian government is now deploying the RCMP against the Alberta trucker blockade.
The border crossing between Coutts, Alberta (CA) and Sweet Grass, Montana (USA) continues to be blocked as truckers allied against COVID-19 restrictions and vaccine passports are united. The Alberta protests are in support of the larger trucker protest taking place in Ottawa.
Tensions are increasing as the truckers are refusing to move, but the RCMP has vowed to get rid of the blockade. Supporters for the truckers are working through freezing temperatures to keep them supplied with food and fuel to keep the blockade in place. Even farm tractors have joined the effort.
The standoff continues as the RCMP have been reluctant to forcibly arrest the rather hardened and burly truckers. There is also a legal defense fund established to assist the truckers against any criminal charges. [SEE HERE]
Canadian state media, aka the CBC, are trying to frame the protesting truckers as villains and violent fringe extremists. However, after calling the essential working truckers heroes previously, the majority of the Canadian people, specifically the people in/around the Alberta province, are not buying the nonsense from the CBC as supported by the leftist government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
(Via CBC) – RCMP have approached a blockade of vehicles that has jammed traffic for days at a Canada-U.S. border crossing in Alberta after warning that those participating in the protest may be subject to arrest Tuesday afternoon.
[…] RCMP Cpl. Curtis Peters confirmed to CBC News that enforcement has begun, although it is unclear what that will entail. (more)
Rebel News has journalists embedded with the trucker blockade in Alberta and has been tweeting about the standoff.
An interesting study from Johns Hopkins University [DATA HERE] shows the 2021 government lockdown did virtually nothing to stem death from the pandemic, but likely created more adverse “social ills” and long-term negative health outcomes.
WASHINGTON – […] The lockdowns during the early phase of the pandemic in 2020 reduced COVID-19 mortality by about 0.2%, said the broad review of multiple scientific studies.
“We find no evidence that lockdowns, school closures, border closures, and limiting gatherings have had a noticeable effect on COVID-19 mortality,” the researchers wrote. But the research paper said lockdowns did have “devastating effects” on the economy and contributed to numerous social ills.
“They have contributed to reducing economic activity, raising unemployment, reducing schooling, causing political unrest, contributing to domestic violence, and undermining liberal democracy,” the report said.
“Such a standard benefit-cost calculation leads to a strong conclusion: lockdowns should be rejected out of hand as a pandemic policy instrument,” the paper concluded. (read more)
The latest BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover (JOLT) report [DATA HERE] reflects a headline of 4.3 million U.S. workers quitting in December. However, that number is 161,000 fewer quits than November. The job openings are starting to fill up.
While there is evidence the mandatory vaccine requirements are still working through the job market, we are still about another month away before the fog clears from the private sector employment data.
This Friday we will see the unemployment data from December, but in the interim this JOLT’s report is tracking with CTH expectations.
The primary driver of the quits rate has been inflation. Workers seeking higher wages in an effort to deal with inflation can get faster paycheck results by switching jobs rather than asking current employers for more money.
We have been watching this trend for several months. However, the rate of job-jumping is slowing down as the available jobs to jump into are fewer, and the vaccine mandate impact is settling down.
Despite the number of job openings, blue collar workers are starting to see job vacancies decreasing. The service industries around accommodation, food services and basic dirty fingernail positions still have many vacancies; this is the epicenter of where the job jumping takes place. Employment in durable goods manufacturing is at that phase where things are about to get sketchy for tradespeople and union workers.
The white collar jobs are static and/or slightly downsizing. The total number of hires was 6.3 million for December, a drop of 333,000 from prior month. The number of people hired in professional and business services dropped by 159,000.