From the perspective of the majority of Ottawa residents, a central problem the “Freedom Convoy” raised was what does a citizen or resident do when their rights are not defended by the state and, even worse, when the state is itself aligned against them | PAULINE EASTON
Police lines in downtown Ottawa, February 19, 2022, after Emergencies Act invoked.
News reports indicate that a group of motorcycle riders calling itself “Rolling Thunder Ottawa” plans to converge in Ottawa this weekend, April 29-May 1. It conjures up the spectre of the “Freedom Convoy” which occupied the city for an extended period, from January 22 to February 23, thanks to the involvement of current and former military and police and mercenaries of various kinds as well as rank and file crying freedom against vaccine mandates and for alternative healthcare systems and myriad other things. From the perspective of the majority of Ottawa residents, a central problem that the “Freedom Convoy” raised was what does a citizen or resident do when their rights are not defended by the state and, even worse, when the state is itself aligned against them. It is a serious question indeed.
Syrian and Iraqi refugees crossing the Aegean Sea in late 2015.
The conception of “the world” and the “international community” the U.S., Canada and the European Union espouse is not only self-serving, but exclusionary and racist to the core | MARGARET VILLAMIZAR
Zelensky is being welcomed with such accolades by the NATO countries and others around the world for propaganda value. It is to fuel the U.S./NATO anti-Russia war hysteria, and to legitimate their escalation of the war | ANNA DI CARLO
Canadians need to prepare for what comes next. The peoples of Canada, Quebec and the Indigenous peoples cannot permit their resistance movements to be criminalized and suppressed | PAULINE EASTON
Canadians are led to believe that a parliamentary debate is held to argue things out between two sides — the party in power and the party or parties in opposition which, between them, are said to represent the Canadian people. This is said notwithstanding that 37 per cent of the eligible voters did not cast a ballot at all and thus did not authorize either the party in power or parties in opposition to speak in their name.
– Statement by the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) –
Anti-war demonstration at U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, February 9, 2022. Demonstrations took place in Kyiv and different places around Europe in February against NATO, including to coincide with the Munich Security Conference meeting in Munich on February 19.
Amidst all the warmongering, lies and disinformation over what Russia is or is not doing in Ukraine to defend its strategic interests, the obvious question arises as to who is threatening the peace in Europe? Is it Russia because it has taken pre-emptive action to defend its interests against the continuous escalation of the expansion of U.S. troops and bases and of U.S.-led NATO forces on Russia’s borders? Or is it the United States and its aggressive military alliance NATO, which includes Canada, which have expanded their field of operation into eastern Europe threatening the very borders of Russia?
On February 17, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) announced it will pursue litigation to challenge the federal government’s use of the Emergencies Act. It issued a press release which says:
Current developments related to declaration of public order emergency
On February 16, a motion was tabled in the House of Commons to confirm the February 14 declaration of a public order emergency by the Prime Minister under the Emergencies Act. It was tabled by Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino. The motion reads: “That, pursuant to section 58 of the Emergencies Act, this House confirm the declaration of a public order emergency proclaimed on February 14, 2022.”
The regulations put in place following the government’s invocation of the Emergencies Act were published in the Canada Gazette on February 15, 2022. They read as follows:
Current developments related to declaration of Public Order Emergency
Police in Ottawa made over 100 arrests on Friday, February 18 and at least 47 more by 2:00 pm on Saturday, news agencies report. In addition, a total of 38 vehicles have been towed and others are reported to have left voluntarily.
Whereas the Governor in Council believes, on reasonable grounds, that a public order emergency exists and necessitates the taking of special temporary measures for dealing with the emergency;
Bill Blair, Minister of Emergency Preparedness, made the rounds on CBC Radio the day after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the 1988 Emergencies Act. What stands out when he appeared on CBC’s local Ottawa morning show, then on The Current which broadcasts nationally is his inability to speak sensibly as to why the government sought recourse to the Emergencies Act.
CPC(M-L) categorically opposes the invocation of the 1988 Emergencies Act. The invocation of emergency powers further raises anarchy to authority. Canadians must themselves work out what to do when both sides are wrong.
The narrow supranational private interests behind the so-called “Freedom Convoy” that is making a nuisance of itself in Ottawa and other cities and provinces have lowered the level of culture to one word expletives and are doing their utmost to instil confusion and fear.
The federal and other governments, their official media, the cartel parties with seats in the federal and provincial parliaments are incapable of providing analysis and measures to resolve the conflicts within their ranks, let alone meet the just demands of the people. This is why what is called “freedumb” applies to all of them, not just the demands of the hooligans who are causing mayhem in Ottawa and other places. | PAULINE EASTON
“Sloly” is not a spelling mistake. Peter Sloly is chief of police in Ottawa.
QAnon presence on Parliament Hill on February 3, 2022.
A mobilization called the Freedom Convoy converged in Ottawa on January 29. It is being presented as an initiative of truckers demanding the revocation of the vaccine mandate applying to truckers entering Canada from the U.S. that came into effect on January 15. However, it is not a truckers’ rally and our advice is Don’t Blame the Truckers!
Today there is a lot of talk about problems with supply chains, the dearth of truckers because of the pandemic, blaming truckers for spreading COVID-19 and the like. A narrative of false causes and consequences presents the problems in the supply chains as the cause of price inflation and, before you know it, truckers are the cause of price inflation.
March in Fredericton, New Brunswick on November 2, 2021 as legislature opens
Note to Readers
(Updated November 5) – Workers’ Forum presents the views and reports of workers on how to handle the pandemic and their struggles for the working conditions they require to make their contribution to the well-being of the population as a whole. They speak in their own name. To popularize these views and information, we are providing updated links to Workers’ Forum when it is published.
Blaming “extremist groups on the far-right and the far-left”to cover up the need for democratic renewal
A controversy has arisen about remarks by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the “Malmö International Forum on Holocaust Remembrance and Combating Antisemitism — Remember-ReAct,” an event held in Sweden on October 13. In a speech delivered by video, the Prime Minister blamed “extremist groups on the far-right and the far-left” for a rise in “hatred, fear and mistrust.” Trudeau told the audience, “We’re in a time right now where around the world we see an increase of polarization, of extremism, or radicalization everywhere, including in some of the most open, liberal democracies in the world. In our elections, in our public discourse and in mainstream communications — let alone social media — we’re seeing a rise in intolerance. We see the organizations of extremist groups on the far-right and the far-left that are pushing white supremacy, intolerance, radicalization, promoting hatred, fear and mistrust across borders but within borders, as well.”
The 44th Parliament will begin sitting at 1:00 pm on November 22, the Prime Minister’s Office announced in a press release on October 15. That is just over two months after the federal election. The session will start with the Throne Speech, delivered by Governor General Mary May Simon.
The new cabinet will be sworn in by the Governor General at Rideau Hall on October 26. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced that Chrystia Freeland will keep her positions as Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister but no other cabinet posts have been announced.
Results of the 44th Federal Elections| Anna Di Carlo
Elections Canada has released validated results for the September 20 Federal Election. With mail-in ballots having been counted, the seat count stands at Liberals, 159; Conservatives, 119; Bloc Québécois, 33; NDP, 25 and Green Party, 2.
The House of Commons Standing Committee on Natural Resources said in its June 2021 report entitled From Mineral Exploration to Advanced Manufacturing Developing Value Chains for Critical Minerals in Canada that:
“Critical minerals are essential components of many new technologies, from low-greenhouse gas energy sources to electric vehicles to advances in cutting-edge sectors such as medicine, electronics, aerospace and defence.”
The arrogance of Justin Trudeau in calling a pandemic election was felt to the very end. He called it despite the legislation which provides fixed election dates, the motion in the House against holding a pandemic election, which even his party supported, and despite severe weather conditions and COVID-19 emergencies across the country.
The prediction of Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party strategists that he could win a majority government by holding the election in September, and his own opportunism and arrogance in agreeing to call the pandemic election, causes many to question the Liberals’ narcissism and lack of good judgement.
The fact is that the ruling class’s powers of prediction are zero and have been zero for some time. Polls are more often than not wrong and many people wonder why. They have been wrong so often that in this election pollsters often included the caveat that “if the poll results are accurate,” then this or that can be expected.
Canadians got a dangerous status quo on election night. It indicates that it is up to the working people, women, youth and Indigenous peoples, Inuit, Metis and the people of Quebec to step up political organizing work to turn things around in their favour.
For $600 million and counting Canadians got a dangerous status quo on the night of the election. Initial reports of the 44th general election results are said to be Liberals: 158 (up one); Conservatives 119 (down three); NDP 25 (up one); Bloc Québécois 34 (up two) and Green Party two (down one). Mail-in ballots are yet to be counted. Once they are counted reports indicate it could affect the outcome in 18 ridings but will not change the fact that the next government will be a Liberal minority.
We are in the midst of the 6th federal election held since 9/11. The Chretien Liberals were in power in 2001 and it was on October 7 that the Prime Minister officially announced Canada’s participation in the so-called “war on terror,” with warships deployed from Halifax in mid-October and 40 members of the Joint Task Force, the army’s secret special forces unit being deployed in December. This was in the midst of Canada’s hosting of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly which launched the justification of the operation of the NATO alliance outside of the North Atlantic in the name of ensuring the “defence and security of North America and Europe.”
Building concrete opposition to Canada’s unfair and obsolete electoral law;the Trudeau Liberal betrayal of its 2015 election promise to end the first-past-the-post method of counting votes; and the longest ballot in Canada’s history
In this election and the 2019 Federal Election, prospective candidates did not have to come up with a $1,000 deposit to register. Also, for the first time a witness to the nomination signatures for candidates did not have to appear at the Returning Office and candidates were able to obtain nomination signatures through emails and faxes.
This is thanks to Kieran Szuchewycz who launched a successful 2017 Charter Challenge after he was not able to have the witnesses to his nominations appear at the returning office in the 2015 federal election and the Returning Officer refused to process his nomination even though he had the signatures and his $1,000 deposit.
During the 2019 action, protesters carried signs and chalked slogans on the sidewalk leading to the CNE grounds: Fighter Jets Are Bad for Climate and People, Air Shows Lead to Air Wars, No Militarized Entertainment, Ground the Air Show and others.
Canadian Voice of Women for Peace, World Without War, CPC (M-L) and others are holding a protest at the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto on Sunday, September 5 to oppose the use of the CNE to promote war and militarism in Canada as “family entertainment.”
They demand an end to the Canadian International Air Show which highlights U.S. and Canadian fighter jets. Participating NATO military groups are the Canadian Forces Snowbirds and CF-18, the United States Air Force Thunderbirds and the British Royal Air Force Red Arrow. The main sponsor of the event is Lockheed Martin which is currently bidding for the contract to manufacture 88 new fighter jets for the Canadian military with 88 new fighter jets at an estimated expenditure of $19 billion ($77 billion over the lifecycle). The jets will be used against countries targeted in U.S. and NATO wars of aggression.
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