Posted on 01/31/2022 2:13:24 AM PST by Candor7
COUTTS, Alta. - Alberta Premier Jason Kenney says a truck convoy that's blockaded a highway at a busy U.S. border crossing as part of a protest against vaccine mandates violates the province's Traffic Safety Act and must end immediately.
The Canada Border Services Agency said the U.S. border crossing at Coutts, Alta., has remained open despite the blockade on Highway 4, but RCMP say only foot traffic is able to get through.
“As I said last week, Canadians have a democratic right to engage in lawful protests. I urge those involved in this truck convoy protest to do so as safely as possible, and not to create road hazards which could lead to accidents or unsafe conditions for other drivers,” Kenney said Sunday in a statement from Washington, D.C., where he is attending a National Governors Association meeting.
The convoy was one of many in Canadian towns and cities that were held this weekend to coincide with a national convoy of truckers and their supporters in Ottawa protesting vaccine mandates, COVID-19 measures and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government.
RCMP Cpl. Curtis Peters initially said emergency vehicles were unable to enter Coutts if they were needed, but he updated that Sunday, saying an ambulance has been able to enter the village.
He noted access to Coutts is available via a gravel road through a field that passenger vehicles can use, but not semis.
“It's almost a trail. It has gravel on it,” Peters said. “I don't think it has a name, but it's passable.”
Peters said no arrests have been made.
Kenney noted in his statement that Alberta's Critical Infrastructure Defence Act gives police and prosecutors additional penalties they can levy to address blockades of highways and other infrastructure.
The law, passed by his United Conservative government last year, protects railways, highways and pipelines from anyone trespassing, interfering with operations and construction, or causing damage.
“Operational enforcement decisions are the responsibility of police services, and enforcement at the border crossing itself is in part a federal responsibility,” Kenney noted in his statement.
Peters wouldn't say whether the law could be used in this case, saying he would not discuss operations, tactics or planning.
Alberta RCMP issued a statement Sunday evening saying they have been trying to reach a peaceful resolution and that some truck drivers have attempted to leave but couldn't because traffic is immobilized.
The statement said police use a “measured approach” when events become unlawful, which it said “ultimately includes enforcement.”
“This event is unlawful and we are asking those who are involved to clear the area,” it said.
The border agency said in a news release that travellers should expect extensive delays at the Coutts crossing. It advised travellers to use other crossings and consult the Directory of CBSA Offices and Services to confirm hours of service before heading out.
Peters said authorities in Montana were advising northbound traffic to consider turning around.
Kenney has publicly supported one of the aims of the truck convoy, noting restrictions by both Canada and the U.S. on entry by truckers not vaccinated against COVID-19 further aggravates supply-chain bottlenecks.
The Opposition NDP condemned the blockade and called on Kenney to work to get the border reopened.
“To put it bluntly, a small group first claiming to be concerned about the possibility of grocery shortages have now most assuredly caused them,” NDP Leader Rachel Notley said in a news release.
Notley also said her party condemned the “many examples of hateful symbols and vandalism seen across Canada this weekend,” and called on Kenney to direct a UCP legislature member to end his participation in the protest.
A social media post on Saturday from Grant Hunter, who represents Cardston-Taber-Warner, showed the MLA posing with family beside trucks in the convoy, although it was not clear if the highway was fully blocked at that point.
Hunter could not be reached for comment on Sunday.
Protesters at the event on Parliament Hill in Ottawa drew condemnation for fastening an inverted Canadian flag and anti-vaccine sign to a statue of Terry Fox, while others were seen jumping on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the National War Memorial. One truck flew a Confederate flag, while other protesters misappropriated the Star of David and brandished Nazi symbols and slogans.
Kenney slammed the behavior on Twitter.
“Canadians have a wide range of perspectives on the appropriate government response to the threat of COVID-19 which they are free to express, but we should be united in condemning bigotry and hatred in all its forms,” he posted Sunday.
Kenny is cruisin' for a bruisin' !
This weak position of Canadas petty politicians is that the entore blockade is racist beauxe they put swastikas on the Canadian Flag indicating Canada is fascist, and they also had the temerity to fly the Confederate Flag.......So they are no branded as extremists rather than legitimate dissidents? Buahahahahahahaha!
WHAT A LAUGH.
They had better back off the Mandates and Lock Downs or they will be faced with a situation that neither the police nor the military can put down.
Canadians will no longer tolerate mandates or lock downs. They do not work.Public Health has failed in its battle against the pandemic. So The People will try their own ways and therapies that Public Health has refused to use, but they know do indeed work, such as monoclonal antibody infusion clinics. Ivermectin ( Dr. Pierre Kory) and hydroxychloroquin( Dr. Vladimir Zelenko) , .
These petty politicians had better take this seriously or they will find this movement will spread like wild fire into every city and hamlet in Canada.It already has spread to the USA and now to Australia. Its not going away, as much as Canada's petty politicians want it to.
PING! Coutts on the Alberta Side , and Sweetgrass, Montana on the US side.IS-15
She’s got Honkers (in her yard)?
I really like that one, LOL. Justin Trudeau can’t run away fast enough!
You guys wanted to play hardball.
Guess what. It takes two teams to play.
The game is on premier.
Pull your head out and accept defeat, because you’ve lost
nearly everyone on this one.
Looks like we may have to look toward Canada for some BALLS
No kidding...
“and that some truck drivers have attempted to leave but couldn’t because traffic is immobilized. “
That is critical plausible deniability to avoid getting ticketed and arrested. “I’m trying to leave but there is no way to go officer...”.
Truckers should not violate the law and have no need to. Just keep lawfully moving will do the trick. We don’t want Jan6th type martyrs sitting in Canadian gulags for the next year.
it’s just beginning. no stopping now:
30 Jan updated 31 Jan: LBC UK: Sajid U-turn as mandatory vaccines for NHS and social care staff to be scrapped
By Daisy Stephens
Mr Javid will meet ministers on Monday before confirming the U-turn, The Telegraph reports.
The decision is the result of the Omicron variant - which is generally much milder than previous ones - as well as warnings that the workforce could lose 80,000 members, a potentially crippling loss for an already strained health service...
https://www.lbc.co.uk/politics/mandatory-vaccines-nhs-staff-scrapped/
Exactly. And you know for sure right now that Trudeau is in his hidey hole trying to figure out who they can crucify in order to make the Freedom Convoy go away.
Trouble is Trudeau can’t find anyone he can make an example of.
Trudeau had better pivot...and fast/ Its time he stopped usuimng Canadas medical experts as an excuse for Trudeaus “Great Socialist Reset’ that he said he would bring in under the Pandemic rules....his first move? May of 2020 he signed and executive order to deny law abiding Canadians the use, transfer or sale of over 70 long guns that law abiding Canadians have been using for over 40 years. In doing so he incurred the hatred of a very wide sweep of Canada outside the larger Cities in Canada .
Trudeau either does a pivot on mandates, or he will be gone in a few months.Canada will not tolerate Trudeau’s Great Socialist Reset.
The government of Canada showed itself to be Pfascist and invalidated themselves.
So,far all the government’s action have validated in every way this convoy.
They have 100% doubled down on the tyranny, which is exactly the worse course of action they could have taken.
It is only going to galvanize opposition to the government and its heavy handed tyranny, not only in regard to Covid mandates, but all areas of life.
They are displaying that they truly are NOT for the little people, but only themselves as the elite. They think they are overlords, not public servants or representatives.
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