If I were an MP I would be voting on Monday night for the continuation of the Emergencies Act – largely for the reasons set out by the Prime Minister who opened the debate last Thursday (17 February). 

Trudeau said there was no alternative to invoking the Emergencies Act and I think he's right.

But, when the dust settles, a promised inquiry will look into that.

Police had no plan

The whole world now knows that the self-styled Freedom Convoy, which had occupied downtown Ottawa for over three weeks, wasn't going anywhere.

And the Ottawa police didn’t have a plan to move them.

The interim Conservative leader, Candice Bergen, told the Commons on Thursday:

“We believe the trucks should move or be moved…”

But she didn’t tell us how that would happen. The truckers and their camp-followers were dug in and prepared to stay for the long haul. 

Maybe she would just give in to all their demands - insofar as we know what they are.

The NDP leader, Jagmeet Singh, got it right when he told MPs:

"It's no secret that the goal of this convoy, posted brazenly on their website, reiterated as recently as earlier this week in a press conference, was to overthrow a democratically elected Government. That was their goal."

Meet the bigots

Yet in its leader column last week (No, Canada), the patronising Economist had a go at Justin Trudeau who, we are told:

“has handled vaccine protests atrociously”

It criticizes the Prime Minister for refusing to meet the protesters:

“…seizing on the fact that a few of the protesters appear to be bigots, he attempted to put all of them outside the boundaries of reasonable debate…” 

But why should the Prime Minister meet a bunch of conspiracy theorists whose stated objective is to remove him from office? Clearly, a meeting between Trudeau and the unmasked and unvaccinated leaders of the Freedom Convoy would have resolved absolutely nothing. The Economist goes on to say:

“The police already have ample powers to quell disorder…”

Over-reach

But do they? This is the issue that is preoccupying the House of Commons in its four-day debate on the Emergencies Act. Many MPs are claiming the Government has over-reached.

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association warns that triggering the Emergencies Act is a step too far. 

It seems to me the simple answer is the correct one. The protest got completely out of hand when the police failed to do what they are paid to do. They had to deal with tiny numbers of people with big trucks who were determined to park them wherever they liked. And the police stood by and watched.

Ineffective

The former Ottawa police chief, the hopelessly ineffective Peter Sloly, said the protest and occupation was “unforeseeable” which is nonsense. Why were there no contingency plans? How on earth was it possible for Sloly to say there “might not be a policing solution” to the protests and expect to be taken seriously?

When they are not fighting or keeping the peace somewhere, the military spend their time war gaming. I always figured the police would be doing something similar – how they would deal with civil disturbances, demonstrations and protests.

Apparently not. Instead, the Ottawa police were caught flat-footed.

"Controlled Area"

In the UK legislation in 2011 introduced a “controlled area” around Parliament where certain activities were prohibited such as “unauthorised use of amplified noise equipment” and “erecting or using tents or structures for facilitating sleeping”. And so on. It seems quite inconceivable to me that the Metropolitan Police would allow truckers – or lorry drivers as they would say over there – to gum up Parliament Square with their monster trucks and rigs.

In a free society people have the right to protest – but this right is circumscribed. People don’t have the right, for example, to incite violence to advance their aims. And if they break the law they take the consequences on the chin.

Beware: Barry Manilow 

Canada is finding its own way. Other countries have different approaches. Protestors camped outside the New Zealand Parliament in Wellington were blasted with the hit songs of Barry Manilow to encourage them to disperse.

It wouldn't work here.

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PS: Over the years I've been on lots of demonstrations. In fact I was determined to join one in central Moscow in 2019 but my wife insisted I should stay out of it. Sound advice. Protesters were thronging the streets, complaining that anti-Putin candidates for the city council were being removed from the ballot paper by the authorities for allegedly breaking election rules. A ring of police officers surrounded a big hotel a stone’s throw from the Kremlin. When I asked a police officer what was going on he growled: “State Security” and said no more. I nodded.