Ottawa Observations: Thursday/Friday, February 10 & 1, 2022

Our compilation of some of the stories of note from the day, reviewing the political developments from the Federal scene for Thursday/Friday,  February 10 & 11, 2022

Convoy to Ottawa/Other convoy plans

Ambassador Bridge blockade brings major economic artery to standstill, exposes Canada's fragile trade infrastructure

Injunction granted to clear Ambassador Bridge blockade after Doug Ford announces State of Emergency

Two weeks in the life of Ottawa's trapped by the convoy's chaos

A look at the main organizers behind Ottawa's protests 

Crypto enthusiasts keep funding convoy protests as traditional banks take action against it

Ottawa police chief says more resources needed to end convoy protest

US offers Homeland Security's help to end Ambassador blockade and other trucker protests at border

By co-opting the convoy's populist message, the reactionary right notches another grim political win over the distracted left

Police say US based calls flooded Ottawa 911 system, endangering lives

Federal Conservatives reverse course on supporting trucker blockades, call for an end to all barricades 

Time for political leaders to assert there are rules to the road

The trucker convoy shows how Canadians are being sucked into larger conspirational narratives

Trudeau warns of 'severe consequences' for anti-vaccine mandate protesters who don't stand down

Opportunity to end convoy protest peacefully is slipping away, experts say

Ontario declares state of emergency in response to convoy protests

US Offers Trudeau government help to end border blockade

Ontario court freezes access to funds raised for protest convoy on GiveSendGo platform

FederalConservatives call on anti-vaccine mandate protesters to bring down the barricades

How a former Trump official wound up at Ottawa's convoy protest

Convoy protest could change the way money is monitored, says watchdog agency

How organizers with police and military expertise may be helping Ottawa convoy protest dig in

How one province is trying to squat a 'Freedom Convoy' rally before it begins - and why some ask whether it's a step too far

There's one thing we all have in common with protesting truckers now

We'll all pay the price for Doug Ford's dithering on the trucker protests 

Trucker protest at border could be cleared as Ottawa 'siege' drags on

Ontario moves to freeze convoy funds as Michigan governor demands end to blockade

Conservatives now telling Ottawa protesters to go home

Truck protest teaches timely lessons about the current face of antisemitism

Protesters defy injunction banning Ambassador Bridge blockade

OPP pay Big-Brother style visit to Facebook user's home

Ford's right to tell protesters to go home, police to clear the roads

Toronto Police prepared for potential protests: Chief Ramer

'An illegal occupation': Ford declares state of emergency over blockades

Concerns about violence make it difficult to know when protests will end: Trudeau  

How Police, the government can free their city

Time for Unity, Not Division: Politics, not science, driving trucker vax mandates

Ending Ottawa blockade is no simple matter

Injunction to move blockade from Ambassador Bridge just brings more protesters 

'The consequences are becoming more and more severe' Freedom convoy warned

Businesses call on government to end border blockades

Trudeau's wretched smear-job of truckers highlights sorry state of Canadian leadership

Border blockades shoe Canadian incompetence is the biggest threat, not insurrection 

Trudeau cannot continue to stand by as the capital and the economy are taken hostage

Canada's truckers remind us why freedom is worth fighting for

On handling the Freedom Convoy protests, Trudeau, Ford and Watson have all failed spectacularly  

Injunction granted to prevent protesters from blocking Ambassador Bridge

Ontario calls state of emergency amid convoy protests: Here's what that means

Trudeau says 'everything' on the table to end blockades, warns of potential violence

Mapping the trucker convoy in Ottawa 'no one's leaving here'

Ottawa seeks injunction against trucker occupation  for 'flagrant' violations 

Halifax police planning for a 'large disruption' ahead of anti-mandate protest 

BC First Nations advocates condemn use of Orange Shirt Day movement by trucker convoy

Young trucker in Ottawa protest talks about life on the road, vaccine mandates and freedom 

Canada / China tensions                 

Ukraine/Russia tensions

Minsk protocol seen by some as peaceful path to resolve Ukraine crisis, but as a Russian trap by others

US says Russia is massing more troops near Ukraine, invasion could come at any time

On the issue of Ukraine, the West's leaders all seem to be on different pages

Foreign affairs minister urges Canadians to leave Ukraine 

As Russia maintains the pressure, Ukraine trains citizen-soldiers for guerrilla warfare

Here's what a Russian invasion of Ukraine might look like if it happens, according to the experts 

Government urges Canadians to leave Ukraine immediately as allies warn of potential Russian invasion 'any day now'

Trudeau warns of 'severe costs' for Russia as US reports say Ukraine invasion likely 

The Global Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Changes to COVID-19 border measures to be announced next week, Health Minister Duclos says

Plus ça change: How some COVID-19 issues are eerily similar to Quebec's 1885 battle with smallpox

Manitoba to be latest province lifting mask mandates, vaccine passports

Between apathy and outrage, the pandemic has reached its messiest phase to date

Another 17 COVID-19 deaths in BC, booster dose vaccination reaches 51.5 percent

Quebec weighs suspending vaccine passport until next COVID-19 wave: health minister

Ontario's top doc says tax pass under review, reopening moving ahead

Canada close to removing mandatory  COVID testing for fully vexed travellers: sources  

BC reports 17 deaths fewest cases in hospital since mid-January

Immunosupremacy and necrosecurity drive public discourse over COVID-19

Globe and Mail

BMO's behaviour in US court imperils shareholders

Premier Doug Ford has astutely shifted blame to Ottawa in the run up to Ontario's June election 

When money smells: The temptation of the dollar in the academy

Canada's tool kit for dealing with foreign interference is dangerously limited 

Canadians are losing faith in the country's most vital institutions

Returning the BC Liberals to glory will be a very tall order for Kevin Falcon 

CBC                                             

Ottawa close to removing pre-arrival COVID-19 test for fully vaccinated Canadian travellers: sources

Standards group calls for sweeping post-pandemic changes to how long-term care homes operate

Ottawa backs Indigenous child welfare law after Quebec court declares parts of it unconstitutional

Toronto/Vancouver Star

BC provides millions for Chinese Canadian museum in Vancouver's Chinatown

Final evacuation orders lifted in Old Fort, years after landslides 

Young Hong Long dissidents were told Canada would welcome them. Why can't they get visas?

Before selling properties for an apparent loss, WE Charity shut down another bidder before he could offer a higher price 

Commercial flight diverted in high speed chase in BC's Fraser Valley

BC fails to slow rising deaths from Toxic Drugs

Ottawa launches long-awaited competition for armed military drones

Border protests may end, but the lasting damage to Canada's economy has already been done

Quebec Court of Appeal upholds majority of federal Indigenous child welfare law

Military investigation after officer appears in anti-vaccine video

NDPs Black caucus translating Community needs into the language of the legislature

Andrea Horwath easily won't the NDP's support. Voters won't be so generous 

Conservative leadership race reopens internal debate about carbon pricing

Toronto Sun

Protests creating political nightmare for Liberals and Conservatives alike  

Authenticity is the key to the Conservative leadership 

The feds need to restore civil liberties

Zoom class lockdown Liberals think they know better than you

Conservative party leader must prioritize balanced budgets 

Trudeau is ignoring the cracks inside his own Liberal party on COVID

Stop demonizing, start governing

National Post

23 Liberal MPs signed letter urging cabinet to rescue Afghan interpreters 

Do we need a new party for the politically 'homeless'

Yes, the Queen is in charge: A primer on Canadian politics for American Freedom Convoy supporters

Macleans                           

We failed to hear them when they lived. We are obliged to hear them now

Global 

'Fed up' Burnaby business owner who was bear sprayed raises safety concerns after years of crime 

Canada's first Chinese Canadian Museum to open in BC

Kelowna couple wins back foreign-buyers tax from Realtor, lawyer 

Beloved captain, crew member lost in fatal tugboat incident remembered. 1year later

Province partners with Black, Indigenous groups on New Westminster rental housing project

Councillors ask Ottawa to can marine container terminal project in Delta

Miscellaneous            

Special avalanche warning issued for backcountry areas in BC 

Vancouver's False Creek barge to be removed in pieces

Pierre Poilievre's leadership bid marks a toxic turn for Canada's conservatives 

Climate breakdown is already here - we've got to start living like it

Stanley Park's Nine O'Clock Gun silenced because of gunpowder shortage

The future lives here: Surrey population growth rate outstrips Vancouver by almost double

Secrecy surrounds delays for hearing on RCMP probe of Furlong Allegations 

How the Toxic Drug crisis looks from the frontlines 

At the Carnegie Centre, a Honk Free Protest shows how it's done

Of Mice and Museums 

The War on Drugs is a century old. These Vancouver activity are pushing to end it