Thursday marks one-year since the official end of the “Freedom Convoy”, a series of protests against COVID protection measures, vaccine mandates and lockdowns that paralyzed downtown Ottawa and border crossings at Windsor and Coutts for weeks. Yes, the Convoy flamed out, but the complex web of thoughts and ideas behind the Convoy are still out there. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #361 – The Convoy Was the End of the Beginning”
For the last couple of years, we’ve used the Christmas week episode of the podcast to sit down with an influential Guelphite and talk a little more broadly about life and politics while looking back at some of the year’s highlights. This week’s podcast interview comes to you via a Zoom call from the hallways of Parliament Hill, which was the site of what the Canadian Press calls the Biggest Story of the Year. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #353 – Christmas With Lloyd”
What a year! Perhaps you don’t need to be told, but from this side of the computer it was a very busy news year indeed. For the last 11-and-a-half months it’s felt like not a day’s gone by without some major breaking news, or another new development in long-term stories as our community absorbed one challenge after another. From new maps to new councils, and from election changes to changing issues, let’s count off the Top 10 Guelph news stories for 2022! Continue reading “Top 10 Guelph News Stories for 2022”
The “official” end of the Freedom Convoy protests in Ottawa was Wednesday February 23, but it was a long road to get there, and it wasn’t really the end. Although the COVID-19 mandates that sparked the convoy have long since lifted, the anger and disinformation generated by the movement are still with us, and so is the fallout the Federal government’s call to use the Emergencies Act. Let’s look back at how it started… Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #Repeat – Hey, Remember the Freedom Convoy?”
After all the sturm und drang about the Emergencies Act, which was passed on Monday night with a slim 185-151 vote, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau came out late Wednesday afternoon and said it was over. With Ottawa now clear of convoy protestors, and some of the organizers now struggle to get bail, Trudeau affirmed that the work of the act was now complete even as the Canadian Senate was debating about passing it on their end. Continue reading “And Just Like That… The Emergencies Act is Over”
In the third week of so-called “Freedom Convoys” occupying several locations across the country, the Prime Minister of Canada finally answered all the people demanding more action by invoking the Emergency Act. Justin Trudeau explained in a Monday evening press conference that the measures will be very specific and very targeted, and will reinforce “the principles, values and institutions that keep all Canadians free.” Continue reading “Trudeau Initiates Emergencies Act to Force End to Convoy Protests”
Nearly two weeks after the so-called “Freedom Convoy” set up residency in Ottawa, and almost a week after a solidarity blockade began at the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, Premier Doug Ford announced action against the protest in the form of the third state of emergency he’s declared during his premiership. Protest is fine, Ford said, but the events in Ottawa and Windsor no longer fit that definition. Continue reading “Ford Declares State of Emergency to Deal with Convoy Protests”
Nearly two weeks after the original Freedom Convoy pulled into downtown Ottawa, all levels of government are still trying to cope with the disruption, and now there’s a growing blockade on the Ambassador Bridge to worry about. Ontario’s opposition parties are now united in one point of view on these protests: the Ontario government is missing in action, and they’re each making some demands of the Premier and his ministers. Continue reading “Opposition Leaders Push Ontario Government to Act on Convoy Distruptions”
It’s day #6 of the so-called “Freedom Convoy” in Ottawa, and patience is wearing thin. Even here in Guelph, where there is no convoy of any kind, our local political leaders have expressed shock and dismay at the events in our nation’s capital over the last several days. Mayor Cam Guthrie, MPP Mike Schreiner, and MP Lloyd Longfield have all released statements in response to the convoy, and they’re submitted together here for your convenience. Continue reading “Local Political Leaders Continue to Call Out Convoy Participants”
Politicians and the public are still trying to make heads or tails of a weekend of protest and chaos in the nation’s capital. From the Prime Minister of Canada to the MPP for Guelph, there was widespread condemnation of the actions of the so-called “Freedom Convoy”, whether it’s the flaunting of public health rules, the use of hate symbols, the desecration of national monuments, and the generous misuse of support for homeless people. Continue reading “Condemnation and Regret After a Weekend of Madness in the Capital”
Guelph Politico 