Ottawa has more government presence than any other city in the country, including federal, provincial and municipal police and politicians galore. And yet, no one is doing anything effective about the determined demonstrators who have set up a semi-permanent camp in the capital and have no intention of leaving.
Ten days into the truckers’ Freedom Convoy occupation of Ottawa’s downtown, the questions of who should act and what they should do remains unresolved. The number of protesters swelled to as much as 5,000 over the weekend before dropping back down to a committed core of a few hundred on Monday. Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly says the police are doing their best but are overwhelmed. Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson has punctuated his fussing about the demonstrators’ “bouncy castles, hot tubs and saunas,” with a declaration of emergency that the city’s lawyer admits will do nothing useful. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the guy the demonstrators came to see, has refused to talk to them and spent Monday in “private meetings.” Trudeau did test positive for COVID, but that was a week ago.
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