Canada

The CBC reports: RCMP have laid charges under Alberta’s Critical Infrastructure Defence Act against a controversial street preacher who is being blamed for extending the blockade at the Coutts border crossing. Artur Pawlowski of Calgary was arrested after he gave a speech last week at the Smugglers Saloon in Coutts, where protesters have been blocking travel to the United States. …

Finbold reports: As of Friday, February 11, 5,061 donors have given Bitcoin for the truckers on Tallycoin, with a total of over 21 BTC gathered worth roughly $925,340 at the time of publication, as the amount of contributions closes in on $1 million. The campaign is able to receive all Bitcoins directly into crypto wallets in which they keep custody …

The Globe & Mail reports:  The Ontario government is preparing a series of measures in an effort to break the logjam at the Ambassador Bridge and reopen the most important trade link between Canada and the United States, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the plans. Premier Doug Ford [photo] intends to get tough with the protesters, one …

The Windsor Star reports: Crowds at Windsor’s Ambassador Bridge border blockade continued to grow into nightfall. The blockade of bridge traffic from Huron Church Road continued, though police appeared to be directing commercial traffic through an alternate entrance on Wyandotte Street. The Canadian Border Services Agency said current wait times at the border crossing were around 45 minutes. Crowds — …

The Associated Press reports: The Biden administration urged Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government Thursday to use its federal powers to end the truck blockade by Canadians protesting the country’s COVID-19 restrictions, as the bumper-to-bumper demonstration forced auto plants on both sides of the border to shut down or scale back production. For the fourth straight day, scores of truckers taking …

CTV News reports: The Ontario government says it has successfully petitioned a court to freeze access to millions of dollars donated through online fundraising platform GiveSendGo to the truckers convoy protesting COVID-19 restrictions in Ottawa and at several border crossings. A spokeswoman for Premier Doug Ford says Ontario’s attorney general brought the application to the Superior Court of Justice seeking …

The Ottawa Citizen reports: Ottawa-Centre MPP Joel Harden urged the Ontario government to reconvene the legislature to “immediately” begin debating additional emergency measures to deal with the convoy protest. Harden asked government House Leader Paul Calandra to recall the legislature to explore “immediate action” on revoking commercial licences or insurance for protesters, and to take immediate action on building safety …

The Detroit Free Press reports: The trucker protest that closed traffic on the Ambassador Bridge entered its fourth day early Thursday, with increasing disruptions to the auto industry and calls from officials to end it. There’s no indication when the standoff will end, or what — exactly — truckers are seeking. But Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens signaled Thursday that he …

CTV News reports: Donations to an Ottawa homeless shelter have reached about three quarters of a million dollars after protesters from the ‘Freedom Convoy’ harassed staff and volunteers and demanded food from their soup kitchen. More than 13,000 people have donated about $750,000 to the Shepherds of Good Hope since Jan. 30, the head of the shelter announced Thursday. “What …

The CBC reports: After publicly supporting the anti-vaccine mandate activists protesting in Ottawa in recent weeks, interim Conservative leader Candice Bergen said Thursday it’s time for the convoy and other protesters blocking two major border crossings to end their demonstrations and go home. Bergen, who has called the convoy a “passionate, patriotic and peaceful” group of Canadians concerned about freedom …

The Ottawa Citizen reports: Protestors were slowly circling the Ottawa International Airport on Thursday morning, honking their horns and obstructing traffic. In a livestream on Facebook, Pat King, one of the convoy’s key organizers urged protesters to converge in Ottawa. “We’re having a parade,” King said at about 9 a.m. on the livestream being viewed by 11,500 people. At 9:12 …

The Ottawa Citizen reports: The city wants to invoke a clause in the revised Ontario Police Services Act that would allow it to bill protesters for the extra cost of policing. The tally would be enormous: an estimated $800,000 a day (times 12 and counting), plus possibly the cost of hundreds of extra outside personnel (as many as 1,800) now …

CTV News reports: Enforcement will begin Wednesday afternoon to reopen traffic to the Canada-U.S. border at Coutts which is being blocked by an ongoing protest, according to RCMP. The blockade has been ongoing for more than a week, in solidarity with the trucker protests in Ottawa and other parts of the country. “Really it’s going to be up to them,” …

The Detroit Free Press reports: An Ambassador Bridge protest by Canadian truckers critical of pandemic vaccine mandates was headed into a third day, shutting down traffic on one international gateway and backing it up on another. Both Detroit and Windsor have significant auto operations and the standstill is a huge concern for businesses that already have been suffering from global …

The CBC reports: Daniel Miousse was shocked to see a photo of one of his company vehicles among the truck convoy protesters in downtown Ottawa, which was recently posted online. Miousse, who owns an industrial fence company near Montreal, said he had no idea the pickup truck or his employee were in the nation’s capital. “One of our employees took …

Reuters reports: Canadians say they are concerned political strife in the United States will undermine security and economic growth at home, according to a new poll, as an anti-vaccine mandate protest praised by former U.S. President Donald Trump gripped the capital and affected the border. The Ottawa protest, now in its 13th day, has been marred by the appearance of …

The Guardian reports: The so-called “freedom convoy” – which departed for Ottawa on 23 January – was the brainchild of James Bauder, an admitted conspiracy theorist who has endorsed the QAnon movement and called Covid-19 “the biggest political scam in history”. Bauder’s group, Canada Unity, contends that vaccine mandates and passports are illegal under Canada’s constitution, the Nuremberg Code and …

The CBC reports: Residents described being bombarded by relentless honking, fireworks, being choked by diesel fumes, seeing hate symbols openly displayed, subjected to racial, homophobic and transphobic slurs, attacked for wearing masks, and feeling let down by all levels of government and police since the first vehicles set up Jan. 28. “I am a Jewish woman. On top of the …

The Detroit Free Press reports: An ongoing protest in Canada over COVID-19 vaccine mandates spilled over into Detroit Monday evening via the Ambassador Bridge. The protesters blocked traffic on the largest international suspension bridge and prevented motorists from passing, with signs calling for an end to the mandates. The bridge to Canada in Detroit has been closed, according to the …

The CBC reports: An Ottawa judge has granted an interim injunction seeking to silence the honking horns that have plagued residents of downtown Ottawa for the past 11 days. “Tooting a horn is not an expression of any great thought I’m aware of,” said Justice Hugh McLean during a court hearing in Ottawa Monday. The temporary injunction order is effective …