The Federal Court got it wrong
The Federal Court got that completely wrong. The judge obviously hadn't lived through the terrible times and suffering of thousands of people in downtown Ottawa and across the region.
Ray Farmilo
Re: Liberal government's invoking of Emergencies Act during convoy protest unreasonable, unjustified: ruling, Jan. 23.
Well, the Federal Court got that completely wrong. The judge obviously hadn't lived through the terrible times and suffering of thousands of people in downtown Ottawa and across the region.
If the truckers had held a protest for the weekend as promised, all would have been good. Instead, they occupied Wellington and Sparks streets and disrupted businesses, lives, and health and well-being. They turned the whole downtown into a hell of noise, irritation and disruption. All for various causes with little intelligent reason.
Disabled people were denied access to Para Transpo, medicine delivery, food delivery, etc. The utter selfishness of the protesters ruined any sympathy the rest of Canada had for them.
The federal government acted appropriately. Once the Emergencies Act was used, the protest was ended very quickly. Thank God.
Ray Farmilo, Ottawa
Emergencies Act needs a rewrite
Where do constitutionally embedded rights to protest end and “peace, order and good governance” begin? I assume there are limits to both. And if the courts have to decide that one takes precedence over the other, then the fault seems to be with the legislation that our country is bound to uphold.
There are restrictions that Canadians accept and abide by, ranging from not driving on the wrong side of the road to facing a judge to determine if an accused is a danger to society.
The federal government made use of the Emergencies Act as a last resort to return order to the streets of Ottawa where the normal policing authorities of the city, province and federal governments could not. If the act is not clear on when that authority can be used, or is restricted to the point where nothing beyond an alien invasion can trigger it, then it has to be rewritten.
The demand on the government to eliminate all pandemic measures was unreasonable from a general health and safety perspective. As a democracy, Canada has provisions to uphold the cherished freedom to protest but it also has consequences for all those who abuse this privilege. Peter Haley, Ottawa
Trudeau had to act to end occupation
Ethics go both ways. If Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's use of the Emergencies Act is considered a violation, then what would you call a whole truck-city occupation of our downtown? As far as I can see, all other levels of government threw Trudeau under the bus.
The Emergencies Act was his only solution at the time. There were no Pied Pipers leading the occupiers out of the city.
Shirley Sears-mackay, Ottawa
Trudeau was faced with incompetence
What necessitated the illegal imposition of the Emergencies Act by the federal government to put an end to the convoy protest was incompetence and lack of leadership on the part of three people: then-mayor Jim Watson, then-police chief Peter Sloly, and Premier Doug Ford.
Sinclair Robinson, Ottawa
Right to protest, but other rights too
There is a strong case being made for the right to protest by Canadians. But there are other rights to consider:
Ottawa taxpayers' right to have access to all their roads, businesses, condominiums etc.
The right to go to work for people employed on Parliament Hill, at the Château Laurier, Rideau Centre or even Tim Hortons.
The right of businesses to welcome customers and recoup their capital investment made on promises from the city for uninterrupted basic services.
The right of tenants and condominium owners around downtown to have noise-free, hassle-free access to nearby roads and services and their own property.
The right of all Ottawa taxpayers to have access to emergency services such as paramedics, fire and ambulance.
Even tourists have a right to access their hotels and the major Ottawa sites.
Peter B. Aikat, Nepean
Will Liberals pay a price for error?
Everyone who actually went downtown to see what the protest was all about said they felt totally safe. I went, not to antagonize, but to see if it was as bad as the news media made it out to be.
It was not. People stopped and talked to you, said good morning as you walked by. It was friendlier than if you had walked down there today.
The aggravating factor was the horns. That was finally stopped, though.
The courts have ruled that the Liberals broke the law, acted unconstitutionally. Are those Liberals going to have their bank accounts seized? Are they going to spend months in jail with no bail? Are they at least going to apologize to all Canadians, even though we've seen this hollow act before?
D.J. Phillips, Gloucester