The latest developments on ongoing protests against COVID-19 restrictions and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government, in Ottawa and various locations across Canada, on Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2022. All times eastern:
9:10 p.m.
Ottawa city council has voted to oust Councillor Diane Deans as chair of the local police services board.
The move follows the resignation of Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly on Tuesday.
Councillors who voted to remove her say they were concerned after learning the board agreed to hire a new interim chief to bolster the senior command at the Ottawa Police Service without a consultation process.
They also suggested the board was not effective in its oversight of the Ottawa police, who have faced heavy criticism for its inaction in the ongoing demonstrations in the city.
Vice-chair Sandy Smallwood and Councillor Rawlson King resigned their seats on the board today.
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8:49 p.m.
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says the prime minister has gone too far by invoking the Emergencies Act.
Moe says on Twitter that Parliament can still stop what he called "this abuse of power."
The government has tabled the motions in the Commons on the specific powers in the act, and the invoking of the act itself.
The premier is calling on all parties to allow their members to vote freely on the motions.
Moe says every Canadian should watch very closely and ask if their MP will protect their rights or support what he calls "Trudeau's unprecedented overreach."
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6:30 p.m.
Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino has tabled motions in the House of Commons on the specific powers in the Emergencies Act and the invoking of the act itself.
The legislation prohibits public assembly that could be reasonably be expected to disrupt the movement of people or goods, interfere with trade or critical infrastructure, or support the threat or use of violence against people or property.
Those powers are already in effect and will remain so for 30 days unless the government revokes them sooner.
The motions will be debated Thursday and take precedence over all other business.
The Senate must also pass separate motions on the specific powers in the act.
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5 p.m.
A new data leak shows that about 60 per cent of donors to an "Adopt-a-Trucker" page on online fundraising platform GiveSendGo were Canadian and 37 per cent were American.
About US$540,000 was raised on the page to support anti-vaccine mandate protesters in Ottawa and throughout Canada up to Feb. 10.
The new tranche of data was obtained by transparency group Distributed Denial of Secrets, which has previously provided the media with leaked information from right-wing organizations.
It was released on Tuesday following an earlier leak from the "Freedom Convoy 2022" page on Christian crowdfunding website GiveSendGo, which raised US$8.4 million.
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4:20 p.m.
Ottawa’s interim police Chief Steve Bell promises the force will take action to clear downtown of demonstrators in the coming days.
Bell told a city council meeting today that police have a plan and the resources to take back every occupied space in the capital city.
He says some of the methods police are ready to use are not what people are used to seeing in Ottawa.
He says the plan contemplates all possible scenarios, and will be focused on the safety of the public, demonstrators and police.
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3:40 p.m.
Quebec City’s mayor says he’s giving more powers to local police as protesters opposed to COVID-19 health measures are preparing to descend on the provincial capital again this weekend.
Ahead of planned protests in front of the provincial legislature, Mayor Bruno Marchand says the city’s executive committee has adopted two measures, including a permanent change that will allow the local police to make all decisions regarding traffic, parking and street closures.
The other puts in place a ban on outdoor cooking and consuming alcohol in parks and in public spaces that Marchand says will be revisited this summer.
Quebec City police issued 170 tickets and made three arrests during protests in front of the legislature during the first weekend in February.
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3:30 p.m.
Protesters on Parliament Hill have begun posting "no trespassing" signs on their rigs in response to a letter from Ottawa police telling them to leave.
Officers handed out notices earlier today that warned demonstrators they could be arrested if they stay on site.
Many of the trucks and protesters are refusing to budge, with dozens taking to the street across from Centre Block to dance and cheer.
Families with children also remained in the crowd despite new federal powers saying it was illegal to bring a minor into the protest.
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3:10 p.m.
Dean French, the former chief of staff to Ontario Premier Doug Ford, says he helped broker a deal to move trucks in Ottawa off residential streets.
He says he was approached by former Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Brian Peckford on behalf of the so-called Freedom Convoy’s legal counsel to get involved as a mediator between demonstrators and Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson.
French says he flew to Ottawa on Friday to talk to both sides on his own dime as a private citizen, and didn’t speak to Ford or the premier’s office about it.
He says he’s pleased with the progress so far, and believes there is a willingness to keep moving trucks out of residential neighbourhoods.
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3 p.m.
Conservatives demanded an apology from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau after he accused them of standing "with people who wave swastikas" given their support for the protest convoy.
Some protesters in the crowd outside Parliament Hill have been seen flying swastika and Confederate flags.
Conservative interim leader Candice Bergen initially supported the anti-vaccine mandate protesters, though in recent days she has urged them to leave while still endorsing their call for an end to COVID-19 restrictions.
Tory MP Melissa Lantsman responded to Trudeau in the House of Commons that she is a strong Jewish woman and a descendant of Holocaust survivors and he owes an apology to her and all MPs.
Liberal Families Minister Karina Gould says she is also a proud Jewish woman and descendant of Holocaust survivors and she called on members to make sure they are not standing with anyone with white supremacist views.
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2:45 p.m.
In Ottawa, there are few signs any convoy members are packing it in.
In the hours after the police began handing out notices warning of consequences for not leaving, two men were spotted delivering fuel in jerry cans in a wheelbarrow to trucks and an RV parked on Wellington Street.
In front of the Prime Minister's Office Building, multiple trucks were blaring their horns constantly, openly defying the injunction against honking that was extended by an Ontario judge.
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2:40 p.m.
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet says his party will sharply oppose the use of the Emergencies Act.
He says it is unnecessary and a political move to make Trudeau appear as if he is doing something.
The Bloc leader says existing powers would be sufficient to allow the Ottawa police and RCMP to clear the protesters.
He says the Bloc is unanimously opposed and will vote against invoking measures.
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2:30 p.m.
A Bank of Canada deputy governor says the domestic economy could be impacted by protesters who recently blockaded key border crossings.
Timothy Lane says the blockades interrupted trade and further choked already snarled supply chains.
He says the impact on the Canadian economy may be broader than it already is if there are further blockades at the Canada-U.S. border.
Lane says the central bank is likely to consider the impacts of protests when senior officials sit down in two weeks’ time to decide whether to raise the Bank of Canada’s trendsetting interest rate.
Lane made the comments during a virtual question-and-answer session with the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy.
The Bank of Canada is widely expected to raise its key policy rate next month from its emergency level of 0.25 per cent to cool headline inflation that in January was over five per cent for the first time since September 1991.
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1:35 p.m.
Conservative interim leader Candice Bergen says her caucus will not be supporting the Liberal government invoking the Emergencies Act over antigovernment protests on Parliament Hill.
Bergen met with her MPs this morning, and says they have many questions about why Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took the drastic measure that she calls "a massive sledgehammer."
She says one question Tories have is what the legislation means for Canadians who may have donated to the protest weeks ago and if they now face the risk of having their bank accounts frozen.
Bergen says Conservatives are the party of law and order and so believe protesters must move their trucks because parking them for days on end is illegal.
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1:25 p.m.
RCMP say they have worked out a deal with protesters to end a blockade near the Manitoba-U.S. border.
Mounties say they expect full access to the Emerson port of entry to be restored this afternoon.
The crossing has been blocked since Thursday, when protesters parked farm equipment, semi-trailers and other vehicles about two kilometres north of the border.
Mounties estimate there were up to 75 vehicles involved in the Emerson blockade.
Protesters did allow emergency vehicles, including police vehicles and some agriculture transports, to pass through.
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1:20 p.m.
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has extended an injunction banning trucks in downtown Ottawa from honking their horns incessantly for another 60 days.
The court has also added terms, prohibiting anyone from inciting, counselling or encouraging others to breach the order.
The injunction was granted on a temporary basis on Feb. 7, after it was filed on behalf of residents in a potential class-action lawsuit.
Their lawyer, Paul Champ, argued the loud and prolonged honking was causing irreparable harm.
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1:15 p.m.
Government House leader Mark Holland says it must be sure it has the wording correct on a motion that MPs are set to debate about its decision to invoke the Emergencies Act over antigovernment blockades.
Tory House leader John Brassard says he was expecting to see the motion this morning and is disappointed it hasn't arrived.
Holland says the act spells out the government has seven sitting days to present the motion, which he says will happen well within that time frame.
The government House leader says MPs and opposition parties will have "ample" time to debate it, but first says "it's essential that we get this right."
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12:55 p.m.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says he has been shown the details of the plans of the Emergencies Act measures by the prime minister and has offered NDP support.
He says he is confident the "tools" are there to end the protests, but expressed concern that legitimate protests could be affected by the act, including counter-protests in Ottawa.
Singh claims the use of the Emergencies Act is a symptom of a failure by the government to deal with the crisis and says "extreme right-wing organizers" should be taken more seriously in future.
The NDP leader criticized the police for behaving differently toward the convoy than toward Indigenous and racialized protesters.
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12:50 p.m.
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe and several United States governors wrote to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Joe Biden to call for an end to the cross-border vaccine mandate for truckers.
They have asked for exemptions on vaccine and quarantine requirements to be reinstated for cross-border truck drivers.
They say they are concerned about the impact on the North American supply chain, cost of living and access to essential products.
The blockades in downtown Ottawa and at several border crossings began as ostensibly protests against those mandates for truck drivers.
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12:45 p.m.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says his caucus will "reluctantly" back invoking the Emergencies Act.
At a news conference in Ottawa, he says he has been briefed by the prime minister on the act.
But he warned against "overreach" and says his party will monitor use of the emergency measures, and will be prepared to withdraw support if he feels they are not being used appropriately.
Singh says it's his first day back in Ottawa and he is seeing first-hand "the siege of the city," saying the blockades have clearly created a crisis.
He says the protesters are trying to undermine democracy and are creating "chaos and mayhem," which justified use of the Emergencies Act.
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12:30 p.m.
Opposition Conservative MPs panned Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for invoking the Emergencies Act without first trying to talk to the protesters on Parliament Hill demanding an end to COVID-19 mandates.
Ontario MP Marilyn Gladu says triggering the act is a "power grab" by Trudeau and says she doesn't believe protesters are threatening national security.
British Columbia MP Marc Dalton says Trudeau didn't do this when some First Nations leaders blocked access to a pipeline site in his province, and the federal Liberal government spoke to people instead.
Michael Barrett, a representative from Ontario, says Trudeau's use of the act is chilling and that he could have instead listened to the Conservatives' request to table a plan by the end of February to end all vaccine mandates.
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12:25 p.m.
Protesters sat in their trucks on Parliament Hill honking their horns after police in Ottawa handed out notices telling them to leave.
A crowd gathered at their usual spot at an intersection across from Centre Block to wave Canada flags and dance to music blaring from speakers.
The sound of honking trucks appeared to echo louder through downtown than over the past few days.
Many protesters have said they don't plan on leaving until all COVID-19 mandates are lifted, even in the face of the federal Emergencies Act which gives police the power to seize their vehicles and revoke commercial licences.
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12:10 p.m.
The Children's Aid Society of Ottawa is urging parents at the demonstration downtown to make alternate care arrangements should they become unable to care for their kids after potential police action.
The federal government published cabinet orders last night detailing temporary but extraordinary measures under the Emergencies Act to quell the antigovernment protest.
The measures include punishment of up to five years in prison or a $5,000 fine for anyone participating in or bringing a child to the demonstration.
The Children's Aid Society says it has a mandate to protect a child when their parent becomes unavailable to care for them and the parent has not made adequate arrangements for the child's custody.
The society says if parents and children are separated following police efforts in ending the demonstration, it will work to reunite families as soon as possible.
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11:40 a.m.
Conservative House leader John Brassard says he is disappointed to be going into a caucus meeting this morning without a parliamentary motion in hand of the federal Liberal government invoking the Emergencies Act.
He told reporters it felt like his back was up against a wall because he didn't have any information about the motion.
Brassard says so far Conservatives have learned about the Emergencies Act measures through the media.
He says even when bombs were dropping over Britain, Winston Churchill showed respect for democracy by showing up in parliament so he's profoundly disappointed in the Liberal government's approach.
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11:20 a.m.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the federal government is not going to use force against protesters camped outside Parliament Hill.
Trudeau says decisions about how to enforce the law against the protesters will be made by police doing their jobs in the right way.
He says what his government has done with the Emergencies Act is put forward tools that local law enforcement can use in partnership with other police agencies.
Trudeau says the extra resources will make sure that laws are enforced in a proportional way, in an approach that will be decided by the police of jurisdiction.
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11:10 a.m.
A local Ottawa GoFundMe page has started to raise money to help restaurants in the downtown core who have been forced to close because of the antigovernment demonstrations immobilizing parts of the city for nearly three weeks.
The Ottawa Restaurant Fund started on Feb. 3 and has raised more than $90,000 towards its $100,000 goal.
The organizers say restaurants who participate to receive funds have to agree to give half the money to their employees.
The organizers say they are working with GoFundMe and an Ottawa law firm to ensure the funds are disbursed fairly.
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10 a.m.
Police are handing out notices to Parliament Hill protesters telling them that they need to leave now.
The Ottawa Police Service says in its bulletin that anyone blocking streets or helping others block streets is breaking the law and could be arrested.
It says Ottawa residents are being denied access to their property and the protesters are causing businesses to close.
Police reference the newly invoked federal Emergencies Act and say that anyone coming to Ottawa to join the protest is breaking the law and warns their vehicles can be seized.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 16, 2022.
The Canadian Press
