Hot tubs, hapless police and a bridge too far for Canada’s Trudeau
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[February 16, 2022]
By Steve Scherer and David Ljunggren
OTTAWA (Reuters) -Frustration with the
failure of Canadian police to lift blockades at the border and in the
capital, along with scenes of protesters lounging in hot tubs near
Parliament, ultimately drove Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to seek
emergency powers, three sources said on Tuesday.
Trudeau on Monday invoked the little-used Emergencies Act, signaling the
federal government was taking control of a situation local and
provincial police have struggled to resolve as protests against pandemic
restrictions dragged on.
Discussions on invoking the rarely used powers first began on Thursday
as the blockade of the Ambassador Bridge, a key U.S.-Canada trade artery
between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, entered its third day, two of the
sources, who are familiar with the discussions, said.
"The Windsor police kind of let it happen," one of the sources said. All
requested anonymity given the sensitivity of the situation. Windsor
police asked for more resources, which the province provided.
The bridge blockade led to the temporary shutdown of several car plants
before police finally cleared it on Sunday after six days, and after a
concerned call from U.S. President Joe Biden to Trudeau.
Meanwhile, protesters who had paralyzed parts of Ottawa since Jan. 28
were getting more entrenched, and there was growing concern about the
presence of "nefarious elements" among the protesters. Police in Alberta
later seized guns and ammunition from a group linked to a border
protest.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Feb/16/images/ads/current/LPL_small%201.gif)
"The prime minister was quite mad," said a government source, referring
to a Thursday meeting of the federal Incident Response Group, made up of
Trudeau's top advisers. "He said we need to get out in front of this."
"He was demanding solutions" at the meeting, a third source familiar
with the matter said, adding Trudeau was saying: "Let's put everything
on the table and say, what are the good ideas here?"
The third source said the government realized last week that
"enforcement wasn't happening" after initially waiting to see how
provincial authorities and local police responded.
"He also needed to know fully that ... we have given it enough time for
it to work or not work, or partially work, and think about what more we
need to do," the source said. "He didn't want to jump ahead of things
that were happening."
Ottawa police initially said their objective was to de-escalate. Later
they asked both the provincial and federal governments for more
resources, saying they were outnumbered.
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![](../images/021622pics/news_q31.jpg)
Demonstrators dance in the streets as truckers and
supporters continue to protest against the coronavirus
disease (COVID-19) vaccine mandates, in Ottawa, Ontario,
Canada, February 12, 2022. REUTERS/Blair Gable/File Photo
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Feb/16/images/ads/current/2021_lda_Businessdirectory.png) The addition of chaotic scenes from
Ottawa on the weekend, including hundreds of residents turning out
to block another convoy from joining the protesters, proved too
much, two of the sources said.
Police stood by as protesters bathed in a hot tub and partied into
the night directly in front of parliament and below the prime
minister's office.
"This past weekend in Ottawa really drove some people over the edge,
the hot tub, the stage, and ... the impotence of the police to do
something about it," the source said.
Police chief Peter Sloly resigned on Tuesday amid criticism of his
force's performance, city officials said on Tuesday.
The Ottawa protest involves some 360 trucks and vehicles, several
hundred protesters, and a large cache of funds from donors in the
United States and Canada.
"If you're asking for one factor, it was Ottawa ... the Ottawa
situation is completely out of control. We just went through a third
weekend of no enforcement," said the second source.
Concerns that protesters may re-occupy border crossings and disrupt
crucial trade flows with the United States and affect publicly
safety also factored into the decision, the sources said.
Another factor was the specter of violence when police in Alberta on
Monday arrested 11 people and seized guns and ammunition.
"There are organized nefarious elements that are involved with these
things," said the second source, citing the Alberta gun seizure.
"There's an element here that is ... trying to subvert the normal
course of our democracy, which has to be protected, regardless of
who's the government," the third source said.
"That's really the difference between this and other protests that
we've seen."
($1 = 1.2744 Canadian dollars)
(Reporting by David Ljunggren and Steven Scherer; Editing by Amran
Abocar and Lisa Shumaker)
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