While traffic is once again moving across the Ambassador Bridge between Canada and the U.S., Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson says "time will tell" whether his "backchannel" deal to decrease the size of part of the "Freedom Convoy" protest that has snarled his city for weeks is successful.
Watson told CTV’s Your Morning on Monday there is a noon deadline for protesters in the nation’s capitol to begin relocating.
"They’ve agreed to start moving out those members that they have a relationship with in the residential communities starting today," Watson said Monday. "It will probably take up to 72 hours to get them out of all the residential neighbourhoods in areas either in the vicinity of Parliament Hill or farther afield. They’re working on logistics now."
Watson outlined the proposal in a letter released Sunday as part of a "backchannel" deal aimed at ending the ongoing protest against all COVID-19 mandates. He also indicated that he would be willing to meet with the organizers if protesters start to move out of residential streets by noon.
However, it is unclear whether protesters will move by the deadline.
Protesters have remained encamped in Ottawa since late January, using trucks and personal vehicles to turn Wellington Street in front of Parliament Hill into their main occupation zone. The prolonged event has deeply frustrated many Ottawa residents.
Watson noted there are a "number of groups that claim leadership" of the demonstration and it is unlikely that everyone involved will move out of the downtown core as of Monday.
"I’m trying to manage expectations. Not every trucker will follow their lead or not every trucker is part of the movement that wants to leave the residential area," he said.
Watson suggested that people who live near Parliament Hill in the Centretown area have been experiencing "a living hell" amid the protests.
&qxjmtzywuot;They’re the ones that have been harassed by horn-honking and some vulgar behaviour on streets, and bonfires and barbecues and so on, and we need to give those people some semblance of peace and tranquility," he said.
Ottawa police on Saturday formed a new "Integrated Command Centre" along with the RCMP and the Ontario Provincial Police. Police say the new command centre will "result in a significantly enhanced ability to respond to the current situation in our city."
However, Watson says the city needs more resources as the police service does not have the "people power" to bring order to this size of a demonstration.
"I believe that this has gone on for too long. It’s hurt far too many people, including our small businesses. We’ve tried to be reasonable, but we do need the resources of the other two orders of government," he said.
FEDS PREPARED TO USE EMERGENCY POWERS
The federal government is prepared to invoke the Emergencies Act to see the trucker convoy protests and blockades end, said Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair on Sunday, calling it a "critical situation," while also saying that police need to "do their job."
"We have an emergency act that I will tell you, there has been a near-constant and vigorous examination of those authorities and what’s required," Blair said in an interview on CTV’s Question Period.
But first, the government says it is working with the provinces, particularly Ontario, given the ongoing crisis in the nation’s capital, to ensure that level of government has exhausted its options.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford declared a state of emergency in the province on Friday, invoking new emergency measures to levy stiffer fines and penalties on protesters, including a maximum penalty of $100,000 and up to a year imprisonment for non-compliance.
"We are prepared to use every tool available to us, including emergency powers and to make sure that we bring every resource of the federal government to bare. This is a critical situation for the country," Bill said.
"The closing of our borders, the targeting on critical infrastructure, particularly our points of entry by the people behind these protests, is a significant national security threat to this country, and we have to do what is necessary to end it."
The current iteration of the Emergencies Act passed in 1988 and has never been used. The Act allows for actions to combat urgent and critical but temporary situations that seriously threaten some aspect of Canadians’ lives, and that cannot be effectively dealt with under any other law of Canada.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is convening a meeting with provincial and territorial premiers on Monday and will be gathering the entire Liberal caucus to discuss next steps.
AMBASSADOR BRIDGE REOPENS
The Ambassador Bridge crossing between Canada and the U.S. has reopened, the Detroit International Bridge Company announced in a statement late Sunday.
"The Ambassador Bridge is now fully open allowing the free flow of commerce between the Canada and U.S. economies once again," the company, which is responsible for maintaining the bridge, said in the statement.
The Canada Border Services Agency confirmed the reopening, however, Windsor Police say they continue to monitor the situation at the site of the protest.
"We continue to remind the public that enforcement is ongoing in the demonstration area and there will be zero tolerance for illegal activity," Windsor Police tweeted Monday morning. "The public should also continue to avoid the area."
Meanwhile, other blockades across Canada, and elsewhere, continue to grow.
In B.C., four people were arrested for mischief at the protest near the Pacific Highway Border Crossing in Surrey, B.C. Though the RCMP say in a release that the "border crossing remains closed," the Canadian Border Services Agency has confirmed it is still open, but suggests travellers use a different crossing if possible.
On its website, the CBSA says the crossings in Coutts, Alta., and Emerson, Man., remain temporarily closed due to blockades.
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Anti-mandate protesters children walk beside parked trucks near Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Sunday, February 13, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn
