El Nino weakening doesn't mean cooler temperatures this summer, forecasters say
As Canadians brace themselves for summer temperatures, forecasters say a weakening El Nino cycle doesn’t mean relief from the heat.
As a growing group of truckers and supporters make their way to Ottawa in a protest against vaccine mandates, experts say the rhetoric online concerning the convoy is getting increasingly worrisome.
The group of truckers and concerned citizens began a cross-country trip to Ottawa over the weekend, in protest of vaccine mandates in the country. The group expects to arrive in Ottawa this Saturday.
The movement has since gathered steam nationwide, as videos show highway gatherings in support of the truckers, but some experts worry the online conversation surrounding the convoy has veered into dangerous territory.
“There are people who genuinely believe that this is overreach by the federal government, but there are also a lot of other groups that are involved and individuals who are involved who have a long history of very overheated rhetoric,” Kurt Phillips, founder and former lead writer for Anti-Racist Canada, told CTVNews.ca in a recent phone interview.
Organizers for the convoy insist they are abiding the laws and intend for a peaceful rally in Ottawa this weekend.
Even though the organizers say it will be peaceful, Phillips said he’s seen people online calling the trucker convoy Canada’s version of the U.S. Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, for the truckers to ram their trucks into Parliament, and people encouraging the hanging of politicians.
“Some of the organizers are trying to get people to dial back the rhetoric, but the genie's already out of the bottle,” he said. “People are energized in an incredible way right now, and it's hard to see something not happening. I don't know if it would be on the scale of Jan. 6 in the United States, but there are so many angry people.”
Peter Smith, a journalist working with the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, said he’s seeing a lot of similarities between this latest convoy and a similar truck convoy from 2019 that was meant to protest federal pipeline policies.
“Right from the start, the largest groups … have been organized and managed by people who have connections to those types of groups like the Yellow Vests, the separatist Western movements,” he said. “So right from the start, this began as part of fringe politics.”
Smith said he’s seen people using the movement to accuse politicians of pedophilia and to accuse the government of being illegitimate.
“This has become the focus of the far right,” Smith said. “It's not to say that there's not people involved who have a ‘heart-in-the-right-place’ mentality, but this has become -- like the health restrictions -- an important opportunity to capitalize on people's justifiable discontent with the government.”
“Whatever happens in this movement, this protest will be a propaganda tool that's probably used for years.”
The rhetoric has also engulfed some politicians. Former Conservative leader Andrew Scheer called Prime Minister Justin Trudeau the “biggest threat to freedom in Canada,” while Pierre Poilievre, Conservative MP in the Ottawa region, recently called the truckers vaccine mandate a “vaccine vendetta.” People’s Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier called Canada’s COVID-19 measures “fascist” and “authoritarian.”
The convoy has even gathered the attention of Donald Trump Jr.
“When we push back against the insanity, we can win, and that’s how all this ends,” he said in a Facebook video.
“This is a genius idea. We need to see more of this in the U.S.”
Smith said that while the language used by some politicians is far from the most extreme comments he’s seen, it’s these comments that can lend credence to the more extreme sentiments.
“The main organizers have been explicit about saying there won't be violence, but you look at some of the streams and comments made by others -- many of whom are planning to attend -- they're almost hoping for it,” he said.
Phillips said a lot of people from different groups that would not normally associate with each other have banded together on this instance, in part because so much money has been raised.
“They seem to be gravitating towards this for a variety of reasons, might be because of the energy that's involved in it. It might be for the grift, the chance of making a profit off of it,” he said.
As of Tuesday evening, more than $4.5 million has been raised for the trucker convoy through GoFundMe, though the funds have been temporarily frozen.
Both Smith and Phillips are concerned for what might happen when the truckers arrive in Ottawa this weekend.
“I think the government needs to take this seriously,” Phillips said.
As Canadians brace themselves for summer temperatures, forecasters say a weakening El Nino cycle doesn’t mean relief from the heat.
A 15-year old boy who was critically injured after a stabbing in Nepean on Thursday has died of his injuries, Ottawa's English public school board said Sunday.
Police say it’s fortunate no one was injured or killed in a collision at North Vancouver’s Park and Tilford shopping centre Saturday evening that sent one vehicle careening into a flower shop and another into a set of concrete barriers outside a Winners store.
The Maple Leafs battled back from a 3-1 series deficit against the Boston Bruins with consecutive 2-1 victories - including one that required extra time - in their first-round playoff series to push the club's Original Six rival to the limit before suffering a devastating Game 7 overtime loss.
Amid scientists' warnings that nations need to transition away from fossil fuels to limit climate change, Canadians are still lukewarm on electric vehicles, according to a study conducted by Nanos Research for CTV News.
Three people have died and two have been hospitalized after a speeding car struck a tree and landed on another vehicle in Fredericton Sunday morning.
A Montreal man is warning Tesla drivers about using the Smart Summon feature after his vehicle hit another in a parking lot.
Madonna put on a free concert on Copacabana beach Saturday night, turning Rio de Janeiro's vast stretch of sand into an enormous dance floor teeming with a multitude of her fans.
Thieves killed two Australians and an American on a surfing trip to Mexico in order to steal their truck, particularly because they wanted the tires, authorities said Sunday.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.