National security officials planning for 2023 'Freedom Convoy' reboot: adviser to PM
National security officials planning for 2023 'Freedom Convoy' reboot: adviser to PM
OTTAWA -
The national security adviser to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says that senior officials are planning ahead for the possibility of another "Freedom Convoy" protest in early 2023.
Jody Thomas told a parliamentary committee Thursday evening that deputy ministers, some of the most senior civil servants in the government, are meeting to discuss the prospective demonstration for the first time this week.
Thomas said that Mike MacDonald, an assistant secretary to the cabinet within the Privy Council Office, has already chaired meetings "to start looking at how we're going to respond."
Earlier this month, James Bauder, the founder of the Canada Unity group and one of the original organizers of the protests that gridlocked downtown Ottawa for weeks last winter, announced that he is calling for a second round next February.
Bauder posted on Facebook that he wants supporters to mark their calendars for a four-day "olive branch edition" of the convoy from Feb. 18 to 21, with plans to be "wheels up" and returning home from Ottawa on Feb. 22.
Thomas and MacDonald both appeared at a special committee of MPs and senators who are investigating the federal government's decision in February to invoke the Emergencies Act in response to the protests.
The committee study has been taking place separately from the Public Order Emergency Commission, a public inquiry digging into the same questions.
"We are absolutely learning from what has occurred and trying to ensure that we have incorporated where we saw deficiencies as we go forward," said Thomas.
Part of that, she said, has been a focus on how to interpret open-source domestic intelligence gathered from social media while ensuring that privacy laws are still followed.
MacDonald added that there have been opportunities to test the lessons learned from the protests in early 2022, including with the "Rolling Thunder" protest organized in Ottawa for the end of April and more demonstrations planned on Canada Day.
"A lot of the lessons and some of the ideas were put into the governance and decision structures there," he said.
He added that he is co-ordinating more directly with police. "I have a deeper relationship with the Ottawa police and directly sit and talk with them about these issues, and that really didn't happen before."
Thomas said she believes that with "proper understanding of the intelligence and information," the Emergencies Act will not be required in the future.
Asked about a potential "Convoy 2.0," Thomas added that "different action would be taken ahead of time to prevent the settling in to the extent that we saw in January and February."
She noted that sympathy protests in Quebec City and Montreal, where big rigs were not allowed to park, went differently and were shorter-lived.
"I'm not a policing expert, and the police are doing their own review. And the inquiry will speak to the policing aspects of this," she said, referring to the commission, which is set to deliver a final report in early February. "But in cities where the trucks were not allowed to stop, they did not have the same problem."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 1, 2022.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced that he’s invited premiers to Ottawa for a 'working meeting' to discuss a health-care funding deal, on Feb. 7.
As the minority Liberals plot out their policy moves ahead of the 2023 parliamentary sitting, weighing heavily are commitments Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made to NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh that have to be acted on this year in order to uphold the two-party confidence-and-supply deal. Here is what needs to get done to keep the deal alive.
Governor of the Bank of Canada Tiff Macklem says he thinks Canada is 'turning the corner' on inflation, but he isn't ruling out that the country could enter a 'mild recession.' In an English-language broadcast exclusive interview with CTV National News Ottawa Bureau Chief Joyce Napier, Macklem encouraged Canadians to prepare a 'buffer' to withstand 'tougher times.'
After six weeks, more than 70 witnesses, and the submission of more than 7,000 documents into evidence, the public hearing portion of the Public Order Emergency Commission wrapped up on Friday.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sat down with CTV National News Chief News Anchor and Senior Editor Omar Sachedina for a year-end interview to reflect on the political shifts experienced in 2022, and to contemplate the challenges ahead in 2023. Here is a full transcript of the interview.
Based on Justin Trudeau's first-day fail in the House of Commons, 'meeting the moment' is destined to become the most laughable slogan since the elder Pierre Trudeau’s disastrous campaign rallying cry in 1972, which insisted 'the land is strong' just as the economy tanked.
Like Jacinda Ardern, Justin Trudeau’s early handling of the pandemic was a reassuring communications exercise where harsh isolation measures went down easier with a hefty helping of government support, Don Martin writes in an exclusive opinion column for CTVNews.ca. 'But like the New Zealand Prime Minister, the Canadian PM's best days are arguably behind him. '
The Standing Committee on Transport gathered Thursday with MPs demanding an explanation for how that highly unusual Canadian winter combination of heavy snow and cold temperatures which delayed or cancelled thousands of post-pandemic reunions. What they got was a gold-medal finger-pointing performance, writes Don Martin in an exclusive opinion column for CTVNews.ca.
From a more coherent public health and carbon tax position, to cutting the 'Freedom Convoy' connection and smiling more, Pierre Poilievre has seven New Year's resolutions to woo the voters in 2023, writes Don Martin in an exclusive column for CTVNews.ca.
Authorities in Western Australia on Wednesday recovered a tiny but dangerous radioactive capsule that fell off a truck while being transported along a 1,400-kilometer (870-mile) Outback highway last month in what an official said was like finding the needle in the haystack.
Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner is raising concerns over the federal government's spending on so-called COVID-19 quarantine hotels, calling the total spent on a Calgary-area hotel in 2022 'legitimately flabbergasting.'
The fallout from the December travel chaos continues, as the backlog of complaints made to the Canadian Transportation Agency keeps growing. As of Jan. 31, there have been 6,395 new complaints made to the agency since Dec. 21.
A new report from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada is highlighting 'significant inequities' in women's health care that is disproportionately affecting racialized and Indigenous women, members of the LGBTQ2S+ community and those living with low socioeconomic status.
A suspect in a violent kidnapping in Oregon died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound Tuesday night after being taken into custody following a standoff with law enforcement, a police spokesman said.
Andrew Tate, the divisive influencer and former professional kickboxer who is detained in Romania on suspicion of organized crime and human trafficking, appeared at a court in Bucharest on Wednesday to appeal against a second 30-day extension of his detention.
A woman held in a detention camp in Syria, along with her three Canadian children, says the federal government is forcing her to make an agonizing choice: relinquish custody of her kids so they can be repatriated to Canada, or keep them in the camp where the conditions are dire. Her children are eligible for repatriation but she is not a Canadian citizen.
The fallout from the December travel chaos continues, as the backlog of complaints made to the Canadian Transportation Agency keeps growing. As of Jan. 31, there have been 6,395 new complaints made to the agency since Dec. 21.
More than five years since Canada’s Competition Bureau began an investigation into an alleged bread-price fixing scheme, no conclusions have been drawn nor charges laid. As the watchdog is now probing whether grocery stores are profiting from inflation, one expert says the effectiveness of its tools are in question.
Canada's perceived corruption in the public sector has remained the same since last year, according to the latest Corruption Perceptions Index by Transparency International, which ranks Canada tied for 14th out of 180 countries. The country scored 74 out of 100 in 2022, with 100 being the least corrupt and 0 being the most.
The family of a Montreal man who died after he was seriously injured by jail guards while he was illegally detained is calling for surveillance video of the incident to be released publicly. Nicous D'Andre Spring's family and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association are jointly calling for 'all video footage' from the jail to be released immediately.
China's growing assertiveness and collaboration with Russia poses a threat not only to Asia but also to Europe, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Wednesday as he sought stronger cooperation and more 'friends' for NATO in the Indo-Pacific region.
Taiwan scrambled fighter jets, put its navy on alert and activated missile systems in response to nearby operations of 34 Chinese military aircraft and nine warships that are part Beijing's strategy to unsettle and intimidate the self-governing island democracy.
Pope Francis urged Congo's people on Wednesday to forgive those who have harmed them as he presided over a Mass before an estimated 1 million people in a country wracked by decades of violence.
An Indian court on Tuesday sentenced self-proclaimed spiritual guru Asaram Bapu to life imprisonment on charges of rape and sodomy, according to his lawyer.
Alse Young was killed at the gallows in Connecticut, becoming the first person on record to be executed in the American colonies for witchcraft. Now, more than 375 years later, amateur historians, researchers and descendants of the accused witches hope Connecticut lawmakers will finally offer posthumous exonerations.
Russia is mustering its military might in the Luhansk region of Ukraine, local officials said Wednesday, in what Kyiv suspects is preparation for an offensive in the eastern area in coming weeks as the anniversary of Moscow's invasion approaches.
Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner is raising concerns over the federal government's spending on so-called COVID-19 quarantine hotels, calling the total spent on a Calgary-area hotel in 2022 'legitimately flabbergasting.'
The commission investigating the federal government's use of the Emergencies Act to quell the trucker protests last winter in Ottawa has asked for more time to complete its report.
A new report from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada is highlighting 'significant inequities' in women's health care that is disproportionately affecting racialized and Indigenous women, members of the LGBTQ2S+ community and those living with low socioeconomic status.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is urging health care providers and consumers to stop using EzriCare Artificial Tears as it conducts an investigation into at least 50 infections in 11 states that have led to instances of permanent vision loss, hospitalization and one death.
Health Canada is reviewing the safety of domperidone amid reports that some breastfeeding mothers in Canada and the U.S. have had serious psychiatric symptoms when they tried to stop taking the drug.
Australian authorities are mounting an extensive search for a tiny radioactive capsule believed to have fallen out of a road train that travelled 1,400 km in Western Australia. Here's what you need to know:
Prosecutors linked Alec Baldwin to an expansive list of alleged failures in firearms safety as they filed a felony involuntary manslaughter charge Tuesday against the actor in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on a New Mexico movie set.
Las Vegas police on Tuesday arrested and raided the home of a former 'Dances With Wolves' actor turned alleged cult leader accused of sexually assaulting young Indigenous girls during a period spanning two decades, according to police records obtained by The Associated Press.
Thousands of schools in the U.K. closed some or all of their classrooms, train services were paralyzed and delays were expected at airports Wednesday in what's shaping up to be the biggest day of industrial action Britain has seen in more than a decade, as unions step up pressure on the government to demand better pay amid a cost-of-living crisis.
Shares in Indian tycoon Gautam Adani's conglomerate plunged again on Wednesday as a rout in his companies deepened to $86 billion in the wake of a U.S. short-seller report, with the billionaire also losing his title as Asia's richest person.
Europe's inflation rate dipped at the start of the year, giving some relief to consumers but still leaving them facing higher prices. The consumer price index for the 20 countries that use the euro currency fell to 8.5 per cent in January from a year earlier, European Union statistics agency Eurostat said Wednesday. That's after annual inflation hit 9.2 per cent in December.
News that she'd be headed back to the office was very welcoming for English instructor Kathy Andvaag, after more than two years teaching from her “dark” and “cold” basement.
With the spring break travel season approaching, those looking to flee the cold, wet Canadian snow for sunnier skies will likely be met with a hefty price tag for their getaway, with inflation and increased demand pushing costs up.
Novak Djokovic played with a three-centimetre (1.2 inches) tear in his hamstring during his run to a record-extending 10th Australian Open title, tournament director Craig Tiley said on Wednesday.
Sport Minister Pascale St-Onge says ending abuse in sport will require complaints processes that include provincial-level athletes, not just national ones.
Ukraine hopes to secure widespread international support for banning Russian and Belarusian athletes from the Paris Olympics due to Moscow's invasion, the sports minister said on Tuesday.
The U.S. Justice Department has requested documents from Tesla related to its Autopilot and 'Full Self-Driving' features, according to a regulatory filing.
President Joe Biden heads to New York City today to showcase a US$292 million mega grant that will be used to help build a new rail tunnel beneath the Hudson River between New York and New Jersey.
Europe is taking another big step toward cutting its energy ties with Russia, banning imports of diesel fuel and other products made from crude oil in Russian refineries. The European Union ban takes effect Feb. 5 following its embargo on coal and most oil from Russia.
