Doug Ford warns Ottawa ‘freedom convoy’ protesters: ‘No shenanigans this weekend’
Behave yourselves this time, protesters.
That's the message to Ottawa-bound demonstrators from Premier Doug Ford, who backed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's use of emergency powers to end the illegal blockade around Parliament Hill last winter.
Ford said it's disappointing" and not fair" that the so-called freedom convoy" is returning on Canada Day.
I'm all for peaceful protest and you can demonstrate, but ... no shenanigans this weekend," the premier warned Thursday.
Just be peaceful and let people of Ottawa enjoy their weekend. We honestly should not even be going through this. It's disappointing, but it is what it is," he said.
Look at all these police officers that typically may have vacation days to spend with their families. Now they're cancelling all their vacation and they're going to Ottawa (to work). You know, it's just not fair."
The premier urged truckers motoring toward the nation's capital to be considerate" unlike the three-week protest that ended in February after the federal government gave police temporary powers under the never-before-used Emergencies Act.
More than 100 people were arrested after riot police cleared the demonstration that forced downtown Ottawa residents to endure days of horn-honking and rabble-rousing.
Ford said he would be happy to participate" in the ongoing Emergencies Act post-mortem committee and praised the Ontario Provincial Police for its role in ending the unlawful occupation of the capital.
I just want to thank the OPP for the great job they did ... and I want to thank all the police agencies right across Ontario and the federal government, the RCMP, for the incredible job they did," he said, hailing police efforts at the related blockade of the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor.
What we can't ever have happen again is when they cut off the border and we're losing $700 million a day in trade (between Canada and the U.S.). That will never happen again - we've given the police the tools to make sure we keep our borders open."
The recently re-elected premier also confirmed what the Star reported Wednesday night: the legislature would resume on Aug. 8.
That's the day a new speaker will be elected - so far Tory MPPs Ted Arnott (Wellington-Halton Hills) and Nina Tangri (Mississauga-Streetsville) have announced they are running.
Arnott has been speaker since 2018 and Tangri is hoping to make history as the first woman to serve as the legislature's referee.
One day after MPPs elect a new speaker, the government will table a throne speech, to be read by Lt.-Gov. Elizabeth Dowdeswell, outlining the Tories' agenda for the next few years.
We'll be sitting approximately for five weeks," Ford told reporters in Brampton.
We're going to get things moving forward. We will pass the budget," he said, referring to the record $198.6-billion spending plan tabled by Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy on April 28, which was the Tories' re-election platform.
Ford signalled that teachers, whose salary hikes have been capped at one per cent a year by Bill 124, would get a raise in their upcoming contracts now being negotiated.
What I can tell you is their increase is going to be more than one per cent. It's not going to be through the roof, but it's going to be very fair to everyone," the premier said.
We fully understand inflation, we fully understand the cost of living is going up," he said, referring to an inflation rate that was 7.7 per cent this month.
But my message to the teachers union is one thing: those kids have to be back in school in September and they have to be back in school with extracurricular activities. I understand costs are going up. But we cannot have the kids out of school, no matter what."
Robert Benzie is the Star's Queen's Park bureau chief and a reporter covering Ontario politics. Follow him on Twitter: @robertbenzie