Bottom Of The Barrel

By Sniffles

Pretty amazing that the cops in Canada were able to clear thousands of protesters and tow away dozens of big rigs in Ottawa — not to mention bust up the Ambassador Bridge and Coutts blockades — without any fatalities or injuries. (Especially since they seized a huge cache of weapons at Coutts and some long guns in Ottawa.)

Tonight, the House of Commons will vote on the government's use of the Emergencies Act, which made all the successes of last week and the weekend possible. PMJT is styling it as a confidence vote, which, if he loses it, could trigger an election. Film at eleven.

This was a canny move by Trudeau. It effectively puts the brakes on any doubting Liberal who might not be in love with the EA but, on the other hand, doesn't want the government to fall. (Even though two-thirds of Canadians polled said they were sick of the protesters and supported use of the Act.) And the Conservative Party is not ready for an election. They don't even have a leader right now — all they have is interim-nutcase-and-convoy-supporter Candice Bergen from Manitoba, aka Murphy Brownshirt. Whatever happens, we'll keep you posted.

In the meantime, right wingers are behaving despicably, as always. A Conservative senator from Nova Scotia is apologizing today for squiffy videoed comments he made on Parliament Hill last week, in which he said he was sick of Ottawans with their "six-figure salaries and 20-hour workweeks." (For the record, Canadian senators make $160,000+ a year and meet for fewer than 100 days.) He also called his own wife a "Karen" for wanting the occupation to end. Whoa.

Worse, though, is Randy Hillier, a member of the Ontario provincial government who used to be a Conservative but now sits as an Independent, because even the Tories couldn't take him any more. Hillier's been calling for the Trumpy truckers to swamp 911 in Ottawa with bogus calls. How soon can they arrest him?

And then of course there are reports of convoy protesters surrounding, harassing and spitting on journalists reporting on the occupation.

Just awful. It's astounding that, like the Republicans in the US, Canadian Conservatives are willing to align themselves with terrible people. Surely, giving folks permission to be their absolute worst selves won't win in the end — will it? We cats HISS.

(UPDATE: The House has approved the Emergencies Act invocation, 185 to 151. We cats PURR.)