A majority of Canadians now say it is time to end COVID restrictions, according to an Angus Reid poll, a sharp increase from when the same question was asked in early January.
The latest poll, taken Jan. 27-28, found 54% want restrictions to be lifted compared to just 39% who wanted restrictions lifted when the same question was asked two weeks earlier.
Ontario reports another 32 deaths in patients with COVID-19 as hospitalizations and outbreaks continue to decline
Ontario is reporting another 32 deaths in individuals who have contracted COVID-19 but hospitalizations and outbreaks continue to steadily decline.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Health says that 31 of the deaths occurred over the last 17 days, including eight on Saturday.
The latest data pushes Ontario’s COVID-19 death toll to 11,444.
2,983 people are hospitalized with #COVID19. Please note that not all hospitals report on weekends.
There are 583 people in ICU with COVID-19.
There are 3,043 new cases of COVID-19.
Today’s numbers will be available at 10:30 a.m. at https://t.co/ypmgZbVRvn.
— Christine Elliott (@celliottability) January 31, 2022
Full list of COVID-19 restrictions lifting in Ontario today
At 12:01 a.m. on Monday, Ontario will enter the first step of its three-step reopening plan, meaning that a number of restrictions imposed earlier this month in an attempt to curb transmission of the Omicron variant will lift.
As of Jan. 31, social gathering limits will increase to 10 people indoors and 25 people outdoors.
Indoor dining, gyms, retailers, shopping malls, and cinemas can reopen at 50 per cent capacity. Museums, galleries, aquariums, zoos, casinos, bingo halls and other gaming establishments can also reopen. The government will also allow spectators at sporting events, concert venues and theatres at 50 per cent seated capacity or 500 people, whichever is less.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has tested positive for COVID-19
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday he has tested positive for COVID-19 and, so far, he’s feeling “fine.”
The positive result comes after he was exposed to one of his children who also tested positive for the virus last week. In a social media post, Trudeau said he would stay in isolation and work remotely while he recovers.
Calling Ottawa protests ‘peaceful’ downplays non-violent dangers, critics say
Police haven’t reported any physical violence at the ongoing Ottawa rally against vaccine mandates and other government-imposed COVID-19 restrictions, but critics warn that conflating the absence of bloodshed with “peaceful” protest downplays the dangers of the weekend demonstrations.
For two days, the downtown core of the nation’s capital has been a no-go zone as trucks and crowds have snarled traffic, with some members defacing monuments and wielding signs with violent and hateful imagery. Police are also investigating what they describe as threatening behaviour toward officers, city workers and other individuals, as well as damage to a city vehicle.
But as of Sunday afternoon, there were no arrests related to incidents of physical violence during the demonstrations, a police spokeswoman said, though a statement issued that evening said “confrontations and the need for de-escalation has regularly been required.”
The first thing I did when the three Covid vaccines were given their Emergency Use Authorizations between mid-December 2020 and late February of 2021 was to seek out the summaries of the clinical findings that had led to these regulatory actions. I quickly found them and delved into what they had to say on protection against infection and transmission.
I did so because my intuitions, backed by my reading of non-mainstream sources, had long suggested to me that the endgame envisioned by those managing the pandemic was to impose vaccine mandates on as many people and as many populations as they could.
And I knew that the ability to successfully implement this plan of widespread vaccination would hinge, or at least should hinge, on the ability to substantiate the injections’ effectiveness in the key realms mentioned above: preventing infection and transmission.
A major border crossing in Coutts, Alta. is snarled with traffic because of truck drivers taking part in a nationwide protest against vaccine mandates and COVID-19 rules.
Equal access for the unvaccinated is the civil rights issue of our time.
On Jan. 23, thousands of protesters appeared in Washington, D.C. to demand an end to vaccine mandates. The fact that the protest took place six days after the nation commemorated the life of Martin Luther King Jr. holds profound significance.
More than five decades after King’s assassination, Americans face the worst segregation since the civil rights movement. That segregation has nothing to do with the myth of “systemic racism” decried by the “woke.” It has nothing to do with race, creed or gender. It does, however, have everything to do with the authoritarian agenda the “woke” seek to promote.
I have always thought of myself as a normal and law-abiding citizen of Canada — nothing special, merely respectable on the whole, reasonably informed, a responsible voter, and a contributor to the well-being of the country, no different from many of my fellow Canadians. I have taught several generations of students, including Police Tech classes, lectured as a Canadian scholar at embassies and universities abroad, and traveled under the auspices of the Department of External Affairs to represent the country at Canada Day ceremonies in Europe. My wife was a professor at two major Canadian universities, organized several large-scale conferences on Canadian themes, sponsored doctoral candidates from foreign countries who wished to study in and learn about Canada, and authored as well as edited several books on Canadian history, literature, and culture.
There’s nothing particularly new or special about the “Freedom Convoy” protest taking place in Ottawa, and yet it’s practically all anyone can talk or tweet about. Canada has seen large protests many times before, and even vehicle convoys that fill city streets and relentlessly blast their horns. Protesters have beat effigies of prime ministers and held mock “ public courts ” to try political leaders. Radicals have set up bloody guillotines in front of legislative buildings.
If there is a historical precedent for the truckers’ revolt in Canada, and the populist protests in so many other parts of the world, I would like to know what it is. It surely sets the record for convoy size, and it is historic for Canada. But there is much more going on here, something more fundamental. The two-year imposition of bio-fascist rule by diktat seems ever less tenable – the consent of the governed is being withdrawn – but what comes next seems unclear.
We now have two of the most restrictive “leaders” in the developed world (Justin Trudeau of Canada and Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand) hiding in undisclosed locations, citing the need to quarantine following Covid exposure. Streets globally have filled up with people demanding an end to mandates and lockdowns, calling for accountability, pushing for resignations, denouncing privileged corporations, and crying out for a recognition of basic freedoms and rights.
h/t MartinD2
The mayor of Ottawa says many residents are reaching a boiling point over protests against COVID-19 vaccine mandates and public health restrictions, and he wants demonstrators to let the city return to normal. But organizers say they’re willing to stay in the capital for months until their demands are met.
Ottawa’s city centre continues to be filled with the sound of honking and chanting as thousands of truckers and others opposed to the restrictions gathered near Parliament Hill on Sunday for a second full day of protests.
Oh My Just Look At The Desecration!
OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Thousands of protesters gathered in Canada’s capital on Saturday to protest vaccine mandates, masks and lockdowns.
Some parked on the grounds of the National War Memorial and danced on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, others carried signs and flags with swastikas and some used the statue of Canadian hero Terry Fox to display an anti-vaccine statement, sparking widespread condemnation.
“I am sickened to see protesters dance on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and desecrate the National War Memorial. Generations of Canadians have fought and died for our rights, including free speech, but not this. Those involved should hang their heads in shame,” tweeted Gen. Wayne Eyre, Canada’s Defense Staff chief.
Protestors compared vaccine mandates to fascism, one truck carried a Confederate flag and many carried expletive-laden signs targeting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Dancing on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier? Bad.
Expletive ridden anti-Justin signage? Good and F-Off if you disagree;)
Use of Nazi symbols to illustrate a point? Bad. But in Canada our media makes an exception and says it’s OK if you are hating on Israel.
Messing with statues? Bad. But it’s OK if the media says so, same with burning churches.
Threatening Police or Others? Bad. Unless according to media you are a member of BLM or similar.
Several criminal investigations underway connected with Ottawa convoy protest
The Ottawa Police Service says criminal investigations are underway in connection with incidents during Saturday’s “Freedom Convoy” protest on Parliament Hill and throughout the city’s downtown core.
“Several criminal investigations are underway in relation to the desecration of the National War Memorial/Terry Fox statue, threatening/illegal/intimidating behaviour to police/city workers and other individuals and damage to a city vehicle,” police said in a tweet Sunday.
Thousands held a loud but peaceful protest in Canada’s capital Ottawa against prime minister Justin Trudeau’s Covid-19 vaccine mandates, on the streets and snow-covered lawn in front of parliament.
The so-called “Freedom Convoy” started out as a rally of truckers against a vaccine requirement for cross-border drivers, but turned into a demonstration against government overreach during the pandemic with a strong anti-vaccination streak.
“I’m not able to work no more because I can’t cross the border,” said Csava Vizi, a trucker from Windsor who noted he was the family’s sole breadwinner.
A slightly less hysterical Guardian piece than yesterdays.
Even George Orwell didn’t write of a surveillance tool like this.
In the name of preventing COVID-19 spread through Canada’s border points, a new information tracking app now being utilized is either a modern way of keeping the country safe or something dystopian out of Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four novel warning of totalitarianism.
I hope others follow suit.
Dutch truckers first to follow in Canada demonstration
THE EU could be on the verge of more haulage woes as Dutch lorry drivers appeared to join in their Canadian cousins in their “freedom convoy” protest against mandatory Covid vaccines.
h/t TB
“There are certain doctors who are blowing the whistle on the ways our government has handled Covid-19. It seems that the only advice coming out of DC or otherwise is to get vaccinated. Any treatments or preventative measures are either ignored or outright discouraged. Everyone remembers the false notion that Ivermectin is just a “horse dewormer” despite the fact that it has been used by humans since long before Covid-19 ever existed.
One doctor who is spreading the truth is Dr. Peter McCullough. He has been censored and attacked for doing so. He has taken considerable losses for his adherence to the truth, but he persists. I was blessed to have him on my show. Among many other important topics, he discussed the six things everyone should have on hand as Omicron spreads.”
As the first vehicles from the trucker convoy started appearing on Ottawa streets, some Twitter users shared a particular photo: a pickup truck with a confederate flag flying from the bed.
Now, as the convoy descends on Ottawa with the stated aim of opposing all COVID-19 mandates, anti-hate experts allege those with white nationalist and Islamophobic views don’t just represent the fringes of the movement but are among the organizers of the convoy.
Global has dug up a sketchy individual or two for their latest hit piece but are they organizers?
Even Global admits they aren’t sure – “It can be difficult to determine who is a key organizer of the convoy, but there are some names that emerge time and time again.”
Being a squeaky wheel does not make someone an “organizer.” As for the others mentioned if talking like a normal person is scary to you Media types I suggest you get out more or find another line of work.
Any movement is going to attract it’s share of lunatics. Look at the NDP and LPC – they elected racists as leaders.
