1\ What @vaush misses is that the organizers weren't just staging a strike, or a blockade as part of some call for justice, they published an MOU at the start of their occupation calling specifically for the government's regulation and called the GG to endorse a citizen council.
https://twitter.com/VaushV/status/1493792617204953088
2\ To be clear, I'm a "Blair Mountain enjoyer" and love me some radical labour politics, but if a striking labour group in Canada were to frame their core demand around as a total change in government, well-- I'd expect the state to use all available options to stop them. 
3\ @Vaush compared the convoy to 'striking Dairy Queen workers'. You know, if it was just a labour action, he'd be right, but it's not. They demanded the governor general recognize a citizen council as a new government and occupied the capital with trucks. aljazeera.com/news/2022/2/7/…
4\ I was part of a group of Canadians that organized against Bill C-51 in 2015, in many ways C-51 was analogous to the US Patriot act, but in particular it broadened the definition of a 'threat to the security of Canada' ccla.org/get-informed/t…
5\ Thanks to C-51 (Anti-Terrorism Act, 2015) a plot to change or unduly influence a government in Canada is legally no different than a plot to blow up a shopping mall. The Convoy's MOU/rhetoric opened them from day 1 to being spied on, and "disrupted". nationalpost.com/news/politics/…
6\ They weren't aware that occupying the capital and demanding a change in government (attempting to change or influence a government) was itself a crime, when they figured it out-- they dropped the MOU (after two weeks of occupation). It was too late. canada-unity.com/mou/
7\ So legally, it's a bit more than a "strike at Dairy Queen." We worried in 2015 that the conservative Bill C-51 would be used against Muslims, environmentalists, labour, Indigenous protesters, antifa etc. And it has been. We live with those risks daily. bccla.org/2015/03/8-thin…
8\ C-51 also targeted 'foreign influenced activities'. As nearly 50% of the convoy's crowdfunding came, demonstrably from outside of Canada, it would appear again, that their activities have opened them to significant legal jeopardy. State's gonna state. cbc.ca/news/politics/…
9\ According to C-51, pretty much the entire convoy protest is a 'threat to the security of Canada'. C-51 also designates 'interference with critical infastructure' as terrorism. So, the Ambassador Bridge blockade at nearly $1bn in costs, absolutely met the criteria.
10\ Under the act fed spies can lie, cheat or steal, break any law, fake any story, defame any related person in an effort to reduce the threat. Think Stasi, but polite. Anything short of torture, sex assault or murder is fair game for 'threat reduction'. canlii.org/en/commentary/…
11\ The most economically damaging protests staged by the left have been valve shutdowns on pipelines 2015-2018 and rail blockades in 2020. I'm an expert on both. Valve turning cost companies millions but was hyperlocal and posed no wider threat. financialpost.com/pmn/business-p…
12\ Ironically I came to natsec research via pipeline work BECAUSE we feared C-51 would be used against us. It may have been. Hard to prove without evidence-- but they did spy on Indigenous pipeline opponents in 2014. cjfe.org/cjfe_condemns_…
13\ Indigenous rail blockades had a huge economic effect, entirely forgotten the day the stock markets tanked after the pandemic was declared. But the protests were peaceful, without a desire for a wider uprising, violence, or overthrow of the state. globalnews.ca/news/6634544/k…
14\ The core demand in the blockades was for one energy company to stop developing one project in one community. There was overpolicing and surveillance around blockades (including using groups like the 3% Militia to 'surveil' or even attack blockaders). thestar.com/news/canada/20…
15\ If the blockaders had stockpiled guns, crossed into the territory of demanding a wholesale change in government, or enshrined a call for the usurpation of a democratic government in their foundational documents and messaging-- they would have met the full force of the state.
16\ TL:DR What's happening in Ottawa meets the definition of an insurrection in this country. We can go back to 2015-2017 and try to retcon the law, there was a healthy civil society movement against the changes, they failed and the law (mostly) passed. cjfe.org/national_secur…
17\ #convoytoottawa2022 ain't just a strike or protest. It is a declaration of war by Conservative party (opposition) linked organizers, right wing militias, neoconfederate secessionists and political extremists whose core desire was a coup. pressprogress.ca/next-step-is-c…
18\ The left could have done more to limit state power, or to give convoy supporters better language to articulate their frustration, but the moment they set foot in the Capital trying to change or unduly influence civil power, they pulled a Tiger's tail. warp.media/trekkers_to_tr…
19\ I can't agree with the assessment that this is some wild dictatorial bent. The civil power is using an act that existed since 1988, to protect itself and the country (their job) but it was the Conservatives themselves who created the laws, both times. thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/eme…
20\ Like I said, the 'state is gonna state'. Rather than decry "totalitarianism", in light of police/military defections, 3500 missing guns and weapons caches turning up, I'm more worried about secessionist groups pushing us all to the brink of civil war. pressprogress.ca/meet-the-extre…
21\ It's not just the economic harm that has lead to the state taking these actions. The entire activity is high risk. Besetting the capital, blocking the border, receiving foreign funding, while calling for revolution-- they FORCED a confrontation WITH state power.
22\ A "strike at Dairy Queen" isn't going to see anyone's bank account frozen. If those same strikers marched on Ottawa intent on changing the Dairy Monarchy, it would be shocking if they DID NOT anticipate real, life altering consequences. The state is going to state, after all.
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