Thoughts on BC Politics and More

IMAGE CREDIT:  The Fraser Institute   In this episode of The Line: Alberta Podcast, Rob Breakenridge is joined by Dr. Kent Fellows, assistant professor of economics at the University of Calgary and fellow-in-residence at the C.D. Howe Institute. Sagging oil prices have once again highlighted the perils of Alberta’s over-reliance on energy revenues, even if the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion has helped to provide a revenue boost. This fiscal uncertainty comes at a time when Alberta is hoping Ottawa can deliver on some major new energy infrastructure — including, of course, a new pipeline — and potentially help pave the way for economic and energy corridors that could allow such projects to be fast-tracked in the future. We’ll get some insight from Prof. Fellows on the economics underlying all of this: the implications of fluctuating oil prices on Alberta’s budget, the challenges of pipeline capacity and infrastructure development, as well as the political factors in the ene...

  The Facebook page of the "Freedom Convoy" protest is expected to be at the centre of the evidence and legal arguments today as the trial of two prominent organizers enters its sixth day. The Crown's case against Tamara Lich and Chris Barber for their role in the protest has been mired in complaints from the defence that have slowed the process ... CLICK HERE for the full report  

“Freedom Convoy” organizer Chris Barber called for people to “flood the city” in one of a mountain of social media videos put to the court as part of his criminal trial Thursday.   Barber, who operated a trucking business in Swift Current, Sask., is co-accused with his fellow protest organizer Tamara Lich from Medicine Hat, Alta.   The trial is in its third day of testimony in Ottawa.   Lich and Barber face charges related to their role in organizing the protest against COVID-19 health restrictions last year that blockaded Ottawa city streets for weeks with big-rig trucks and encampments.   They were both among thousands of protesters who recorded and streamed videos from the protest as it unfolded.   In a video showed to the court, Barber told supporters he believed riot police were on their way to Ottawa. He said that if protest organizers’ “phones go dark,” people should use whatever means possible to come to the city and protest peacefu...

  The Ottawa Police Service incident commander in charge of the “Freedom Convoy” response told the court hearing a trial of two of its organizers that work to shrink the footprint was undermined after the first weekend by an order to not to give an inch of downtown.   Insp. Russell Lucas told the court that police plans had to change on the fly after the bulk of the vehicles arrived on January 29 , and he realized the OPS underestimated the scope of the convoy.   “We weren’t going to stop it, so how do we minimize the impact to the city as a whole?” Lucas told the court, speaking as a witness.   Lucas is the second witness in the trial of convoy organizers Tamara Lich and Chris Barber. The pair are charged with mischief, counselling to commit mischief, intimidation and obstructing police for their alleged roles in the demonstration ...   CLICK HERE for the full story

  As Tamara Lich was led away from supporters in handcuffs on the snowy streets of Ottawa in 2022, she threw a single phrase over her shoulder. “Hold the line,” said the petite figurehead of the “Freedom Convoy” movement as the officers at each of her elbows walked her to the waiting cruiser.   She was echoing the words shouted by of one of her supporters in a scene that was captured on video and circulated online the eve before hundreds of police moved in. Officers spent the next two days dislodging protesters from the streets around Parliament Hill.   But that parting phrase, which would go on to become the title of Lich’s recently published book, is likely to be at the heart of her criminal trial.   Lich and follow convoy organizer Chris Barber are scheduled to stand trial in Ottawa starting Tuesday for their role in the three-week protest that overtook the streets around downtown and sparked a national emergency declaration ...   CLICK HERE...