Comment #1 on the Rouleau Report:
Watching Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner Thomas Carrique at the Rouleau Inquiry last November was disturbing. Here was the senior police officer for the province making snide and unhelpful comments about Peter Sloly, the Ottawa police chief. He told the inquiry that he demanded that Sloly provide a workable plan to clear the large trucks that were parked illegally on Ottawa thoroughfares.
Sloly obviously already had too many balls in the air and hardly needed Carrique’s cynicism. And Carrrique was obviously not carrying out his responsibility to the province. Carrique and his political masters should pay special attention to Justice Rouleau’s comment that the province was “ultimately responsible for effective policing in Ottawa.” Observers knew that and the fact that Ontario refused to cooperate during the event and in Justice Rouleau’ inquiry, shows their ignorance of their responsibilities to the people of Ontario.
I think I will respectfully disagree with Justice Rouleau’s comment that the Ottawa event could have been expected. The anger of the anti-vaxxers was easy enough to see but what problems it would create could have (and still can) take many different routes.
What really hit home with the government of Ontario was the blockade at the Ambassador Bridge at Windsor. It was only then that the conservative government got pressure from business that the closure of this major conduit for auto parts could have serious long-term consequences. The call was heard immediately that there needed to be a clean-up in aisle three in Windsor.
It says something very basic about the attitude of the current Ontario government. They did not appear to give a damn about the people in Ottawa who were being inconvenienced by the truck convoy. Those were just people. The Ambassador Bridge was about business.
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