Chris Lange, FISM News
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The White House is urging Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to use federal powers to break up the Freedom Convoy trucker demonstrations protesting a vaccine-or-quarantine mandate for cross-border drivers, according to reporting by The New York Post.
Thursday marked the fourth consecutive day demonstrators blocked the Ambassador Bridge linking Windsor, Ontario, to Detroit, prompting the Biden administration to demand an immediate end to the blockade which continues to disrupt economies on both sides of the border.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg have been in discussions with their Canadian counterparts concerning the demonstrations, now entering their 15th day, offering the full support of Homeland Security and Transportation departments, a White House official told CNN Thursday. The official also said that President Biden is “being regularly briefed” on the situation.
Earlier this week, Mayorkas expressed concern that organizers are planning to bring the protests into the U.S., potentially impacting Sunday’s Super Bowl game in Los Angeles and the President’s March 1 State of the Union address in D.C., but says the DHS is prepared.
A quarter of all trade between the U.S. and Canada is carried across the Ambassador Bridge, which is North America’s busiest international land border crossing. Windsor police said the bridge is not shut down on the US-bound side but cautioned travelers to expect “significant” delays.
“We have additional resources deployed from outside jurisdictions for the purpose of helping support a peaceful resolution to the current demonstration at and near the Ambassador Bridge,” Windsor police tweeted late Thursday.
The U.S. auto manufacturing industry is already taking a hit from the blockades. A spokesperson for Toyota said manufacturing plants in Kentucky, Alabama, and West Virginia “have been impacted by issues related to the Ambassador Bridge blockade” in a statement to Fox News, adding, “We expect disruptions through the weekend, and we’ll continue to make adjustments as needed.”
Meanwhile, Ottawa police issued a statement warning Freedom Convoy demonstrators that they could be “arrested without warrant” if they continued the “unlawful act” of “blocking streets or assisting others in the blocking of streets.”
Follwoing the meetings between U.S. and Canadian officials, a Canadian court on Wednesday froze access to another $8.5 million in contributions made via GiveSendGo at the behest of Ontario Premier Doug Ford. This comes after GoFundMe’s seized $10 million in donations to “Freedom Convoy” truckers last week.
The Christian donor platform fired off a tweet in response, saying that they had no intention of complying with the order.
Know this! Canada has absolutely ZERO jurisdiction over how we manage our funds here at GiveSendGo. All funds for EVERY campaign on GiveSendGo flow directly to the recipients of those campaigns, not least of which is The Freedom Convoy campaign.
— GiveSendGo (@GiveSendGo) February 11, 2022