Tomorrow we get the report of the POEC. TBH, I don't expect much. I doubt Mr. Justice Rouleau will determine if the use of the EA was or was not justified as that is properly a matter for the Courts to decide. 1/
What I do expect is a summary of the events and decisions which led to the invocation. Based on the evidence before him that summary is likely to take aim at the police - at all levels - for letting the protest "get out of hand". 2/
It will probably spend a good deal of time on the horrors faced by the good citizens of Ottawa and next to no time on the protest itself. There will be a lot about how difficult it was for gov't to determine the intentions of the protestors. 3/
NDP leader Singh suggested that the protesters, aided and abetted by elements of the Ottawa police, were in town to overthrow the government. I suspect that will be the spin the Libs put on the report regardless of what it actually says. 4/
Characterizing the Convoy as an insurrection has been a theme on the left since before the EA was invoked. It may not actually be true, but it is a narrative which justifies invoking the EA and sending in the horses. 5/
Democracy itself was under threat. If you say that loudly and often a bunch of urban, Liberal voting, dimwits will believe it. Legacy media will be more than willing to push that narrative. 6/
Now the fact that not a police force or intelligence agency saw any threat to national security is inconvenient to this narrative and, when the POEC report is released, that testimony will be rigorously ignored. 7/
The "threat to democracy" and "unstable uncertainty" will, regardless of what the report actually says, be used to justify the gov't's actions. There will be a hint that the cops could not be entirely trusted. 8/
I suspect, regardless of the POEC's conclusions, the Trudeau regime will paint itself as the victim of dangerous, foreign influenced, extremists. Trudeau will say he had no choice but to use the EA to protect Canadian democracy. 9/
Singh was sent out to plant the seeds of this narrative. Put a frame around a report which, at best, will be unflattering to the Federal Cabinet and the Prime Minister. Tossing in police collusion makes the situation all the more grave. 10/
Regardless of what Rouleau writes, Trudeau wants to step into the frame as the staunch defender of democracy in Canada against dark and powerful extremist forces. "I defended Canada and I'd do it again." is where Trudeau wants to be. 11/
Will that narrative fly? In a sense it already has as a year of relentless lying about the Convoy and its supporters has soured the urban voters Trudeau counts on against the convoy. Legacy media pumps the foreign financed extremist story full time. 12/
The fact is that the Convoy terrified the great and the good. They had never seen a genuinely organic, grass roots, protest and they had no idea, and have no idea, how to respond. Now that the yobs have gone home the focus is on making sure they never come back. 13/
The phantom honking they hear is the fear that the Convoy, perhaps with farmers this time, could re-appear. Here's the good news: it could. 14/
We'll see what is in the #POEC report and what the gov't response is. However, we know that the Convoy achieved the removal of a useless CPC leader, the end to QR-IDs, the end of most provincial mandates and the creation of a united, Canadian, community. 15/
The Convoy, the overpass people, the demonstrators across the country gave Canada back hope. Which is what terrified the politicians and stunned legacy media. The yobs stood up for themselves. #honkhonk 16/16
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