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Ontario Auditor General’s report highlights “reprioritization” of highway projects

Rita Smith

Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk released Ontario’s 2022 report on November 30, making special note of highway building funds which were apparently re-prioritized by the Minister’s office.

The Attorney General’s 2022 audit found the Transportation Ministry deferred six projects in 2019 and funnelled the money to four highway projects as directed by the minister’s office — “even though these projects were ranked as a lower priority by the ministry’s technical and engineering staff” the report illustrates in Figure 12a, “Expansion Prioritization Framework.”

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Photo: Mike Murchison
Guest ContributionsOpinion/ColumnTrucking

Canada should provide more rest areas before it writes tickets for Hours of Service violations

Mike Murchison

So. The Hours of Service (HOS) have come up again in the halls of government.

On November 24th, Road Warrior News wrote about the fact that the federal government wants to start issuing fines to violators of the Hours of Service (HOS) regulations.

This is nothing new. Provincial jurisdictions have been doing this for a number of years and still continue to do so. Just roll into to your friendly neighbourhood weigh station/inspection facility with a falsified HOS log and see what happens.

Yes, the Inspection Officer can issue a ticket with a monetary fine. Which, depending on much falsifying you’ve done, could blow your Christmas shopping budget in one shot.

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Freedom Convoy supporters cheer on the Truckers as they pass through Langley, British Columbia on their way to Ottawa on February 24th, 2022. Photo: FB
Guest ContributionsOpinion/ColumnPropaganda WatchTrucking

Hypocritical Trudeau supports protests in China while denying the Freedom Convoy’s legitimacy

Rita Smith

The Liberals are playing an interesting game as people in China protest against draconian ‘zero-Covid’ policies, and as Canadians draw parallels with what happened in our country during the Freedom Convoy.

They can’t accept the legitimacy of the concerns of the Freedom Convoy protestors, because that would imply the government had overreached in its imposition of vaccine mandates, and would make the use of the Emergencies Act look even worse.

But they also can’t openly side with the Chinese Communist Party regarding the protests in China, since the CCP is massively unpopular in Canada.

So, they have to pretend to be fully supportive of protests against authoritarian Covid measures, while also defending their invocation of the Emergencies Act.

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Opinion/ColumnTaxi industry newsTrucking

Ottawa experiences with robbery, drug dealers, murder: I’d feel safer with more Truck drivers

Rita Smith

Listening to Chrystia Freeland and her friends testifying at the recent Public Order Emergency Commission (PEOC) hearings, you might take away the impression that Ottawa was a bucolic ‘burb, a sleepy, peaceful village free of crime and danger before the horn-honking Freedom Convoy Truckers arrived on January 29th, 2022.

Actually, even some of the nicer parts of Ottawa (the Glebe, Parliament Hill, the Byward Market) can be cesspools of drug dealing, crime and violence. I have no doubt the reports that crime actually dropped after the Truckers arrived are true.

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CSIS reported no violence, no Section 2 violation; Miller wins fight for unredacted documents

Rita Smith

Convoy lawyer Brendan Miller’s fight to gain access to unredacted documents from senior political staff provided immediate results yesterday.

Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino was surprised with a written record of notes which indicated the Canadian Security and Intelligency Service (CSIS) did not believe the Freedom Convoy met the standard required by Section Two of the CSIS Act, a requirement for invoking the Emergencies Act.

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