COVID-19 'Pandemic'

The_Foxer

House Member
Aug 9, 2022
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I doubt if Pierre is referring to childhood vaccines which have been proven effective over the years.
Whether he is or he isn't tho it's the same answer. You can't "force" compliance like that, there is always a backlash and it will be a major backlash.

90 percent of parents will get their kids vaccinated. That's more than enough. Trying to squeeze that last 10 percent will drive anti-vax sentiment through the roof and suddenly you've got a massive fight where there didn't need to be one.

The liberals have got to learn that you can't just force everyone to bend to your will. "the more you tighten your grip, the more systems will slip through your finglers" as leia would say :)3.3 (edited because i misspelled leia :))
 
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Dixie Cup

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Sep 16, 2006
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Whether he is or he isn't tho it's the same answer. You can't "force" compliance like that, there is always a backlash and it will be a major backlash.

90 percent of parents will get their kids vaccinated. That's more than enough. Trying to squeeze that last 10 percent will drive anti-vax sentiment through the roof and suddenly you've got a massive fight where there didn't need to be one.

The liberals have got to learn that you can't just force everyone to bend to your will. "the more you tighten your grip, the more systems will slip through your finglers" as leyah would say :)3.3
I agree.
 

pgs

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Nov 29, 2008
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The simple answer there is DON"T FORCE IT DOWN PEOPLE"S THROATS!!!

The FASTEST way to turn people away from vaccines is demand they MUST take them on pain of law. And children are NOT required to take it to go to school, there has always been an exclusion for religious OR MORAL reasons. In other words, if you don't want your kid to take it because you think it's bad and you're willing to sign to that effect then fine.

There will always be a small number of people who for whatever reason decide they don't trust the vaccines. Fine. We do NOT need 100 percent vaccination to fight off a disease or illness. Let them go, and everyone else will look at them like they're a weird fringe crackpot group. But if you demand it and then it turns into a public fight you'll see exactly what we saw with covid and FOR NO GOOD REASON. Even worse - pretty soon everyone gets sick of it and stops with the vaccines, which has happened now.

Polievre's approach is absolutely the correct one. The VAST majority will choose to get their kids vaccinated, a handful won't but they'll be happy because they had a choice, Canada will be sufficiently protected and the problem will be over.

Yeash. How hard is that.
It might even make sense if the jabs ( they are not vaccines ) worked as advertised. But with them neither preventing transmission nor providing immunity why bother ?
 

spaminator

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City of Toronto pulls controversial vaccination ad campaign within hours
City spokesman Brad Ross acknowledges the ad campaign 'missed the mark'

Author of the article:Joe Warmington
Publishing date:Sep 21, 2022 • 21 hours ago • 3 minute read • 144 Comments
The City of Toronto has yanked five controversial ads aimed at encouraging parents to vaccinate their kids against COVID-19.
The City of Toronto has yanked five controversial ads aimed at encouraging parents to vaccinate their kids against COVID-19. PHOTO BY CITY OF TORONTO /YouTube
The City of Toronto has pulled a $20,000 video ad campaign encouraging families to vaccinate their kids, saying it “can do better.”


They removed the five ad spots just hours after release and following public and media backlash about the city’s use of children in these Public Service Announcements attempting to illustrate there are things in life that they can’t partake in without receiving a COVID-19 injection.


“We have pulled all of the videos for now while we undertake a review of each to determine if there are other issues we need to address,” said Toronto chief spokesperson Brad Ross. “I’m also undertaking a complete review of the approvals process for such videos.”

Each video cost the taxpayers $4,000 to produce.

“The campaign was developed by the ‘vaccine engagement team’ — a group of community ambassadors who have done a fabulous job of educating and reaching out to communities that are hard to reach, whether because of language barriers, cultural barriers or general hesitancy about vaccines,” said Ross.


“Toronto has one of the highest vaccination rates in the world, thanks in part to their efforts,” he said. “This is very much community-led, but there is ultimate approval required by the city, and it is here where I am working to understand how and why we missed the mark on this.”



The controversy began with an advertisement of a girl looking out the window and hearing her peers playing outside.

“Mom, can I go outside and play with my friends?” she asks.

“No honey, there’s still something going around,” her mom responds.

Then came the tagline stating, “Kids should be out there, not in here,” and that in Toronto “COVID-19 Vaccines available for children six months to 12 years.”

Needless to say, social media lit up.

“Disgusting propaganda and harmful to our children,” tweeted Monica Marchand.



Klo tweeted, “Many countries have banned vaccines for kids under 12. That ad suggests they will be segregated if they aren’t vaccinated.”

Knowing this approach of using kids to try to encourage parents to vaccinate their children at a time when mandates and masking protocols are no longer in existence, I sent a request to the city for comment.

“People who are vaccinated are still susceptible to contracting COVID-19, so what is this about?” I asked. “Is this trying to guilt families into vaccinating a child or some form of peer pressure? Is it trying to suggest families should keep unvaccinated (children) indoors?”



I sent these questions at 2:43 p.m. on Tuesday.

At 5:49 p.m., Ross emailed back with the decision to pull the ads.

“The pandemic has negatively impacted children in many different ways,” he said. “The video created was intended to highlight the negative impact it has had on children and drive home the benefits of vaccine, as vaccination remains the most effective way to protect our children, families, communities and ourselves against the serious effects of COVID-19.”

“As always, we continually review our communications to ensure it is effectively reaching the right audience with the right message,” Ross said. “We do believe we can better communicate this intent and, as such, we have removed the video to better address the core message of children being eligible to be vaccinated against COVID-19 — to protect them, their families, their friends and the community as a whole.”




One ad depicted a baby girl being filmed with a smart phone to be shared with loved ones who couldn’t be in the same room: “When can we see her?” asks an adult’s voice.

Another ad showed a woman running a business meeting over Zoom as her daughter enters the room followed by the tag line, “She should be in school.”

Another ad showed a boy trying to connect with a friend over a video call with the tagline, “Human connections are stronger than internet connections.”

There’s also one with a boy with his hand up in class, but it turns out he’s studying at home alone, and it includes the tagline, “Kids need a hand.”

All have been removed and the city is reviewing how this happened.

jwarmington@postmedia.com
 

spaminator

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What 'most likely' caused the deaths of three of Stratford's iconic swans
“We’ve had some diseases on the river, but nothing like this"

Author of the article:Chris Montanini • Stratford Beacon Herald
Publishing date:Sep 21, 2022 • 21 hours ago • 2 minute read • Join the conversation
File photo. Chris MontaniniStratford Beacon Herald
File photo. Chris MontaniniStratford Beacon Herald jpg, SF

STRATFORD – Three of Stratford’s swans died over the weekend after showing symptoms of H5N1, the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus, city officials say.


Quin Malott, Stratford’s parks manager, said staff feeding the bevy on Saturday morning found the first swan dead in the Avon River.


The other two swans began looking ill afterwards, one on Sunday and the other on Monday.

Although test results were not confirmed as of Tuesday, both the city’s veterinarian and an avian pathologist at the University of Guelph’s Animal Health Laboratory reported that bird flu was the “most likely cause” of death, Malott said.

A dead turkey vulture was also found in Stratford on Monday.

“We’ve had some diseases on the river, but nothing like this,” Malott said. “(For) the staff and myself, it’s very frustrating. It’s sad to . . . lose these swans after you spend so much time taking care of them.”


This weekend’s wildlife deaths aren’t the first in Perth County to be linked to H5N1 this year. Stratford lost a swan due to the virus in May, shortly after two unwell fox kits discovered in St. Marys became the first mammals in Canada to be diagnosed with bird flu.

The discovery was a significant development in a global bird flu outbreak Canadian officials have been tracking since the virus was detected in Europe early last year. Surveillance efforts picked up in December when the virus was found in Newfoundland seagulls before spreading to birds across the rest of the country.

The outbreak’s largest impact has so far been felt in the Canadian poultry industry.

As of Tuesday, more than 2.3-million birds on 133 farms have been impacted by the virus, government data show. That includes approximately 561,000 birds on 28 farms in Ontario.


The Canadian Food Inspection Agency believes migratory birds are responsible for the outbreaks.

Malott said he believes local cases could rise again as those birds begin flying south for the winter.

Dead, injured, or sick swans found in Stratford’s park system should be reported to Malott at 519-271-0250 ext. 246. On the weekends, Malott said reports can be called into the Stratford Police Service’s non-emergency line.

Birds found on private property can be reported to the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative, which relies on government agencies, animal control offices, wildlife rehabilitation centres and the general public to help its monitoring efforts in Ontario. Contact information is available on the organization’s website.


The other members of Stratford’s famous bevy are doing well, Malott said, but the H5N1 outbreak remains a concern. Stratford has always discouraged hand feeding the birds near the Avon but has been stepping up efforts to keep the birds from gathering too closely while H5N1 transmission in the area is high.

“No matter what this is that’s killed these swans, it’s some type of virus so we just want to remind residents and visitors alike not to feed any of the wild fowl because it encourages gathering,” Malott said. “That’s where you’re going to get this kind of spread.”

The local humane society has also been picking up injured birds and sending for testing as needed. The city reminded residents on Tuesday not touch any dead, injured or sick birds that they find.

More information about avian influenza is available at canada.ca/avianflu.

cmontanini@postmedia.com
 

spaminator

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Chelsea Hillier retracts defamation of Carleton prof after contempt of court conviction
Daughter of former MPP Randy Hillier defamed Esther Post in a series of social media posts, a judge ruled

Author of the article:Blair Crawford
Publishing date:Sep 21, 2022 • 18 hours ago • 3 minute read • Join the conversation
Files: Chelsea Hillier, like her father former Ontario MPP Randy Hillier, has been an outspoken opponent of COVID-19 public-health measures.
Files: Chelsea Hillier, like her father former Ontario MPP Randy Hillier, has been an outspoken opponent of COVID-19 public-health measures. PHOTO BY DEREK RUTTAN /POSTMEDIA/FILES
Three days before she is to be sentenced for contempt of court, Chelsea Hillier retracted her comments about Carleton English professor Esther Post and acknowledged they were false and defamatory.


Hillier is the daughter of former Lanark-Frontenac-Kingston MPP Randy Hillier and in June was found by Ontario Superior Court Justice Sally Gomery to have defamed Esther Post in a series of social media posts last year. She was ordered to retract the statement, which she didn’t do, resulting in her charge and conviction of contempt of court last week by Justice Narissa Somji. She is to be sentenced Friday.


In a tweet Tuesday afternoon, Hiller wrote: “In accordance with the June 24, 2022, order of Madam Justice Gomery in Post v Hillier, 2022 ONSC 3793, I hereby retract the statements I made about Esther Post (as detailed in Madam Justice Gomery’s reasons for decision) and acknowledge that they were false and defamatory.”


Post responded with tweets of her own. “Just 70 hours before sentencing, and 88 days after the deadline she was given by Justice Gomery, Chelsea Hillier has finally posted a retraction,” she wrote.

“It will count as an effort to purge one of of many instances of contempt and would be factored into sentencing, but it cannot undo the contempt that’s already occurred.”



The two women are former friends. Post was Hillier’s instructor at Carleton in 2008 and the two were close enough that Hillier attended Post’s wedding.

But that friendship was wrecked by political differences. Hillier is a former federal candidate for the People’s Party of Canada and last spring ran in her father’s old provincial riding for the Populist Party of Ontario, garnering just 324 votes. Like her controversial father, Chelsea Hillier has been an outspoken critic of COVID-19 masking and vaccination policies.

Last November, Post retweeted a thread critical of the Hilliers and the anti-vaccination protests that were occurring at hospitals, prompting Chelsea Hiller’s defamatory attack in which she claimed Post had drugged and slept with students.


Post lodged a complaint with Twitter and Hillier’s account was suspended for 60 days. But Hillier created a new account and continued her attack, accusing Post of “gaslighting” and being a “predator” and an “abuser.” Post sued for libel and won.

In her June 24 ruling, Gomery wrote that Hillier didn’t file a defence, but rather Hillier “and other Twitter users mocked Ms. Post for taking legal proceedings, saying she was greedy, mentally ill, and unable to care for her children.”

Hillier never apologized, Gomery wrote, but instead “doubled down on her publication of defamatory statements.”



“She has displayed contempt not only for Ms. Post, but for the idea that she is obliged to respect the norms of civilized behaviour observed by other members of society,” the judge wrote.


“Hillier’s obvious glee at the damage she was causing to a former friend is both sad and outrageous. She weaponized her Twitter accounts for vengeful and vindictive behaviour.”

Gomery ordered Hillier to retract the defamatory statement within 10 days, but did not order her to apologize, reasoning an apology would only cause more online harassment of Post.

“I do not see any point in forcing Ms. Hillier to post a statement expressing false regret and an insincere acknowledgement of the harm she has inflicted. Doing so may do more harm than good, as it could incite her followers to hurl further invective at Ms. Post,” Gomery wrote in her June ruling.

Hillier was charged with contempt of court for ignoring Gomery’s order to retract her statements. At her trial last week, in which she appeared without a lawyer, Hiller admitted that she had not read Gomery’s order and claimed she had lost control of her Twitter account. Somji noted, however, that Hillier had tweeted more than 600 times since the retraction order was given.

A GiveSendGo fundraiser that had been set up for Chelsea Hillier’s defence appeared to be taken offline on Wednesday.

Post declined to be interviewed about the contempt conviction or Hillier’s retraction, but in messages to this newspaper said she was “ecstatic” that Hillier had been found guilty of contempt.

Editor’s note: a previous version of this story incorrectly identified the judge who found Chelsea Hillier guilty of contempt. It has since been updated.
 

spaminator

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City of Toronto pulls controversial vaccination ad campaign within hours
City spokesman Brad Ross acknowledges the ad campaign 'missed the mark'

Author of the article:Joe Warmington
Publishing date:Sep 21, 2022 • 21 hours ago • 3 minute read • 144 Comments
The City of Toronto has yanked five controversial ads aimed at encouraging parents to vaccinate their kids against COVID-19.
The City of Toronto has yanked five controversial ads aimed at encouraging parents to vaccinate their kids against COVID-19. PHOTO BY CITY OF TORONTO /YouTube
The City of Toronto has pulled a $20,000 video ad campaign encouraging families to vaccinate their kids, saying it “can do better.”


They removed the five ad spots just hours after release and following public and media backlash about the city’s use of children in these Public Service Announcements attempting to illustrate there are things in life that they can’t partake in without receiving a COVID-19 injection.


“We have pulled all of the videos for now while we undertake a review of each to determine if there are other issues we need to address,” said Toronto chief spokesperson Brad Ross. “I’m also undertaking a complete review of the approvals process for such videos.”

Each video cost the taxpayers $4,000 to produce.

“The campaign was developed by the ‘vaccine engagement team’ — a group of community ambassadors who have done a fabulous job of educating and reaching out to communities that are hard to reach, whether because of language barriers, cultural barriers or general hesitancy about vaccines,” said Ross.


“Toronto has one of the highest vaccination rates in the world, thanks in part to their efforts,” he said. “This is very much community-led, but there is ultimate approval required by the city, and it is here where I am working to understand how and why we missed the mark on this.”



The controversy began with an advertisement of a girl looking out the window and hearing her peers playing outside.

“Mom, can I go outside and play with my friends?” she asks.

“No honey, there’s still something going around,” her mom responds.

Then came the tagline stating, “Kids should be out there, not in here,” and that in Toronto “COVID-19 Vaccines available for children six months to 12 years.”

Needless to say, social media lit up.

“Disgusting propaganda and harmful to our children,” tweeted Monica Marchand.



Klo tweeted, “Many countries have banned vaccines for kids under 12. That ad suggests they will be segregated if they aren’t vaccinated.”

Knowing this approach of using kids to try to encourage parents to vaccinate their children at a time when mandates and masking protocols are no longer in existence, I sent a request to the city for comment.

“People who are vaccinated are still susceptible to contracting COVID-19, so what is this about?” I asked. “Is this trying to guilt families into vaccinating a child or some form of peer pressure? Is it trying to suggest families should keep unvaccinated (children) indoors?”



I sent these questions at 2:43 p.m. on Tuesday.

At 5:49 p.m., Ross emailed back with the decision to pull the ads.

“The pandemic has negatively impacted children in many different ways,” he said. “The video created was intended to highlight the negative impact it has had on children and drive home the benefits of vaccine, as vaccination remains the most effective way to protect our children, families, communities and ourselves against the serious effects of COVID-19.”

“As always, we continually review our communications to ensure it is effectively reaching the right audience with the right message,” Ross said. “We do believe we can better communicate this intent and, as such, we have removed the video to better address the core message of children being eligible to be vaccinated against COVID-19 — to protect them, their families, their friends and the community as a whole.”




One ad depicted a baby girl being filmed with a smart phone to be shared with loved ones who couldn’t be in the same room: “When can we see her?” asks an adult’s voice.

Another ad showed a woman running a business meeting over Zoom as her daughter enters the room followed by the tag line, “She should be in school.”

Another ad showed a boy trying to connect with a friend over a video call with the tagline, “Human connections are stronger than internet connections.”

There’s also one with a boy with his hand up in class, but it turns out he’s studying at home alone, and it includes the tagline, “Kids need a hand.”

All have been removed and the city is reviewing how this happened.

jwarmington@postmedia.com
kids are annoying. let them get sick and die. ;)
 

spaminator

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Those who had COVID-19 at higher risk for brain injuries a year later: Study
Author of the article:postmedia News
Publishing date:Oct 02, 2022 • 11 hours ago • 1 minute read • Join the conversation
A study, published in Nature Medicine, looked at brain health using medical records from millions of U.S. veterans.

Those who had COVID-19 are at a higher risk for a number of brain injuries a year later, according to a new study.


The study, published in Nature Medicine, looked at brain health using medical records without patient identifiers from millions of U.S. veterans.


It found that brain or neurological disorders occurred in 7% more people who had been infected with COVID than with a similar group of veterans who had never been inflected.

“The results show the devastating long-term effects of COVID-19,” senior author Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, of Washington University School of Medicine, said in a statement.

The medical records of 154,000 U.S. veterans who had tested positive for COVID from March 1, 2020 to Jan. 15, 2021 were studied. Their records were compared with those of 5.6 million Americans who did not have COVID during that time frame, plus another 5.8 million people from the period just before COVID arrived in the U.S.

Memory issues, also known as brain fog, were the most common symptom. The study found that people infected with COVID had a 77% higher risk of developing memory problems.

Strokes caused by blood clots were also 50% more likely amongst those who had been infected, the study found. Seizures were 80% more likely and mental health issues were 43% more likely.
 

spaminator

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Edmonton woman who threatened public figures over COVID response handed three-year probation term
Maria Galbova, 41, pleaded guilty to a count of uttering threats and two counts of intimidation of a justice system participant

Author of the article:Jonny Wakefield
Publishing date:Oct 09, 2022 • 11 hours ago • 3 minute read • Join the conversation
An Edmonton woman who threatened to kill chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam, left, NDP Leader Rachel Notley and Premier Jason Kenney for their response to COVID-19 has been sentenced to three years of probation.
An Edmonton woman who threatened to kill chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam, left, NDP Leader Rachel Notley and Premier Jason Kenney for their response to COVID-19 has been sentenced to three years of probation.
An Edmonton woman charged by the RCMP national security unit with threatening to kill public figures involved in Canada’s COVID-19 response has been sentenced to three years probation.


Maria Galbova, 41, pleaded guilty Sept. 28 to a count of uttering threats and two counts of intimidation of a justice system participant for emails sent last year to Premier Jason Kenney, NDP Leader Rachel Notley and federal chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam.


The Alberta RCMP Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (INSET) charged Galbova earlier this year with three counts of uttering threats, three counts of harassing communications and two counts of intimidating a justice participant.

Galbova pleaded guilty to both charges of intimidation of a justice system participant, agreeing that Notley and Kenney both met the criteria under the Criminal Code.

The charge usually applies to people participating in a court process such as lawyers, judges, witnesses or journalists. It carries a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison, versus five years for an uttering threats conviction.



According to an agreed statement of facts, Galbova sent 170 separate emails to Kenney between November 2020 and October 2021, copying a variety of public figures, including Tam, Notley, Alberta MPs and news outlets reporting on the pandemic response.

The court document describes the emails as “of the anti-vaccination and anti-lockdown variety,” including “profanity, calls for civil war, comparisons of politicians to the Nazis and other rhetoric.”

Around 16 of the messages “contained specific and explicit threats to kill, harm, blow up and shoot politicians, their families, and other government officials,” the agreed facts state.


After receiving the emails, Notley and Tam’s offices “engaged their appropriate protective agencies to begin an investigation prior to police involvement.” Kenney’s office initiated an investigation later, after being contacted by an INSET investigator.

During an interview with police, Galbova admitted to sending the emails but “denied any intention to follow through with the threats.” She declined to comment.

The first direct threat came in an Oct. 5, 2021, email to Tam’s office, in which Galbova wrote: “you f—king s–ts if you bring these f–ked up vaccines to our kids I myself will shoot every one of you enough is enough.” A Health Canada official forwarded the email to a federal RCMP member, who noted the email had also been sent to Kenney. Believing the sender was likely in Alberta, the case was assigned to Alberta INSET.


That investigator noted Edmonton city police had a file for the same sender related to a threatening email to Notley’s office.

Investigators were eventually able to link the anonymous gmail account to Galbova through YouTube and LinkedIn pages, an Edmonton Journal article, and through Galbova’s connection to the local Hungarian community.

They later visited her apartment building and obtained a search warrant after matching the front door of her suite to a photo sent to Notley’s office.

Police searched Galbova’s home on Oct. 28, 2021, seizing USB sticks, a laptop and a desktop computer.

She was not arrested that day but told police she knew why they were there and that she was “upset by what the government was doing.”

As part of her probation — agreed to as part of a joint submission by Crown and defence — Galbova has been ordered to take anger management and perform 200 hours of community service. She was also assessed a victim fine surcharge totalling $600. The remaining charges were withdrawn.

Galbova had no prior criminal record and spent no time in pretrial custody.

jwakefield@postmedia.com

twitter.com/jonnywakefield
 

Blackleaf

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Piers Morgan Finally Backtracks On Jab Mandates & Passports​

The backtracking makes Truss look like an amateur

 

spaminator

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Emergencies Act inquiry hears about life in Ottawa convoy protest
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Laura Osman and David Fraser
Publishing date:Oct 14, 2022 • 17 hours ago • 5 minute read • 628 Comments

Ottawa has dealt with a fair number of serious crises over the last few years. A massive and destructive windstorm, floods, a giant sinkhole that swallowed a busy downtown throughway and, of course, a global pandemic.


Each time, Coun. Mathieu Fleury says he recalls a white table was erected with name tags for all the key leaders in the response, where they would come together to make a plan.


But when a convoy of big-rig trucks arrived in Ottawa to launch a protest that would drag on for weeks and precipitate the use of the federal Emergencies Act, there was no such table.

“I didn’t see that white table situation and out of all the crises I’ve seen, it’s a bit unique that I didn’t see that,” Fleury said Friday as a witness in the inquiry of the federal government’s inaugural use of the Emergencies Act.

Fleury and his fellow downtown councillor Catherine McKenney, who is running for mayor, told the inquiry they would forward increasingly desperate emails from residents to city officials and the mayor but would get little back in the way of a plan to deal with what they called an “occupation” of the capital city.


The testimony was part of a blaring introduction to life in Ottawa during the “Freedom Convoy” protest, complete with a recording of the deafening chorus of big-rig horns that was played for the commission.


The first witness, a legally blind resident of downtown Ottawa, flinched as a recording of the horns resounded in the conference room for the benefit of the commissioner, lawyers, protest convoy organizers and members of the public.

The witness, Victoria De La Ronde, told the commission the protest that arrived in Ottawa in late January was an “assault on my hearing,” which she relied on to navigate the city independently.

“I found myself trapped,” said De La Ronde, who was left feeling hopeless and unable to leave her home.


She became emotional as she told the commission she eventually begged a friend to pick her up and help her leave the convoy zone. A few days later, she and her friend both contracted COVID-19.

In the days after the protest ended, De La Ronde said, she could still hear phantom horns blaring in her head. Even now, the sound of a car horn ripples through her body, fraying her nerves, she said.

Convoy organizer Tamara Lich listened stoically from the public gallery as the lawyer representing her and fellow organizers told De La Ronde he was sorry for the hardship she endured during the protest.

The commission is examining the evolution and goals of the protest, the effect of misinformation and disinformation on the convoy, and the efforts of police before and after the emergency declaration.


“It didn’t feel safe, my guard was up all the time,” downtown residentZexi Li said of walking the Ottawa streets during the protest.

Li, a 22-year-old public servant, launched a class-action lawsuit against convoy organizers Feb. 3, and an Ontario court granted her an injunction four days later to stop the honking.

On Feb. 14, the federal Liberals invoked the Emergencies Act for the first time as protesters opposed to COVID-19 public health measures and the Trudeau government occupied downtown Ottawa streets and blockaded border crossings.

The law temporarily granted police extraordinary powers and allowed banks to freeze accounts, which the government argues was critical to ending the protests.

Both Li and De La Ronde described feeling sleep-deprived by the constant noise rising from the street.


Evidence provided to the commission showed the noise levels outside their homes reached 100 decibels at times — about as loud as a lawn mower.

“There was fear,” McKenney said. The councillor told the committee residents felt “under threat,” particularly on residential streets.

McKenney would often walk the streets during the convoy and spot safety hazards like open fires near jerry cans of fuel or fireworks.

“Everything combined just made for an exceptionally dangerous environment for people, feet away from their bedrooms, children’s living areas, school in the downtown,” McKenney said.

Both McKenney and Fleury said people felt abandoned by the police.

The downtown city councillors said that in the early days of the protest, the city was slow to respond. Even around the council table, their colleagues seemed keen to push on with usual business at virtual meetings they attended from home, while trucks blared outside of city hall.


Over the course of the crisis, councillors pitched several solutions: an injunction, a curfew, handing jurisdiction of the parliamentary precinct to the RCMP.

At one point, a motion was put forward at council to ask the federal government to invoke the Emergencies Act, but that motion was defeated.

Those solutions either never took off or were slow to arrive, Fleury said, adding even the mayor’s declaration of a state of emergency came too late.

In late January, when trucks began to roll into Ottawa, businesses were still shut under a provincial public health order. Some chose to open when the order was lifted during the protest, but others remained closed, said Nathalie Carrier, executive director of the Vanier Business Improvement Area.


In some ways, the convoy proved even more devastating than COVID-19 public health measures, Carrier told the commission, since road closures and other disruptions prevented staff from coming to work and deliveries being made. At times, food delivery services would not enter the area.

“Businesses were completely crippled,” said Carrier, whose association represents a neighbourhood east of downtown Ottawa.

Rideau Centre Mall, which contains hundreds of businesses and typically only closes for Christmas, shut its doors on the first weekend of the demonstration and remained closed for 25 days.

At the time, police advised people to avoid the city core.

Carrier recalled then-Ottawa police chief Peter Sloly commiserating with local business groups and saying he was scared as well, though the former chief’s counsel disputed the claim.

In times of crisis, “you turn to your leaders to have a plan and to be stable and I remember very specifically feeling … that maybe our leaders were a little shaken, and that’s scary,” she said.

The testimony of the witnesses was compelling, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association said in a statement, but did not shed light on why police needed extraordinary powers.

“The impact on Ottawa residents and Ottawa businesses does not explain why a public order emergency was declared affecting the entire country,” the statement read.
 

Ron in Regina

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Apr 9, 2008
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Hmmmmm. "Abandonded by ______".

Is that like the elders abandoned in long term care who died alone and neglected?

Im glad La Ronde lived to tell her horror story.
In the days after the protest ended, De La Ronde said, she could still hear phantom horns blaring in her head.

Evidence provided to the commission showed the noise levels outside their homes reached 100 decibels at times — about as loud as a lawn mower….(outside of their homes).

In late January, when trucks began to roll into Ottawa, businesses were still shut under a provincial public health order.

Some chose to open when the order was lifted during the protest
(Feb 16th) but others remained closed, said Nathalie Carrier, executive director of the Vanier Business Improvement Area.

Ottawa had its modified Stage 2 status lifted for parts of November, until the province declared a province-wide shutdown beginning December 26, 2020. This included the declaration of a second state of emergency in January 2021 and stay-at-home orders for the entire province. Ottawa's stay-at-home orders were lifted on February 16, 2021, and Ottawa was moved into the "Orange-Restrict" category of prevention measures.

So Trudeau/Singh/& 1/2 the Green Party being Elizabeth May…impose the Emergencies Act February 14th, then lift the “Stay-at-Home” order February 16th, & drop the act the morning of February 21st before the Senate could Wade into this Goat Rodeo that afternoon. That’s the timeline, right?

“The impact on Ottawa residents and Ottawa businesses does not explain why a public order emergency was declared affecting the entire country,”
 

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
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Evidence provided to the commission showed the noise levels outside their homes reached 100 decibels at times — about as loud as a lawn mower….(outside of their homes).
There wasnt any "evidence". Lee, testified that she used an app (she doesn't recall which app she downloaded) to measure decibels. She claimd db levels of 74 in her apartment which is equivalent to some speaking loudly. She didnt provide any screenshots to prove these claims.

How loud was 21 year old Lee screaming at the protestors she confronted? Did it damage ears?

1665856743979.png

Its odd how Lee figured throwing eggs at protesters from a hirise aparment wasnt an assault but an afront that police were investigating the assault complaints made by protestors.

Minute 33



Correction.....assault with a weapon according to precedent.

 
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spaminator

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Health officials watching with concern as new, more evasive COVID sub-variants arrive in Ontario
“Right now, it is a kind of tsunami of variants coming at us and they all have the potential to be immune evasive."

Author of the article:Elizabeth Payne
Publishing date:Oct 17, 2022 • 13 hours ago • 3 minute read • 63 Comments

A new COVID-19 sub-variant that can evade antibody treatment is gaining a foothold in Ottawa and across Ontario.


Public health officials are watching that sub-variant, known as BF.7, closely. They are also watching other new variants, known as BQ.1 and BQ.1.1, which are just beginning to show up in Ontario but are causing concern around the world because of their ability to evade immunity from vaccines and past infections. BQ.1 is considered among the most immune evasive variants yet.


“Right now, it is a kind of tsunami of variants coming at us and they all have the potential to be immune evasive,” said Tyson Graber, associate scientist at CHEO Research Institute and co-lead investigator on Ottawa’s coronavirus wastewater testing program.

The new sub-variants are arriving at a time when COVID-19 case counts, outbreaks and hospitalizations are increasing across Ontario in the midst of a hospital staffing crisis that has seen hospitals increasingly overwhelmed. Many are predicting a bigger surge of COVID-19 cases in coming weeks.


In a recently published risk assessment, Public Health Ontario said the convergence of spike protein mutations in the sub-variant, known as BF.7, are of concern “due to their ability to escape neutralizing antibody therapeutics.”

That means the monoclonal antibody treatments that make up a key part of the toolkit to treat patients with severe COVID-19 would not be as effective, or effective at all, against cases of the new sub-variant.

While the BA.5 sub-variant of Omicron remains dominant across the province, BF.7 is growing more quickly, with a weekly growth rate that is 41 per cent greater than BA.5, according to the assessment. It was expected to make up 5.7 per cent of all cases by this week.

It is showing up in even greater proportions in Ottawa’s wastewater, said Graber.


Graber said BF.7 makes up about 40 per cent of variants found in wastewater in Ottawa and is increasing slowly.

It is one of a “tsunami” of new COVID-19 variants of concern beginning to show up around the world that have researchers and public health officials watching closely because of their potential to fuel pandemic waves in coming weeks.

Among them are BQ.1 and BQ.1.1, which are beginning to surge around the world. As of last week, just 13 cases of BQ.1 and four cases of BQ.1.1 had been genetically sequenced in Ontario, according to Public Health Ontario, which probably represent many more cases in the community.

Public health officials are watching closely because of the potential for the sub-variants to evade previous infections and antibodies from vaccines, in some cases. Like others related to Omicron, the new sub-variants of concern are highly infectious.


Graber said it remains unclear whether BF.7 or another sub-variant such as BQ.1 or BQ.1.1 will become predominant, or whether there will be a series of new sub-variants causing illnesses to surge this winter.

“The real concern is what comes next. The question is whether everything comes at once and there is one winner or whether or if these things come slowly in multiple hits that come in waves, each one with a little more evasiveness,” he said.

“It sounds like it is going to be a tough winter.”

Provincial officials, who lifted the vast majority of public health measures — including masks in schools and other crowded venues — earlier this year, are also paying attention to the growth of new evasive sub-variants around the world.


Ontario’s Minister of Long-Term Care, Paul Calandra, and Raymond Cho, minister for seniors and accessibility, were scheduled to visit a Toronto long-term care and retirement home Monday to encourage COVID-19 vaccinations.

The uptake of recent booster shots has been significantly lower than for earlier doses of COVID-19 vaccines.

In Ottawa, 26 per cent of people over 12 have had four doses, compared with 95 per cent for the first, 93 per cent for the second and 65 per cent for the third dose of vaccine.

In interviews last week, Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Kieran Moore expressed concern about increasing COVID-19 hospitalizations and said he will make more recommendations on masking in advance of what he said could be a “quite complex and difficult winter”.


 

spaminator

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Researchers develop killer new COVID strain in dangerous lab experiment
Author of the article:Denette Wilford
Publishing date:Oct 17, 2022 • 16 hours ago • 2 minute read • 7 Comments

Researchers in Massachusetts have created a new COVID strain that has an 80% kill rate.



The scientists working out of a laboratory in Boston University infected mice with the new strain, killing 80% of the rodents, the Daily Mail reported.


When a similar group of mice were exposed to the Omicron variant, they all survived and only experienced so-called mild symptoms.

This latest mutant variant is a hybrid of Omicron and the original coronavirus and proves to be significantly more deadly.

The researchers working out of Boston extracted Omicron’s spike protein — the unique structure that binds to and invades human cells — attached it to the original strain and infected the mice with it to see how they would fare.

“In … mice, while Omicron causes mild, non-fatal infection, the Omicron S-carrying virus inflicts severe disease with a mortality rate of 80 percent,” they wrote in their report, according to the Mail.



They added that while the spike protein is responsible for infectivity, changes to other parts of its structure determine its deadliness.

The scientists also infected human lung cells with the hybrid strain and found it was five times more infectious than Omicron, the newspaper reported, suggesting the lab-created virus could be the most contagious variant yet.

The scientists did acknowledge that their man-made virus would be less likely to be as lethal in humans as it was in the mice, due to the rodents not having identical immune responses and most of the same genes are used differently in mice brains versus human brains.

COVID-19 first spread from a wet market in Wuhan, China, which was located near a lab in which its scientists were working on similar viruses involving bats, though studies earlier this year bolstered the theory that the coronavirus emerged from the wild.

Boston University’s National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories is one of 13 biosafety level-four labs in the U.S. that are authorized to handle the most dangerous pathogens.

Experiments at these labs often involve researching how animal viruses can help advance treatments and vaccines that could be used in a future outbreaks.


 

spaminator

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 26, 2009
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Researchers develop killer new COVID strain in dangerous lab experiment
Author of the article:Denette Wilford
Publishing date:Oct 17, 2022 • 16 hours ago • 2 minute read • 7 Comments

Researchers in Massachusetts have created a new COVID strain that has an 80% kill rate.



The scientists working out of a laboratory in Boston University infected mice with the new strain, killing 80% of the rodents, the Daily Mail reported.


When a similar group of mice were exposed to the Omicron variant, they all survived and only experienced so-called mild symptoms.

This latest mutant variant is a hybrid of Omicron and the original coronavirus and proves to be significantly more deadly.

The researchers working out of Boston extracted Omicron’s spike protein — the unique structure that binds to and invades human cells — attached it to the original strain and infected the mice with it to see how they would fare.

“In … mice, while Omicron causes mild, non-fatal infection, the Omicron S-carrying virus inflicts severe disease with a mortality rate of 80 percent,” they wrote in their report, according to the Mail.



They added that while the spike protein is responsible for infectivity, changes to other parts of its structure determine its deadliness.

The scientists also infected human lung cells with the hybrid strain and found it was five times more infectious than Omicron, the newspaper reported, suggesting the lab-created virus could be the most contagious variant yet.

The scientists did acknowledge that their man-made virus would be less likely to be as lethal in humans as it was in the mice, due to the rodents not having identical immune responses and most of the same genes are used differently in mice brains versus human brains.

COVID-19 first spread from a wet market in Wuhan, China, which was located near a lab in which its scientists were working on similar viruses involving bats, though studies earlier this year bolstered the theory that the coronavirus emerged from the wild.

Boston University’s National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories is one of 13 biosafety level-four labs in the U.S. that are authorized to handle the most dangerous pathogens.

Experiments at these labs often involve researching how animal viruses can help advance treatments and vaccines that could be used in a future outbreaks.


dont give terrorists ideas. :eek:
 

Dixie Cup

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Sep 16, 2006
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OMG I agree, don't give terrorists ideas! I hate the fact that this is even happening because of the danger involved. Why are we so determined to destroy ourselves?
 
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