Leftist Canadian politicians expressed anger and outrage after provincial penalties for Freedom Convoy truckers, which included freezing the authority of truck operators to work in Ontario, expired this week.
Following the end of the Freedom Convoy protests – which were cleared out by police last month in Ottawa – the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO) issued 39 suspension and seizure orders to truck operators. After a week, however, the government lifted the penalties.
Joel Harden, a member of the far-left New Democrats and a member of the Ontario provincial parliament, expressed anger that the penalties had been lifted after only seven days, telling broadcaster CBC on Thursday, “This is an outrage and I am going to be raising this with the government.”
“It is unacceptable that people can do these kinds of tactics with large vehicles and face temporary consequences. It’s not OK,” Harden, who represents Ottawa Centre, said.
Ontario Liberal MPP Stephen Blais told CBC that the Ontario government has “yet to come forward in any meaningful way with measures to either truly punish those who participated outside of the criminal processes that are ongoing,” and said the penalties lasted only a third of the time the protestors had occupied downtown Ottawa.
The Ontario Transportation Ministry commented on the issue saying, “We took a prudent approach, and through the emergency order provided law enforcement with the tools needed to bring the situation to an end.”
Initially, Ontario Premier Doug Ford threatened fines of up to $100,000 and a year in prison to truckers who took part in the Freedom Copnvoy protests against Wuhan coronavirus restrictions, vaccine mandates, and vaccine passports.
Following the Freedom Convoy protests, Ontario announced the end of the province’s vaccine passport system. It formally ended this week on March 1.
The government also announced it will be reviewing vaccine mandates in long-term care homes.
“The government is in the process [of] reviewing everything: mandates, both long-term care home and other restrictions across government, so that’s going to be part of that,” Minister of Long-Term Care Paul Calandra said.