As security departments and agencies are making preparations for the arrival of another Freedom Convoy in Ottawa this winter, it is likely the vehicle-based protest won’t actually be visiting the capital, an organizer told The Epoch Times.
Social media personality Andy Lee says that the city chosen to hold the event and the convoy routes leading to it will be released on Christmas Day.
“Attention” OPS, she wrote. “I’m going to tell you - and I would know, because I meet with organizers weekly - the likelihood of the Freedom Convoy returning to Ottawa in February is very low at this point.”
Lee told The Epoch Times she doesn’t want the city to be wasting resources and that she also reached out directly to the OPS.
The CTV News article was based on an interview with the OPS’ new Chief Eric Stubbs.
Stubbs told the outlet his force would be ready and that the “ultimate goal of all this planning and preparing is to ensure that what happened last year doesn’t happen this year.”
“We feel that we’re in a place right now where given the information that we have, that our preparations are well in hand.”
Stubbs said significant plans have been made in terms of securing infrastructure and equipment.
He added that strategies will be enacted to prevent vehicles from entering the downtown area and that tow trucks will be on hand for removal operations.
“How we’re going to approach a Convoy 2.0 is to ensure that the downtown core is safe and that vehicle-based protests don’t occur,” he said.
Stubbs took over from interim chief Steve Bell, who had replaced Peter Sloly on Feb. 15 after he resigned.
Truckers and protesters had started arriving in Ottawa on Jan. 28 and were cleared after the federal government invoked the Emergencies Act on Feb. 14.
An organizer of the events of last winter, James Bauder, had originally announced a new Freedom Convoy would go to Ottawa in mid-February 2023, but not with the intent to bring vehicles downtown.
Bauder, like Lee, now told The Epoch Times that he cannot confirm whether the event will be in Ottawa, but rather to wait for the reveal on Christmas Day.
The initial plan was to have a festival outside Ottawa and other non-vehicle-based protest activities in the city.
Lee says that the Freedom Convoy 2.0 will not be a protest, but rather a “celebration” or “reunion,” and that the new destination may depend on the obtention of permits.
“Everything needs to be done with city approval. No surprises,” she said.
Aside the OPS, the federal government had also started preparing for the arrival of the potential new convoy.
