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Protesters gathered at Mic Mac Park on Monday as Windsor police monitored the proceedings.
A number of the protesters had flags and signs, some of them crude, criticizing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, among others, as well as mainstream media. One sign read: “Leave Our Kids Alone. Save Canada.”
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Before the protest began, Windsor police issued two warnings on social media, reminding people that blocking critical infrastructure is illegal.
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The police warning perhaps hinted at the week-long anti-COVID-19 mandate protest, which started Feb. 7, 2022, when dozens of vehicles and hundreds of demonstrators choked off Huron Church Road, blocking access to the Ambassador Bridge and shutting it down for a week.
The blockade forced the idling of regional auto plants and suppliers, plus countless other businesses in the Windsor-Detroit area, until Windsor police, bolstered by officers from other forces, moved in and cleared the protest, making 46 arrests and seizing several vehicles in the process.
On Monday, about 100 vehicles — including trucks and RVs — converged on Mic Mac Park, most bearing Canadian flags, plus a few American ones. People milled around the parking lot talking with one another.
Several participants approached by the Windsor Star would not comment on what the protest is about.
That said, many signs criticized the Trudeau government’s carbon tax, a national price on pollution which went up on Monday, rising to $15 per tonne. One sign read: “Axe the Tax.”
Canada has two different carbon pricing programs — one for big industry where companies pay the price on a share of their actual emissions, and a consumer carbon levy which is applied to fossil fuel purchases. The consumer levy affects individuals, small- and medium-sized businesses, First Nations, as well as public-sector operations such as hospitals, universities, schools and municipalities.
— With files from the Canadian Press.
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