By: Thomas I. Likness
Eagle News Service

(Eagle News) — Ontario Premier Doug Ford has declared a state of emergency in his province as protesters in the Freedom Convoy continue their occupation of downtown Ottawa and block the country’s busiest border crossing linking Windsor in Canada with Detroit in the U.S.

He says it’s time for the demonstrators to pack up and go home.

“It’s an illegal occupation — this is no longer a protest,” Ford said Friday. “So let me be as clear as I can — there will be consequences for these actions and they will be severe,”

Under the state of emergency, people who continue to block the border or occupy downtown Ottawa will face fines of up to CA$100 thousand and up to a year in jail.

For two weeks now, protests have been held in several Canadian cities and border crossing to te U.S. have been blocked, impeding the movement of goods between the two countries.

It’s estimated the border closure in Windsor is costing the economy nearly half-a-billion dollars a day.

There has been no response yet from protest organizers.
(Eagle News Service)