Unlike the demonstrations in Quebec City and Montreal, where protesters made their point and promptly left, the Freedom Convoy in Ottawa wreaked havoc on daily life in the capital for 23 days before police cleared it out. Now, Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson is suggesting the city should begin selling the cars and trucks that have been towed in connection to the convoy.
"We actually have the ability to confiscate those vehicles and sell them," Watson told CBC News. "And I want to see them sold. I don't want the return to these people who've been causing such frustration and angst in our community."
According to CBC, the mayor claimed the city can legally sell these cars thanks to the Emergencies Act invoked by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on February 14. He told the news outlet that he'd like Ottawa to use the sales to offset the cost of managing the protest.
The Freedom Convoy has been incredibly costly for Ottawa. According to a press release by the Ottawa Police Service in late January, the estimated policing cost of the protest was over $800,000 per day. This is without even considering the cost the protests have been having on local businesses and their employees as well as the emotional toll the protests are having on the citizens of Ottawa.
Related protests along the border have been blocking trade with the U.S. — and costing Canada through the nose.
The blockade on the Ambassador Bridge between Windsor and Detroit, for instance, "affected about $390 million in trade each day," Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland said in a press conference. "This bridge supports 30% of all trade by road between Canada and the United States, our most important trading partner."
