Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 28 Feb, 2022 01:15 PM
An Ontario court has extended to March 9 a freezing order on funds donated to the recent Ottawa convoy protest, as a class-action civil suit against protest organizers continues.
Parties in the case have agreed to move some donated funds and cryptocurrency into escrow, which could be redistributed to affected Ottawa residents and business owners should the class action succeed.
Norman Groot, a lawyer representing some convoy protest leaders, says ChristopherGarrah, Benjamin Dichter and Nicholas St. Louis have agreed in principle to moving donated funds within their control to an escrow account.
Groot notes the funds that Garrah, Dichter and St. Louis have agreed to move to escrow might not account for all the cryptocurrency that was donated, and he proposed parties meet next week to take stock of what has been transferred.
An escrow agent will oversee the transferred funds, and will be permitted to change the passwords for cryptocurrency.
The class-action lawsuit seeks a total of $306 million in damages related to the three-week anti-government convoy protest near Parliament Hill that snarled traffic, shut businesses and plagued residents with near-constant honking.
British Columbia's website says eligibility will expand to those 18 and older as of January and Ontario hinted earlier this week that larger segments of the population could soon be included in its booster rollout.
It's too early to say whether Canada's latest requirement to test arriving air travellers for COVID-19 will be extended to include those coming from the United States, Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said Wednesday. The federal government is in discussions with the provinces on that issue but is ready to act to implement such a requirement for incoming U.S. air travellers if necessary, he said.
Several young Canadians are taking the federal government to court in an effort to strike down the minimum voting age. They argue that denying citizens under the age of 18 the right to vote in federal elections is unconstitutional.
Mary Ng met virtually Tuesday with U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai to talk about a number of festering trade irritants, including Canada's "significant concern" with a proposed tax credit for electric vehicles.
A government bill seeking to ban conversion therapy has cleared the House of Commons and is on its way to the Senate. Erin O'Toole had been set to once again allow his caucus to have a free vote on the bill, but also pledged that his MPs would work to get it passed quickly.
Amita Kuttner, the new interim Green leader, says they will be ready to take tough disciplinary action to deal with party members who "have been at each other's throats." The astrophysicist, who is nonbinary, says they want to "listen and love" to "heal" the party, which has been riven by infighting and accusations of racism and antisemitism.
