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.
The federal Liberals are expected to introduce a bill in the House of Commons today that would revive a legislative push to repeal mandatory minimum penalties for drug offences. On Friday the government gave the House of Commons a procedural heads-up that a bill to amend the Criminal Code and federal drug laws would be introduced on Monday.
The company inked a deal with Thermo Fisher Scientific to manufacture the drug, molnupiravir, at its facility in Whitby with a mandate to supply the product domestically, as well as to the United Kingdom, European Union, Asia Pacific and Latin America.
“Business owners and their staff continue to struggle with prolific, and often violent thieves, who seem to think they can steal with impunity,” says Sergeant Steve Addison. “Since November 4, a dedicated group of VPD officers has worked directly with retail staff in the downtown core to identify and apprehend shoplifters. The results are alarming.”
The government has signed up for an initial one million courses of antiviral treatment from Pfizer, once Health Canada endorses their safety and efficacy.The company submitted a request for approval to the federal drug regulator earlier this week.
The call comes days after the government announced Lockheed Martin's F-35 stealth fighter and the Sweden's Saab Gripen are the only two planes still in contention for the $19-billion contract to supply Canada with 88 new fighters.
Mike Farnworth visited Princeton and said he saw "incredible devastation" to homes and infrastructure in the southern Interior town, about 280 kilometres east of Vancouver.
