The Phantom Wrecking Ball

Prime Minister's National Security Advisor believes it appeared suddenly.

Part 1: The Phantom Wrecking Ball
Part 2: Journalists Who Think the Wrecking Ball Was Real
Part 3: Wrecking Ball, Part 3

Jody Thomas works in the Privy Council Office and holds the title of National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister. While testifying at an Emergencies Act hearing, she was asked about a February 12th claim that Freedom Convoy protesters in Ottawa were becoming more aggressive.

That information, she said, had come from various sources, including the mainstream media and social media. In her words, by that point “bouncy castles had happened.” And protesters were talking about “holding the line” - which she considered aggressive rhetoric. Nor was that all:

We saw more people on the street that weekend than we had anticipated, and fewer people were leaving at the end of the day, and the, well, raucous atmosphere was extending later into the evening. We saw things like the wrecking ball on
Wellington Street by then. And so there was just a change in the forcefulness of the tone. [bold added, page 199 of the official transcript]

Paging Ms. Thomas. There never was a wrecking ball. In the Unacceptable Views documentary film we’re introduced to Ben Frose at the 6:30-minute mark. I wrote about him back in June. He’s a trucker from southern Ontario who drove his flatbed (equipped with a crane/boom) to Ottawa. The crane is used to load and unload construction material from the truck.

He arrived on January 28th, parked on Wellington Street, unfolded his crane and raised a Canadian flag high into the air. He remembers the thrilling moment fondly. The next day, he was invited to move his truck directly in front of Parliament Hill, where organizers used it as a stage for the entire time.

Around the 40:20-minute mark in Unacceptable Views, we see Ben again:

One thing that I just kind of found humorous is somebody in the media had said that we had a wrecking ball, you know, out in front of Parliament. It’s funny because the weight on the end of my cable is a paperweight compared to what a wrecking ball would be...It’s just to keep tension on the line. It’s by no means to use for damage or demolition or whatever.

Just nonsense stories, some of the things that came out on mainstream media.

When the Prime Minister’s security advisor pays more attention to government-funded journalists than to experienced police intelligence officers, this is what happens. By the time February 12th rolled around, a flag had been flying on that crane in that location for 15 days. The small sphere beneath it was there the whole time. But it was not a wrecking ball.

Prior to testifying, Ms. Thomas and the eight people who report to her (see this org chart) had the better part of a year to figure out she was mistaken. Thousands of hours of video footage on YouTube and elsewhere might have been consulted. Instead, under oath, she erroneously told the hearing that:

1. there was a wrecking ball

2. it had appeared suddenly

3. this was evidence the protest was becoming alarming

Part 1: The Phantom Wrecking Ball
Part 2: Journalists Who Think the Wrecking Ball Was Real
Part 3: Wrecking Ball, Part 3