Ottawa police chief says he won't resign as trucker protest drags on

Ottawa’s police chief says he has no plans to resign amid criticism of his handling of the trucker protests that have occupied the city’s downtown for more than a week.

“Absolutely none,” Chief Peter Sloly said when Newstalk 580 CFRA’s Leslie Roberts asked whether he has any plans to step down.

“I came here to do a job and I’m going to get that job done all the way through,” he said. “Absolutely committed, have a great team here, great officers, we’ve got great partners in the city. We’re going to get this done.”

As the ‘Freedom Convoy’ protest stretches into its 11th day, authorities in Ottawa have faced questions about how protesters were able to take over the downtown core, and how things have stretched this far.

On Monday, Sloly said police could not act more aggressively until they had the necessary manpower.

“We couldn’t go out and tell people what we were going to do until we had the resources to start to do it,” he said. “That’s why we could make those announcements and that’s why we can turn up the heat. And the more resources I get, the more heat I will turn up."

Sunday night, police seized propane, gasoline and a fuel tanker from a convoy outpost on Coventry Road, near the Ottawa baseball stadium.

Confederation Park, where protesters had erected a wooden structure and were storing fuel, is now fenced off and empty. Police also made seven arrests Sunday night and issued 450 tickets over the weekend.

“Any other place that they’ve displaced to, we are attacking that as quickly as possible to make sure they don’t take root again,” Sloly said.

“We’re now getting the resources finally that we’ve been asking for. Others are coming,” he added. “We need more, a lot more, but we’re getting more coming in.”

Sloly told reporters early Monday afternoon that he would be sending a formal request to Mayor Jim Watson for additional resources. That letter would be passed on to the provincial and federal governments.

When Roberts asked Sloly who dropped the ball in managing the demonstration, Sloly said no one has.

“This is an unprecedented situation. There’s no plan for this. We are literally trying to understand what it is, make real-time changes, get the resources necessary and adjust.”