"39 Trucking Businesses Shut Down By Ontario Transportation For Involvement In Freedom Convoy"

"Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation (MTO) has reportedly grounded 39 trucking businesses for participating in this month’s Freedom Convoy. The MTO confirmed to trucknews.com this week it had issued a dozen suspensions and seizure orders of Ontario-area truck businesses involved in the peaceful protest.

Responding to questions from trucknews.com, the ministry confirmed that 12 suspension and seizure orders were issued to Ontario-based large truck operators involved in the protests, suspending their operating authority throughout Canada, and issuing an order to seize all the plates registered to them.

Additionally, orders were issued to over two dozen trucking businesses outside of Ontario.

Twenty-seven seizure orders were issued to large truck operators from outside the province, banning them from operating any commercial motor vehicle in Ontario.

In a statement, an MTO spokesperson said the truckers are being investigated, and called the gathering outside the Parliament building in Ottawa earlier this month an 'illegal occupation.' 'In an effort to preserve future police investigations into the illegal occupation in Ottawa, the ministry will not release the names of affected businesses at this time,' the spokesperson stated. TruckNews reports the Ontario government also suspended the vehicle license plates of 24 Ontario-based motorists, as well as 34 others from other areas. 'Ottawa Police say 115 vehicles were towed during the protests.' To add insult to injury, the Mayor of Ottawa, Jim Watson, has proposed selling seized vehicles in order to pay the cost of policing the Freedom Convoy, claiming the Emergencies Act justifies the action."