Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, is being described as “out of control” and “authoritarian” for taking the extreme measure of introducing Emergency Powers to smash the trucker’s protest that has gathered steam across the country in the past month.
The Emergencies Act means banks can freeze personal accounts of anyone linked with the protests – with no need for court orders.
Polls show a backlash against the Prime Minister’s depiction of the protesters as “racist” and “misogynist” – with almost half of those polled saying they believed the truckers protest was “legitimate” while two-thirds of Canadians thought Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s actions have made the situation worse.
Trudeau sees the continuing protest as a challenge to his government’s stance on Covid restrictions and mandating vaccines, even though the milder Omicron variant has driven a huge rise in Covid cases has led to most countries minimising coronavirus curtailments.
Now he stands accused by Civil Rights groups and commentators of acting to bypass the democratic process and of leading Canada towards “authoritarianism”.
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association said that “the federal government has not met the threshold necessary to invoke the Emergencies Act. This law creates a high and clear standard for good reason: the Act allows government to bypass ordinary democratic processes. This standard has not been met.”
“The Emergencies Act can only be invoked when a situation “seriously threatens the ability of the Government of Canada to preserve the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of Canada” and when the situation “cannot be effectively dealt with under any other law of Canada,” the Civil Liberties group said.
“Governments regularly deal with difficult situations, and do so using powers granted to them by democratically elected representatives. Emergency legislation should not be normalized. It threatens our democracy and our civil liberties.”
The federal government has not met the threshold necessary to invoke the Emergencies Act. This law creates a high and clear standard for good reason: the Act allows government to bypass ordinary democratic processes. This standard has not been met. 1/3
— Canadian Civil Liberties Association (@cancivlib) February 15, 2022
BBC reported that “The Emergencies Act outlines four different types of emergencies: public welfare emergencies, public order emergencies, international emergencies and war emergencies. If the legislation is invoked this week, it will likely be under the ‘public order’ category. Again, the criteria here is strict – lawful protests do not qualify. ”
“Instead, the situation must be considered a threat to the security of Canada, as defined by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act. This law outlines four possible scenarios: Espionage or sabotage; Foreign-influenced activities; Threats or use of acts of serious violence for political religious or ideological objectives; Covert, unlawful acts intended to undermine or overthrow the constitutionally established government.
“It is so far unclear which scenario Mr Trudeau would rely on to justify the use of the Emergency Act – none of these four scenarios have been clearly present in Ontario,” the British broadcaster concluded.
Trudeau’s actions met with an avalanche of criticism online.
“Can you imagine if a leader like Trump or Bolsonaro decided to freeze the assets of democratic, peaceful protesters? Doesn’t matter if you agree with them, this is a chilling move of an out-of-control authoritarian and an act of extreme violence by Justin Trudeau. Terrifying,” posted Irish journalist Ewan McKenna.
Can you imagine if a leader like Trump or Bolsonaro decided to freeze the assets of democratic, peaceful protesters? Doesn't matter if you agree with them, this is a chilling move of an out-of-control authoritarian and an act of extreme violence by Justin Trudeau. Terrifying. pic.twitter.com/HRwkNegndj
— Ewan MacKenna (@EwanMacKenna) February 15, 2022
“It’s unbelievable. If Trump did what Trudeau has just done we’d all be screaming fascism,” posted one response.
https://twitter.com/allovernow2010/status/1493548564596805634
Gript Editor John McGuirk summed up the situation thus:
Canada has just enacted a law which permits (and encourages) banks to freeze the bank accounts of citizens who are suspected (by the bank!!) of non financial crimes. Or things which may not be crimes at all.
He's a liberal.
— John McGuirk (@john_mcguirk) February 15, 2022
Many observers said the protests had been peaceful and legitimate despite claims to the contrary from some media outlets.
3 weeks in. Not one store looted. Not one business burned down. Not one murder. Garbage is all picked up, streets are cleared of snow.
If these are terrorists and insurrectionists, they’re TERRIBLE at their job. #Truckersforfreedomconvoy2022 #FreedomConvoy2022 #ottawaseige
— TerryNeudorf🎵 (@terryneudorf) February 14, 2022
A Canadian legal centre which says it aims to protect constitutional freedoms of Canadians through litigation and education, has said it is filing a court application to overturn the Emergency powers.
“Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau used the War Measures Act in 1970 to deal with violence, kidnapping and murder committed by terrorists in Quebec. Today, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is considering using the Emergencies Act to deal with bouncy castles and ball hockey,” said lawyer Jay Cameron, Litigation Director at the Justice Centre.
“Peaceful protesters who feed the homeless, shovel snow, pick up garbage, dance in the streets, play street hockey, wave Canadian flags, sing the national anthem and set up bouncy castles for children do not ‘seriously endanger the lives, health or safety of Canadians,’ nor are these peaceful activities ‘of such proportions or nature as to exceed the capacity or authority of a province to deal with it’,” said Mr. Cameron.
“Looks like another case for the courts as freezing Bank accounts because people have participated in constitutional freedom of assembly, speech etc. and haven’t committed a crime may well be an illegal step too far,” one Irish observer noted.
The media fabricated a “far right” bogeyman to scare us and little did we know genuine fascism was already rising under the guise of liberalism.
— Paulie (@Paulius152) February 15, 2022
U.S. Senator Ron Johnson said that there was “a simple solution to the Canadian trucker strike.”
“End the pointless and idiotic vaccine mandates. Respect everyone’s freedom and personal health autonomy,” he said.
Here’s a simple solution to the Canadian trucker strike. End the pointless and idiotic vaccine mandates. Respect everyone’s freedom and personal health autonomy. pic.twitter.com/LOzXxtSiOc
— Senator Ron Johnson (@SenRonJohnson) February 14, 2022
Critics of the Prime Minister also noted that, while Trudeau said the current Emergency legislation would be applied temporarily and in a highly specific manner, he had previously voiced support for farmers in India who blocked major highways to New Delhi for a year in 2021, saying at the time: “Canada will always be there to defend the right of peaceful protest.”