Trudeau invoked the hitherto unused piece of legislation in response to peaceful protests that had been occurring in Canada’s capitol of Ottawa for about three weeks.
Though it is true that other protests were effectively blocking trade and traffic at two key border crossings in Windsor, ON and Couts, AB, those protests had ended by the time Trudeau decided to crush the Freedom Convoy that had descended on Ottawa to protest the Trudeau government’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates. Tens of thousands of other protesters joined the truckers.
Those protests were well covered by Human Events and this correspondent at the time.
There were always suspicions that Justice Paul Rouleau would throw the inquiry Trudeau’s way; that he was somehow even related to the Trudeau family. But his concluding remarks in the executive summary to the Report of the Public Inquiry into the 2022 Public Emergency” are telling.
“I have concluded that in this case, the very high threshold for invocation was met. I have done so with reluctance. The state should generally be able to respond to circumstances of urgency without the use of emergency powers. It is only in rare instances, when the state cannot otherwise fulfill its fundamental obligation to ensure the safety and security of people and property, that resort to emergency measures will be found to be appropriate. As for the measures Cabinet put in place in response to the emergency, I conclude that while most of the measures were appropriate and effective, others fell short.”
Okay, so Rouleau says the “high threshold” has been met – so why the “reluctance?” Was he pushed to arrive at the conclusion that the Trudeau government clearly desired?
Interestingly, Rouleau also blames the truckers for bringing down the tyrannical arm of government because of “misinformation,” that boogeyman that means ‘anything liberals disagree with.’
“The Freedom Convoy was a singular moment in history, in which simmering social, political, and economic grievances were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, shaped by a complex online landscape rife with misinformation and disinformation, and unleashed in a torrent of political protest and social unrest. Though extraordinary, it was not entirely unpredictable. Historically, it is common for pandemics to be accompanied by a decline in social cohesion and a surge in civil unrest. This one has been no exception.”
There was plenty of misinformation about the Freedom Convoy: that they were attacking residents, dancing on the Tomb of the Uknown Soldier, defacing statues and setting fire to buildings: all lies. The only valid complaint was that the protest organizers had erected “bouncy castles in which the children could play. That really bothered then-Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson, who was obsessed with people having such fun in the midst of a protest.
This report is over 2,000 pages long and it reads like one long regurgitation of Trudeau government talking points. It is an appalling validation of an authoritarian government that thought it had the right to beat protesters and freeze the bank accounts of its political enemies.
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland promulgated the bank account freeze – that targeted not just active protesters but donors to a convoy fund as well -- had the unmitigated gall to describe the freeze as an “economic incentive.” She addressed that notorious decision by saying it somehow saved Canadian jobs and once again "peacefully" convinced protesters "to go home."
Source: Janet Krayden
Uh huh. Nothing about how it was a malicious act to punish and intimidate people who don't share Liberal Party values or ideology.
And she called the Emergencies Act as a "non-violent incentive," that "peacefully" resolved the Freedom Convoy protests.
That was an incredible claim to make, given the stark reality.
Tell that to the Mohawk woman who was trampled by a police horse while she stood with the aid of a walker. Candice Soro told me she broke her collarbone in the incident. I spoke to her during a break in one session of the Emergencies Act Inquiry. She told me she is still in pain because of the attack.
This report is a brilliantly mundane whitewash of Prime Minister Trudeau and produces a mirror image of how the great man saw himself during the Freedom Convoy protests: a besieged leader trying desperately to save his people from an insurrection and to keep them cocooned in government lockdowns and COVID-19 mandates.
Justice Paul Rouleau is clearly one of those judges who has the verdict in his mind long before the trial is over.
Trudeau must be held accountable and not whitewashed for invoking the Emergencies Act to punish his political opponents. In an interview at the end of 2022 with his former Montreal radio show host friend, Trudeau frankly admitted that raw retribution was his real motivation for using this authoritarian legislation – that it really had nothing to do with public safety.
So where was the crisis and “lawlessness” of the Freedom Convoy? As mentioned, the border crossings were open and the truckers were ready to start moving their trucks off the street that borders the Parliament Hill. But Trudeau acted anyway.
Wasn’t there just a great desire on the part of the government to break some heads and make an example out of these blue-collar workers who clearly weren’t backing the Liberal Party of Canada or Justin Trudeau?
Source: Janet Krayden
This was the cleanest and most organized protest that I ever witnessed. It wasn’t in Ottawa to wreak havoc; it was there to make a desperate political point. The truckers did not terrorize, harass, attack or run down any local residents; but the government terrorized them.
Had it been the other way around, you can bet the mainstream media in Canada and the U.S. would have publicized it because much of it was lapdog media for the Trudeau government.
Despite these efforts, the truth emerged, and the protest was arguably instrumental in Trudeau backing down on several COVID-19 mandates and his current reluctance to further derail the Canadian economy with more lockdowns.
A lot of Freedom Convoy supporters expected this report to stroke Trudeau’s political pelt and satisfy his ego.
But don’t think Rouleau’s report is going to convince many people that what they saw isn’t actually what happened. Distrust of the government in Canada and elsewhere is at a fever pitch.
Trudeau is quietly celebrating today. He thinks he has put the Emergencies Act fiasco behind him by getting a judge to paint the prime minister as he sees himself.
His goal for 2023 is to move on from this sordid incident and to present himself as the savior of Canadian socialized medicine – a dysfunctional healthcare system that has created titanic waiting times for the simplest of medical procedures and drives hundreds of thousands of Canadians across the border to the U.S. to seek immediate or timely care.
But it could be Trudeau’s last political incarnation and not a strong enough or credible enough one to win the next federal election. Even though he is a master of exploiting a crisis.
“This pandemic has provided an opportunity for a reset. So this is our chance to accelerate our pre-pandemic efforts to reimagine economic systems that actually address global challenges like extreme poverty, inequality, and climate change,” Trudeau can be seen saying in a video recording of a speech to the U.N. that was featured on Tucker Carson Tonight.
And another opportunity that the pandemic provided was that of testing the Emergencies Act. And Trudeau seized that opportunity with both hands.
