Cracks in the pillars of Canadian Democracy
Revealed in Freedom Convoy 2022
Freedom Convoy 2022 in Canada got worldwide attention in February and it has revealed much by the various reactions: from governments, media and average folks. No one would have guessed that the government in Canada would have gone this far, but there were hints along the way. Let’s dive in and see what pattern is emerging here.
It came to a head when a group of truckers got together and decided to protest against the government removal of the vaccine exemption truckers had for crossing the USA border in January. I describe this in a previous blog. The federal government refused to even acknowledge them, and just got the police to remove them. In my previous blog, I explain the incredible difference between the legacy media and independent media coverage of this truckers convoy.
So who is this person these truckers are so upset with, and why does it matter? Let’s go back in time a little bit to a high school substitute teacher with great hair and an even better family name, who was first elected into Parliament in 2008. His dad was one of the most famous Prime Ministers in recent Canadian history. The son seems to be known more for his good looks than his good policies. Anyway, he became leader of the Liberal Party in 2013 and elected as Prime Minister (PM) in 2015, under the campaign slogan ‘Sunny Ways.’ Well, many Canadians are realizing that the storm clouds have rolled in and hit hard.
Unfortunately, our democratic system relies heavily on what political party leaders say in a campaign. Somebody may say a lot of nice things; how he interprets them into actions is a whole other story. This situation with the Convoy did not happen in a vacuum, so we need to take a look at the precedents leading up to this. For those of you who have not been keeping a close eye on Canadian federal politics, this may reveal a trend that applies to some other western democracies near you.
Trudeau, the Native Rights Feminist
Trudeau takes pride in being a feminist, having created the country’s first balanced cabinet, with an equal number of men and women. It was an honour for Jody Wilson Raybauld to be appointed by the Prime Minister as the Attorney General and Justice Minister. However, she felt she was being inordinately pressured by the Prime Minister’s Office to change a ruling in the SNC Lavalin case that had been making a lot of news. She and Jane Philpot, who supported her, ended up getting turfed out of Cabinet. This started to call into question the independence of the courts from this government.
As a harbinger of things to come, in 2018 the application process for the Federal Summer Jobs Grants program for providing money to non-profit organizations to hire students was changed. The organizations now had to sign that they were in agreement with the Liberal Party’s stand on Human Rights. Of particular concern to many of these church-based non-profit organizations, was a line in there about being pro-abortion, so those groups didn’t get this funding.
It’s one thing when Trudeau institutes a policy that no one who is Pro-Life can run as a candidate in his party; it is a completely different affair when federal funding agencies try to apply the same criteria to all organizations across the country for receiving funding. Applying pressure through funding agencies, belies the coercive approach to governing that this party has shown.
Trudeau has campaigned on a very pro-native rights platform. His government established a national Native’s Rights Day. However, he was widely criticized by native groups for just going to the beach with his family that day, rather than setting any meaningful example for non-native Canadians of how to commemorate the day.
Prime Minister Trudeau talks a good game, but he seems to have an issue in dealing with actual native women, when they confront him. The Attorney General whom he got turfed out of Cabinet was formerly the Regional Chief of the BC Assembly of First Nations. The convoy leader who was subsequently jailed is a Metis woman from Alberta.
Media as Watchdog
In a democracy, we use it or lose it. It is our responsibility to choose. In order to do that, we must first inform ourselves. It would be nice if our legacy media helped us in that endeavour, as I detailed in a previous blog. But nonetheless, we must choose our actions wisely in determining who will lead us. It mustn’t be a beauty pageant or popularity contest.
So, if they were doing their job, what signs should the media specifically be keeping an eye out for, that a government may be overstepping?
When politicians called the protesters a mob of anti-science bigoted insurrectionists, the legacy media should have interviewed some of them and challenged that portrayal. When the Emergency Measures Act was invoked, the legacy media should have pointed out that this protest didn’t meet the definition of a national emergency as stipulated in the Act, defying the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The legacy media should be on the lookout to see that the firewalls built into any healthy democracy between the legislative branch of government and judicial and policing branches are maintained. Here are a few examples of what they could have discovered.
Emergency !
No special powers were invoked to clear the blockades at border crossings, including the Ambassador Bridge between Windsor and Detroit. But for some reason, the government saw fit to take the extraordinary step of invoking The Emergency Measures Act to remove the truckers from Ottawa.
Can it be just because it was in Trudeau’s face?! Could they have somehow convinced themselves that to save democracy they had to suspend some of its most fundamental freedoms? Is it possible that the government overreacted to the protest on Parliament Hill, because they misunderstood the threat posed by the truckers or because they could not see the risk to democracy and civil liberties inherent in declaring a state of emergency?
If the Prime Minister stopped looking at his own publicity and just looked out his window, it would be clear they didn’t pose any threat. In case the risk to democracy this action poses is still not clear, I’ll clarify.
Banking on an Emergency
The Emergency Measures Act has been rescinded, crowds dispersed, it is all over, so there is no problem — everything is fine now. Or, is it?
In an effort to ‘convince’ the crowds to disperse. The federal government declared that they would freeze the bank accounts of anyone involved in this protest that they declared to be illegal. (NOTE: there are currently multiple lawsuits against the federal government, alleging that the protesters did nothing illegal and that the government actions were illegal.)
The RCMP (federal police force) have told financial institutions they could release nearly 200 accounts of convoy participants and supporters, but reminded them that more than a dozen accounts were to remain frozen because they were under separate court orders that “did not rely on temporary emergency powers granted by the federal government.”
This means that the government was already able to freeze accounts. So despite the government pleas that they needed to do this, the use of the Emergency Measures Act was entirely unnecessary to deal with the protesters in this way.
“As if to add insult to injury, convoy participants and supporters who had their accounts frozen will now have permanent ‘flags’ on their accounts — without ever having been tried for a crime.” And since the government granted the banks full immunity under the Emergency Measures Act, no one can sue for this flag to be removed. It is the gift that keeps on giving.
Before the Emergency Measures Act was enacted, I heard CBC saying that some donors were anonymous, implying there was something suspicious about anyone who would do that. It turns out, they were smart to do so, not trusting their democratically elected government to uphold their rights as citizens in a free country.
The fund raising platform GiveSendGo announced in March that it will be refunding the remaining donations for the trucker Freedom Convoy, saying the Canadian government is “trying to seize the funds to redistribute.”
This is not a crazy conspiracy theory anymore. The exchequer of the UK has proposed a ‘programmable’ digital currency for the G7. This means that the government can program it so that you can only pay for things they find acceptable. This would make it way easier to do the sort of pressure tactics that Trudeau has already done in the example above.
Judicial Independence / Persecution
Some have said that the Canadian government is persecuting the church. If the church is not being singled out by these restrictions, can it still be considered persecution? Pastor James Coates wasn’t arrested for preaching, he was arrested refusing to obey Covid regulations.
Even famous Biblical personalities like Jesus, the Apostle Paul, the prophet Daniel are known historically for being unjustly persecuted by the government of their day. Of course, the official reason for their arrests was never for being a follower of God, but was disobeying the law of the land. When the government crosses the line, of course it is only those who stand up who will get persecuted. And, it is only those who have something else to believe in who would do so. That’s what religion has always been good for!
When the pastor turned himself in, he was handcuffed, and his feet were shackled. This is not a common practice when someone turns themselves in. He was being held in maximum security (reserved for the most violent of offenders) and not allowed to receive visitors. Other people who violated Covid regulations were given a fine and sent on their way. The difference in treatment is a clear indication of persecution.
Apparently, roughly 120 people were arrested in relation to the Freedom Convoy 2022 protest. Oftentimes, the police just release the arrest information to the press immediately, but in this case, Ottawa Police are withholding their names. It is public information that could be obtained by filing for it under the Freedom of Information Act, which could take a year. So, for now, the public are unable to find out who they are, what conditions of bail were, and what charges were laid.
We do know that some of the organizers were arrested when the protest was broken up. One of the organizers was jailed for 3 weeks without bail for ‘inciting mischief’. To get an idea of the level of crime this is, dumping garbage on your neighbour’s lawn would be mischief. Inciting mischief would be saying I double dare you to do it! By comparison, there was a driver in Winnipeg charged with intentionally running over some Vax Pass protesters He got out on bail in 1 day.
But, it looks like religion is fighting back in their own way. This organizer was finally released on bail the day after hundreds of people gathered in a prayer meeting in Ottawa worshiping God and praying for her release. When she got bail, and was treated unfairly, she was told she couldn’t protest the government!
These are reportedly her conditions; we have not been able to get confirmation of them from her directly. She was to leave Ottawa within 24 hrs and is not allowed back till her court date, is not allowed on social media, or have someone post on her behalf, and may not have any communications with other convoy organizers.
If somebody got arrested for spray painting “F*** Trudeau on a wall, he wouldn’t get told that! The driver in Winnipeg didn’t get any conditions like that.
As a former MP from her home province said, “How this organizer is being treated is not normal under Canadian law. Someone with no criminal history, who isn’t a flight risk, is being denied bail and kept in jail for minor charges in a non-violent crime, for what appear to be political reasons.” Every Canadian who cares deeply about any political issue and might someday have that one protest idea that unexpectedly ‘goes viral’ should be deeply concerned about this very bad precedent. The real problem here is the appearance of losing the independence between the courts and legislature.
The Prime Minister Speaks
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau makes a big show of going to other countries and castigating them for human rights abuses. Just over a year ago, he criticized the Indian government for their management of the farmers protest.
While speaking to members of the Ukrainian community in Canada around the same time as this leader’s release, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was bemoaning the “slippage” in democracies we have seen in recent years across the globe, saying that nations have been embracing “slightly more authoritarian leaders.” He opined that, “countries allowing increasing misinformation and disinformation to be shared on social media, turning people against the values and the principles of democracies that are so strong.”
Notice that by saying countries are allowing misinformation, he is implying that governments should censor social media to strengthen democracy!!! This explains why he has introduced a bill designed to give government control over censorship of social media, Bill C-11.
I also notice in this statement that he seems completely unaware that it is exactly things like his actions against the convoy which are contributing to this slippage away from democracy. He is abandoning precisely these principles which democracies need in order to stay strong.
In addressing the European Parliament on Mar 23, Prime Minister Trudeau lamented that there has been an increase in distrust in government and facts in recent years, with apparently no sense of irony.
He said organizers of the Freedom convoy were cynical populists trying to exploit people’s anxieties who pretend to have easy solutions to try to turn citizens against democracy! And here I thought the ability to protest government decisions was a key part of the democratic process.
Apparently some of his audience thought so too, because he was harshly criticized by some MEPs from Finland, Romania, Germany, Croatia in speeches that went viral.
Offensive Flags
All of a sudden, police were instructed specifically to deal with profanity on flags being carried on Parliament Hill, just when ‘F*** Trudeau’ flags had become popular during the trucker protest. (I personally didn’t like it, because it makes an ad hominem argument rather than sticking with the ideas at issue.) But it struck me: How narcissistic do you have to be to do that?!! Unfortunately for him, he could not get any law like that passed in England, so when he went to visit the British Prime Minister’s residence last month, there were so many of those flags in front of 10 Downing Street that he had to be escorted in the back way!
Granted, the flags may be in poor taste, but does anyone really believe that if the opposition party leader’s name was on those flags, anything would have been done about it? As a matter of fact, there was another protest on Parliament Hill, in support of Ukraine soon afterward. Many of the signs there could also be considered obscene and offensive. But to no one’s surprise, this time the police weren’t enforcing this rule.
So, who should get to decide what is obscene and offensive? Which political side you’re on certainly shouldn’t determine what is offensive and what isn’t. Obviously, the legislature pillar of democracy is only supposed to be used for the benefit of all, or at least a significant portion of the population, not to cater to one guy’s personal feelings.
Independence
In a democracy, you get the government you deserve. That isn’t always a good thing. We have been lax in our monitoring of our leadership.
In a just democratic society:
- Do media turn a blind eye to mis-behaviour in government?
- Are questions before a court dependent upon political considerations?
- Can government require banks to do their bidding without a court warrant?
- Is government able to persecute the church, or labour organizers?
- Is the executive branch of government able to direct police directly?
The sorts of proposed digital currency controls mentioned above could mean total control over your life. Or, the people in power may be benevolent and all will be well. This is no longer about left and right. It is about those who have power trying to hold on to it and those who don’t have power, trying to hold on to their freedom.
The advent of the internet is comparable to the invention of the Gutenberg press. Then, the peasants could finally read the Bible for themselves and find that the church and nobles had been lying to them. It caused the 30 Years War and they eventually lost their power. Because we now have online independent media, filming events of the protest and streaming it live, those in power no longer control the narrative by the legacy media. Because we now have cryptocurrency, those in power no longer control the currency with their central banks. Don’t expect them to give these things up without a fight this time either.
Why are these things happening? Whether you are Left or Right leaning, what can you do about it? Let’s look into these questions further in the next couple of articles. Follow me to see them when they drop.
