Canada’s Parliament Approves Emergencies Act Invoked by Trudeau
Meanwhile, Canada’s Conservative Party has shot up in the polls and Alberta’s Premier Jason Kenney is taking the measure to court.
As I noted in my last report on Canada’s “Emergencies Act,” the swiftest way to restore liberty in the nation would be through Parliament.
Sadly, the body voted to continue its implementation.
The Emergencies Act was approved in parliament by 185 to 151, with the minority Liberal government getting support from left-leaning New Democrats.
The special measures, announced by Trudeau a week ago, have been deemed unnecessary and an abuse of power by some opposition politicians.
Over the weekend, Canadian police restored normalcy in Ottawa. The protesters initially wanted an end to cross-border COVID-19 vaccine mandates for truck drivers, but the occupation turned into a broader demonstration against Trudeau and his government. Protestors blocked the busiest land crossing between Canada and the United States for six days, snarling trade.
The move allows the measures under the Emergencies Act to go on for a full 30-day period once it passes the Canadian Senate. A 2-party coalition cobbled together the vote.
Mr. Trudeau, who leads a minority Liberal government, received support from the country’s left-leaning New Democratic Party to extend the emergency powers. The Conservative Party and Bloc Quebecois opposed, arguing that the invocation of emergency powers threatened civil liberties.
The extension of special powers to cope with any future demonstrations would be one of the most aggressive moves by a Western government in response to public discontent spurred by the pandemic and public-health rules.
Those powers, per the Cabinet order, authorizes police to designate certain areas—including the streets around Ottawa’s Parliament Hill—as no-protest zones, where people could be subject to arrest. The powers also compel service providers, like tow-truck operators, to remove vehicles from the scene and took aim at protesters’ financial assets and sources of cash.
The extension still requires approval from the country’s upper chamber, or Senate, which could vote as early as Tuesday. The Senate, whose members are appointed by the prime minister, rarely overturns measures approved by the lower house.
Yet, Trudeau may have to deal with some unintended consequences. Conservative Party interim leader Candice Bergen has been fighting the Emergencies Act tooth-and-nail, and it appears she attempted to get a vote to revoke the measure outright.
My statement on the passing of the measures under the Emergencies Act, and our Conservative motion to revoke them. pic.twitter.com/xUU1iXgJy8
— Candice Bergen (@CandiceBergenMP) February 22, 2022
Despite her motion getting shot down, Bergen’s efforts are bearing fruit. The Conservative Party has shot up 10 points in the polls.
The federal Conservative party has shot up in the polls since Candice Bergen took over as interim leader and moved the party back to the right, according to new data from Mainstreet Research.
Bergen took over earlier this month after the Tory caucus voted to remove Erin O’Toole, who failed to form government in the federal election last September after advocating for progressive policies that Conservatives traditionally don’t favour.
When asked by Mainstreet whom they’d vote for if a federal election were held today, 39 per cent of leaning and decided voters chose the Conservative party, while 31 per cent chose the Liberals.
Another 15 per cent said they’d cast their ballot for the NDP, while the Bloc Québécois and the People’s Party of Canada (PPC) each got six per cent. The Greens or another party were picked by two per cent of respondents each.
Furthermore, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney is launching a court challenge of the Emergencies Act, calling it an “unnecessary and disproportionate measure.”
The premier posted a video online in which he decries the “unjustified use of the Emergencies Act,” and says the province is filing a court challenge and might intervene in support of other court challenges of the federal government’s actions, including that of the Canadian Liberties Association and the Canadian Constitution Foundation.
“We need to take action to defend, yes the law and order, but also civil liberties and our constitution in Canada. Alberta will be doing just that,” said Kenney in the video posted Saturday.
“The federal government’s invocation of the Emergencies Act is an unnecessary and disproportionate measure that can violate civil liberties, invades provincial jurisdiction and creates a very dangerous precedent for the future. And it’s not necessary.”
Kenney said the ending of the blockade at the Coutts border crossing is an example of how unnecessary the Emergencies Act is to resolving the protests across the country that are clogging roads and infrastructure.
“Provincial law enforcement authorities are able to deal with illegal road blockades,” said Kenney.
'We don't need these extraordinary powers to deal with people parked illegally on a road.'
Premier of Alberta Jason Kenney on the 'Freedom Convoy' protesters and whether there is currently an emergency in Canada.
Subscribe to the GB News YouTube channel: https://t.co/gx4btIcPZF pic.twitter.com/CBXvtzrHJp
— GB News (@GBNEWS) February 21, 2022
Here is hoping that Canadians free themselves from an act that essentially treats peaceful protesters and those who support them as “enemies of the state” sooner rather than later.
We don't deserve better, we let it happen. Doesn't mean we give up though 🇨🇦 https://t.co/uUHZ1BTO2b
— Dave Shrigley (@dshrig) February 22, 2022
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Comments
Y’all better start warming to the 2A solution. They are NOT going to stop through any normal political process.
We are at war, and the opposition wants us removed from society. That doesn’t sound promising enough for debate.
Yep. The vaccine mandate was an strategic gift to themselves. It gave them the opportunity to screen for all the liberty-minded police and US service members…and then cashier them.
“The powers also compel service providers, like tow-truck operators, to remove vehicles from the scene …..”
I thought slavery is illegal in Canada?
If you believe a government should ever have “emergency powers”, then you believe in slavery.
It’s worth repeating that the US Constitution has no provision for “martial law” or “emergency powers,” and grants no power to the federal government (whether in good times nor bad) to direct the actions of common citizens; aside from its power to “call[] forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions,” which is moot since they’ve completely neglected its organization. (Members of the NG, the “organized militia,” are military personnel, not common citizens.)
Similarly, the “emergency powers” sections of state constitution grant powers over government offices and functions to specific government officials for the purpose of continuation of the operation of government, and grant no additional extraordinary powers over common citizens in times of crisis.
Constitutionally, Biden cannot do anything like what Trudeau has done. Then again, in a time when federal health officials feel empowered to force landlords to subsidize and support deadbeat tenants without 5th-amendment compensation, and the executive can order immigration officials to do exactly the opposite of what existing immigration law demands, tyranny puts everything on the table.
Oooh. Dat hurts.
Not since last night.
Subotai Bahadur
You mean, Canadazuela.
Well, it’s just thirty days to flatten the curve.
What’s the problem?
If “Two weeks to flatten the curve” morphed almost effortlessly into two years (and counting), what is to prevent thirty days from becoming thirty years?
In the USSR, it became 75 years.
And counting.
Canada has been tumbling towards totalitarianism for several decades. It is now toast.
Tumbling? More like a tobagan ride.
Horse — Barn. A little after the fact doncha think? So it’s clearly not about “The Truckers” peacefully protesting, it’s because The Covid Crap Charade is waning and these cretins need another “crisis” to maintain control.
Gee, what a shock. When Canadians (and Americans, for that matter) vote for totalitarian political parties and totalitarian candidates they get totalitarian policies and totalitarian governance. Yet these same voters have the nerve to act surprised. They take no responsibility for their actions, so they blame the innocent for their cruelty and utter lack of tolerance (“It’s Russia’s fault! Transphobia! White supremacy! Insurrection! Domestic terrorism!”).
pay attention folks–this is our next door neighbor’s house
With the silent approval of us and all our allies.
This may be the line in the sand / poop in the fan that we have heard so much about.
The whole “conservatives in Parliament are working feverishly to reverse this” is eyewash… no more meaningful than Q’s “trust the plan, people are working behind the scenes to save you.” It’s to FUD you, make you dither.
Quite possibly, actual insurrection has now become justified.
And for those of us south of the back bacon line, keep in mind that Biden and his wirepullers tend not to think more than zero moves ahead (hence their current polls). If he sees something happening in Canada that looks like it’s working, he’s going to jump on the bus without even reading the destination placard.
Well said, Henry.
Another neighbor has a house in the other direction. Not much left of it though.
Canada has a Senate. How can its government act before the law is passed?
“The extension still requires approval from the country’s upper chamber, or Senate, which could vote as early as Tuesday. The Senate, whose members are appointed by the prime minister, rarely overturns measures approved by the lower house.”
A large number of those senators are Trudeau appointees. It’s unlikely to get stopped in the senate.
That’s not how the Emergencies Act works. From the moment it is declared it is in force. It must be ratified by the House and Senate within 7 parliamentary sitting days, but all the ratification does is allow it to continue for a total of 30 days, after which it can only be extended by another act of parliament.
What constitutes a parliamentary sitting day? So, in hypothetically if the senate were not to take it up, it would expire on its own?
They have been acting since the invocation of the Emergency Act. It is rule by decree, and mere details like something being legal when it was done have no bearing on the raw exercise of power. It is all ex post facto. In any case, in a Parliamentary system, at best the Upper House can delay things a little bit. At worst, they are just there as paid sinecures.
Canada is now a dictatorship. It is a dictatorship that claims the right to seize any financial assets it can reach without law, due process, or anything. They declare opposition to any government policy, or the government ruling party is sedition. Anybody who leaves any assets in Canada or any Canadian owned [in whole or part] business has had plenty of warning that it can disappear purely at the whim of the Maple Mussolini.
Subotai Bahadur
At least we know that Canazida is safe from the evil scourges of “illegal” parking and peaceful demonstrations.
China is smiling.
Is anyone familiar with the peculiarities of Canada’s parliamentary system? Is there any way for Trudeau critics to force a national election? Or, is that power vested solely with the PM?
There’s one de jure avenue: the Governor-General, as the representative of the Queen, can dissolve Parliament and force an election. Technically, the GG is the only one who can do so; when the government decides to go to the polls they go to the GG and request that the GG dissolve parliament.
The thing is, GG is a political sinecure appointed by the ruling government. Everything I just said is a vestige of Canada’s history as a British colony. The GG would never, evert act against a sitting government for any reason; it would trigger a Constitutional crisis. And since our Constitution is by design virtually impossible to amend, no one wants to open that can of worms.
Daniel, what is your personal sense of what is going on in Canada?
Fuzzy- you need to write up what happened in PDX this weekend.
Looks like the PDX police are stepping aside while the Gypsy Jokers take down antifa.
Andy Ngo is the only one getting facts out- though it is hitting some smaller conservative bloggers… mostly a rehash of his stuff.
I lived in PDX for almost 10 years in the 90s and never heard of this biker gang, though at the time it was the little teen gang bangers causing violence/crime.
If you watch the follow up news conference- it’s very telling that the lawless antifa punks are absolutely scared shitless that they are on the biker’s radar. The ASP extra channel has been running some good videos on biker gang violence and worth watching if you want to understand the absolute inoculation these bikers have to laws of any kind. In short- antifa punks are dead meat and they are realizing it. Not sure if this stems from when they sent their armed commandos with ARs out to block up neighborhood streets in South East Portland last summer or some other event, but they’ve been given notice that if they cross the gypsy turf, their dead.
It hasn’t been covered much but it sounded like similar was brewing down in LA with both the bikers and the cartels getting sick of antifa’s brand of mayhem.
I saw that, Andy, and I am interested. I don’t yet have enough for a post, though. I’m a huge fan (as you know) of local gangs taking on the antifa pukes and laughed out loud when I learned that antifa actually got in the face of the Gypsy Jokers. What the heck were they thinking? We’re badder, with our bike helmets and bicycle ‘shields,’ than the freaking Jokers? Hee!
Let me know of any links you may have on LA via fuzislippers at gmail.
[Edit to add: I did look into this prior to your comment, and the Gypsy Jokers have been around since the 1950s. Not a teeny bopper gang play-acting, but real, grown men not about to take crap from a bunch of snotty-nosed soiboy pukes.]
All I know is from a bing search so you probably know more than I know.
Fascinating that the local media won’t touch it and are in unison saying it was a “home owner.” They won’t quote Ngo or even look into what he says… even though he has been running circles around and the entire news industry for the past two years with actual news.
As fun as it is to see antifa get what’s due, it’s more of a breaking bad sort of satisfaction in seeing a liberal city descend further into anarchy they’ve voted for. I live in the dystopia that the outskirts of Olympia and its a little too real for us- we’re looking at Zillow daily for TN or FL. I drove through downtown last week and it’s an apocalyptic nightmare after two years BLM/Antifa/homelessness. Zombies everywhere. The Childrens Museum has chain link around it to keep the homeless out. Open air drug dealing supervised by social workers with clipboards. The street where I had to go has plywood over every window. Any legit person is looking around like it’s a WWII battle for tweakers to come a steal whatever tools/ goods are not defended. It’s gotten so bad up here the tweakers will literally saw off your catalytic converter while you are in Target. No one will stop them.
Andy, if you can, move to any of your suggested choice states as soon as possible. Whatever you loved about your area has been defiled and won’t be fixed any time soon. But you know that.
I’m working on this piece, so stay tuned.
As we saw in California, the majority may not be in favor of freedom.
Perhaps some of the provinces want to join with eastern Oregon and Wa and form their own country. I mean if we’re gonna have it out for freedom, why think small.
“We will bury you.”
– N. Khruschev
.
It can now be changed to past tense.
That was quick and easy…
Totalitarianism and dictatorships are like going broke, at first slowly, then all at once.
Most Americans haven no clue this is even happening.
Jordan Peterson has a recent interview on this with a Canadian political analyst whose names can’t remember.
I watched that interview.
Most American’s have been brain washed to believe the current ruling party gives them safety from extremists and white supremecists and vax deniers.
Nothing keeps Trudeau from targeting the Conservative Party as supporting terrorists under the Emergency Act.
Thousands of Canadians have been told their bank accounts will be frozen for merely providing funding for peaceful protestors. They’ll be from across the political spectrum. I can’t see this ending well.
yeah- run on those. fast.
I saw somewhere a list of conservative MPs who contributed to the Freedom Convoy. Compiled and distributed by a Liberal MP. There were at least 30 names on it.
Deputy dictator Freeland can have their financial assets frozen. If they do not bend the knee.
The effort to intimidate and purge parliament of subversive ‘terrorist supporting’ MPs has already begun.
Yep. I read somewhere that Trudeau is saying that anyone who does not support him is essentially an enemy of the state (he’s the state, just like the genocidal Fauci gnome is science). This is how it always starts. And it never ends well.
When Fidel Senior conquered Cuba South, the US promptly instituted sanctions.
Now that Fidel Junior has conquered Cuba North, it is time to once again institute sanctions against tyranny.
I read somewhere of Canadians getting arrested and charged with “dissent” under this emergencies act. If dissent is now illegal, Trudeau could perhaps arrest those members of parliament who voted against the authorization? I wish I could say I don’t believe what I’m seeing, but events and actions by governments in the so-called free world over the last two years make this seem almost inevitable.
Not “dissent”, “mischief”. Actually not even “mischief”, but “counselling to commit mischief”.
Yes, that’s as bull**** as it sounds.
“If dissent is now illegal, Trudeau could perhaps arrest those members of parliament who voted against the authorization? “
…and those members who voted for the authorization.
According to today’s news the Canadian Senate will begin debate on the Emergencies Act today.
Those poll numbers will become meaningless if Blackface Hitler leverages his current dictatorial power to make his power permanent and set himself up as virtual dictator for life.
See Germany, 1933, to see how opposition in parliament and the courts can now be intimidated and future elections ‘fortified’ to favor the dictator.
Of course they did, gutless wonders
Doubly true.
BREAKING: Freedom Convoy organizer Tamara Lich denied bail
——————–
They’re taking a lesson from maligNancy pelosi.
But then again, aren’t Canadians subjects not citizens?
Lich is in over her head. When this brouhaha started, she was so out of the loop as to be blissfully unaware that GoFundMe was assuredly going to stab her in the back and rape her kids. “Everything was sorted out with GoFundMe and we’ve heard they’ve begun distributing funds.” Ah, sweet innocent Smurfette.
1) it is a long time before another “election” is scheduled in Canada. And surprisingly, it is even less likely to ever occur than another election here, and less likely to be honestly counted.
2) Supposedly, Premier of Alberta Jason Kenney is going to be suing to overturn the Emergency Act decrees. They do not have an equivalent of Marbury -v- Madison giving courts the authority to declare something unconstitutional. I assume [and acknowledge I am not overly familiar with the Canadian court system, even though we once considered retiring to there] that there is no direct line to what passes for a Supreme Court, so that Kenney will have to work his way up through appellate courts. By the time the Canadian Supreme Court rules, Justin Trudeau’s grandson ‘Che” may be the Hereditary Prime Minister. And even if the courts rule against the decrees, what force do they have if the response is a Canadian rude gesture of choice?
3) in the “thirty days” granted, we can expect the Coercive Forces of State Power [RCMP] to start arresting and seizing the assets of anyone who supported either the Freedom Truckers or the rule of law. See #1 above.
4) Trudeau himself has said that the decrees are now a permanent part of Canadian law. “Gesetz zur Behebung der Not von Volk und Reich“.
I am reminded of another German phrase that may well become applicable:
“Der Krieg ist eine bloße Fortsetzung der Politik mit anderen Mitteln.”
Subotai Bahadur
Now that Trudeau has declared the power to seize property without trial, or even a hearing, does that power persist forever or only until the emergency expires as required by the Act?
He will figure out a way to make it what he wants it to be.
.
This is the same scenario as the Reichstag fire
All the comments focus on an abuse of power and why it was unnecessary to invoke the statute. None of them focuses on the high probability that the invocation is ILLEGAL. On a plain reading of the statute one can see that none of the criteria required to be met for invocation has been met. There is and was no emergency as defined.
Some good news from Ottawa.
Canadian Civil Liberties Association ( not very similar to US cousin) is mounting strong court challenge to Trudeau’s improper declaration of Emergencies Act , in the absence of any evidence of an ongoing actual emergency.
Canadian Senate has delayed passage( so far) of extension of the Act.
Minister Friedland has announced Government is not pursuing freezing bank accounts, etc. of Donors to the Freedom Convoy.
Parliament hasn’t made law in Canada until both houses pass a bill