It feels like there's a lot on the line at the moment, or perhaps that matters are rapidly coming to a head. Increasingly, protests against mandates are coming to mean something bigger: they are becoming a proxy for a wider dissatisfaction with how our governments have conducted themselves in the past two years and it's the ones which are still holding out that are the ones who stand to lose the most. Of the Anglosphere, that includes everyone except the UK and nowhere is it more apparent than in Canada.
The Freedom Convoy rolled into Ottawa two weeks ago and the truckers took up residence outside Parliament. Their arrival was not a surprise; they had been liaising with Ottawa police in the build-up and, in any event, the existence of said convoy was difficult to miss, given that they numbered in the tens of thousands and had been rolling across Canada for a week and . Their cause was to demand the repealing of the 'vaccine' mandates that the government had imposed upon them, which required them to provide a Green Pass if they wished to earn their livelihood by working between Canada and the US. It is notable that a substantial number of the truckers (probably a majority) are already 'vaccinated', so it cannot be claimed that they are acting solely in their own self-interest; that fact does, however, give credence to their claim that they are protesting on principle.
From the beginning, it was apparent that the government either did not know what to do or were intentionally doing entirely the wrong things. There was a clear intent to over-dramatize matters from the outset. To that end, the Prime Minister went into hiding, asserting that he was in potential danger. Then he claimed to have been a close contact of someone who tested positive for Covid (even though he tested negative) and spent five days in isolation. He reappeared so that he might accuse the truckers of white supremacy, misogyny and other associated disorders while steadfastly refusing to negotiate with them.
One might almost think that he was escalating the situation by design, rather than once again proving himself to be a feckless authoritarian. In any event, other protests and blockades sprang up at three US/Canada border crossings and, one by one, four Canadian provinces announced that they were loosening or abolishing Covid mandates. Trudeau, however, was not for turning. He walked out on questions in Parliament (twice) and prevailed upon the nominally conservative premier of Ontario to declare an emergency, thus making the existing protests illegal. I'm not entirely sure that it can be constitutional to change the law about protesting while the protest is actually still going on. If it was lawful to begin to do something, how can it be suddenly ruled unlawful and those doing the something become subject to arrest?
Throughout the stand-off, the truckers have been winning friends and influencing people, while the government and the Ottawa police have been concentrating on scoring one own goal after another. Prior to the declaration of a provincial emergency, the police stole truckers diesel, threatened residents who were providing diesel and food and attempted to force the truckers to leave. None of these tactics was effective; a court told the police to return the fuel (which they did, but not before contaminating it with water) and large numbers of locals took to carrying red diesel containers wherever they went. The state kiboshed the original GoFundMe crowdfunding campaign and attempted to do the same with the subsequent GiveSendGo donations, to no avail. The government response has been to move immediately to measures that exclude democratic decision making, changing the rules of the game while it's still being played.
They seem to believe that, because the majority of Canadians are 'vaccinated', the state therefore has a mandate to bully the ‘unvaccinated’. This ignores the fact that the majority of this cohort were persuaded or coerced and cannot be relied upon to indefinitely badmouth those that did not comply. I suspect that the state thought that they could be, but even if this group believed the propaganda initially, there is no guarantee that they still do. Further, even the 'vaccinated' who still believe may not all uniformly disparage individual choice in the matter, especially now that it is widely known that the 'vaccines' don't work, but the future nonetheless seems as if it contains an endless succession of booster shots.
The recent declaration of a federal state of emergency circumvented democratic norms (as it was meant to) and police again moved in and removed fuel and firewood. The RCMP sabotaged three huge harvesting machines parked on private land miles from Ottawa. The military got involved with the removal and arrest of protesters from the Ambassador bridge; this prior to any federal declaration of an emergency. The state and its enforcement arm, at senior level, are no longer bothered by niceties such as the law of the land.
The political inertia from all others involved has been unhelpful. The conservatives, the official Opposition, have been predictably supine throughout the Covid debacle and the leftist NDP have propped up Trudeau and the Liberals. Since the protests began, the Opposition have sacked their leader and injected a soupçon of actual opposition, claiming (repetitively) that Trudeau is divisive and should go and talk to the truckers. This has excused them from actually voicing any red-blooded support for the protests themselves, which is the plan, I imagine.
The fool in charge of the NDP, the left of centre party ostensibly representing the working man (who holds the balance of power in his hands), has backed the Liberals against the truckers, who are about as working class as it gets; as you do. The divide between the people and the political class could not be more stark. And the media are aligned with the likes of Trudeau, presumably because they are financed by the government already, to the tune of around $600 million.
Blame is frequently an amorphous concept; circumstances can be manipulated, especially by someone with a power advantage. The truckers are to blame for a national emergency, according to government. They are also being exploited. Supply chain problems that are the result of deliberate actions by the regime will now be laid at the door of the truckers. Ford is shutting down production because of a lack of parts – Toyota and General Motors are also reducing output.
There can be little doubt, however, that Trudeau has made matters more volatile by virtue of his intransigence. At least, that would be the view of many onlookers who would instead deride him for his incompetence. Could it be that he's not incompetent, but Machiavellian instead? Could it be that, instead of the invocation of the Emergencies Act being an act of desperation, it was the desired end point all the way through and the government is using the truckers to annex ever more power? The only way to potentially avoid giving any ground at all was to push the conflict all the way to this point. And how long could this power last? In attempting to answer that question, I don't believe there is much to be gained from an examination of the fine print (which states an initial span of 30 days). None of that has mattered for some time. Any measures, whether taken by government under the guise of the 'pandemic' or now in order to deal with the current imbroglio, will last as long as Trudeau wishes them to, regardless of the facts or of safeguards.
The Emergencies Act
“defines a national emergency as a temporary "urgent and critical situation" that "seriously endangers the lives, health or safety of Canadians and is of such proportions or nature as to exceed the capacity or authority of a province to deal with it."(1)
The circumstances in which it can be used are very limited. The only possible option in this scenario would be to invoke Part II, which deals with a public order emergency. The definition of this is that the threat must be so serious as to threaten the security of Canada and is therefore a national emergency. Helpfully, the Act furthers defines what the threat to the security of Canada must look like:
“threats to the security of Canada means
(a) espionage or sabotage that is against Canada or is detrimental to the interests of Canada or activities directed toward or in support of such espionage or sabotage,
(b) foreign influenced activities within or relating to Canada that are detrimental to the interests of Canada and are clandestine or deceptive or involve a threat to any person,
(c) activities within or relating to Canada directed toward or in support of the threat or use of acts of serious violence against persons or property for the purpose of achieving a political, religious or ideological objective within Canada or a foreign state, and
(d) activities directed toward undermining by covert unlawful acts, or directed toward or intended ultimately to lead to the destruction or overthrow by violence of, the constitutionally established system of government in Canada,
but does not include lawful advocacy, protest or dissent, unless carried on in conjunction with any of the activities referred to in paragraphs (a) to (d).”(2)
How can that case possibly be made? By lying, I guess. It's not that some of the conditions couldn't be argued – the foreign actors claim is ridiculous on its face, as it was clearly intended to prevent the Blofelds of the world from destabilizing the nation, rather than referencing small donors from the US rust belt. However, the case could be made that the blockades at the border crossings are acts of sabotage, even though these acts would still have the reach the level of seriously endangering the lives of Canadians, which they clearly don't. Once again with Trudeau and de facto tyrants en masse, we find ourselves in familiar territory; vast government overreach with the 'pandemic' response, which has resulted in a trampling of the People's Charter, has then resulted in huge protests. The solution, rather than negotiation and amelioration, is yet more overreach.
The banking measures can only be rendered under S19(1)(d):
“the authorization of or direction to any person, or any person of a class of persons, to render essential services of a type that that person, or a person of that class, is competent to provide and the provision of reasonable compensation in respect of services so rendered;”(3)
which is, again, a huge stretch. And they've somehow interpreted the section to give them authority to expand the Terrorist Financing Rules, which it clearly doesn't. So they have taken two separate bites at the cherry. They are trying to claim that the section applies to financing (when it is clear from the context that it was actually concerned with more practical matters). However, even if it did apply in that fashion, it wouldn't have any impact unless, at the same time and with extra-legal authority which isn't granted by the Act, the regime also changed (sorry, expanded) the Terrorist Financing Rules. The Terrorist Financing Act is legislation that cannot be changed on the hoof and the Emergencies Act doesn't authorize any person to render essential services that are unlawful; the Financing Rules can't be changed without parliamentary consent.
It's a little like ordering the tow truck drivers to provide services and then further authorizing them to go out and steal the tow trucks that they will need to accomplish the task. The first part of that equation is clearly catered for in the Act, but simultaneously changing the Theft Act to allow for the second part is not. That would need a legislative response. But no matter; in for a penny, in for a dollar.
Indeed, the initial actions taken by the Finance Minister (who sits on the Board of the World Economic Forum – just saying) includes demanding that crowdfunding sites register with them, cracking down on truckers' bank accounts by freezing them and attempting a takeover of crypto-currencies. They are also threatening to invalidate the truckers’ insurance and take away their permits.
If the Emergencies Act is the highest form of legal coercion, and even that power does not obviate basic rights, all other measures taken thusfar cannot, either. And yet they have. All that is required for this to occur is that misinformation and lies are spread, by government and by their lackeys in the media, and then acted upon. For instance, the Canadian Charter of Rights includes a right to peaceful assembly and, theoretically, any extraordinary provision approved by the government cannot traduce that right. Solution? Continually decry the protest as extreme and non-peaceful; thus, when police forcefully break it up, no-one's constitutional rights are being trampled upon. Other provisions have already been ignored and over-ridden. Canadians have the right to enter, remain and leave Canada – except when Trudeau decides that they don't. Not without quarantine hotels if they make it back; despite the fact that another provision of the Charter is the right not to be arbitrarily detained.
Canadians have freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression; except when they are expressing what the Prime Minister deems to be unacceptable versions of any of the above. It seems that freedom of expression doesn't extend to complaining about government mandates that aren't even legislation. And that is a key point; any claim that the protest is an 'insurrection' fails if it cannot be shown that what government has mandated is within their power to mandate. The government will still view it as an insurrection, because they are of the view that whatever they do is, by definition, legitimate. But, objectively, a government exercising power that it doesn't possess is no longer a democratic entity, but a tyranny.
Canadians have freedom of association – there is even case law prohibiting state enforced isolation, but that didn't prevent the government from locking their citizens down. They have the right to be secure against unreasonable search and seizure, but it didn't help the truckers when police were seizing their diesel and food. You get the picture. The only way for the state to get its way is to suspend democracy, rule by decree and ignore their obligation to respect fundamental rights, no matter what. So, that's what they've done and that's what they are continuing to do and the only people that will even attempt to hold them to account are the truckers and their supporters – not the politicians and certainly not the bought and paid for media.
The past two years are a classic demonstration of the way authoritarians accumulate power, right from the play-book; institute policies that hugely undermine freedom and when ordinary people then complain, declare a state of emergency and crack down hard. When people in power are wedded to a vision of how they think a particular situation is going to pan out and it shows signs of not going their way after all, they can be very reluctant to give that up and it can lead them to continually double down. This is what we are seeing in Canada.
Politicians are at pains to point out the following; that the police aren't under government control and that any state of emergency cannot supersede Canadians' basic rights. The first contention is purely theatre; a form of words that all politicians feel compelled to mouth, whilst pretending that the police are a separate arm of the state, charged only with enforcing the law. Trudeau says this while invoking the Emergencies Act, a political decision which has been made (by the government) in order that the police utilize extra powers granted to them...by the government, who are busy inventing all sorts of draconian measures which the police are then expected to enforce. It isn't just a formula that provides more resources for the police to administer the existing law. And the second contention hasn’t been true from the outset of the ‘pandemic’.
Let's not forget what the government have made this about. They have provided no evidence to show that their policies have been working, no science worthy of the name. The real science says that the virus is no worse than the flu, that early treatment is essential, that masks don't work, that lock-downs don't work, that asymptomatic spread has never been a thing with any virus and the 'vaccines' aren't vaccines because the jabbed can still catch and transmit Covid. Therefore, all the mandates and restrictions are a nonsense. As we all know, and so must Trudeau, countries are following the UK's lead and dropping restrictions. He cannot claim to be acting in anybody's best interests by doubling down.
Trudeau, along with other ideologues, has made no attempt to get into the details. He enters the discussion downstream of the place where actual evidence needs to be presented and it has been very noticeable, as it was with the Australians and Novakgate, that this is about control, not about public health. There has been very little rhetoric about the dangers of Covid and, indeed, the vast numbers of people in Ottawa associating freely and mask-less have proven their point. They are not dropping like ninepins, are they?
There is a window of opportunity. The people who are taking advantage of it – the protesters – may not be aware of the ramifications of their actions, but the wider significance is considerable. This is due to the fact that they are now the point of the worldwide protest spear, a proxy for the undisguised battle between the political/media elites (and behind them, the money men) and the people. Both sides know it. Whether the elites are frightened or not, I couldn't say. The likes of Trudeau and Biden seem more angry than scared, irritated by our recalcitrance.
Throughout the west, there is an entire cottage industry based on the premise that the elites aren't actually very good at running things. If incompetence is to blame, then 'conservatives' don't have to address an alternative explanation; corruption. And because the right of the political spectrum has not been honest with the voting public, it has become clear (from recent elections and from polling) that the majority of people have not so far been made aware of the perilous situation that we find ourselves in. The elites have worked very hard to establish that outcome and it is crucial (to them) that it stays that way, because until the majority realizes what the minority already knows – that the elites really are out to get us – the Resistance's room for manoeuvre is severely circumscribed. Any acts of resistance that can be presented as too vigorous (or heaven forbid, violent) will be counter-productive and cause the majority to coalesce around the state.
Until there is an alternative method of dissent, very little will be perceived as legitimate opposition to the status quo. This is why the truckers are so dangerous to the regime. They are garnering support by conducting themselves well and showing a face to the world that is the opposite of the government's. They have already moved the needle in Canada and a majority of their countrymen now support the removal of restrictions and mandates. In the US, well over half of respondents in a recent poll supported the truckers. They are in the process of showing how to defeat the tyrants, of resisting effectively.
Those countries with politically savvy leaders have seen the writing on the wall. As soon as the UK buckled, it was inevitable that others would follow and the sensible ones did it before they could be seen to be dragging their feet. The ones who have not yet accepted defeat are in the process of demonstrating their weakness in the face of widespread, concerted protests. In Canada, Trudeau has tied himself to the mast and appears determined to go down with the ship. How does he imagine this pans out? The military put down the 'insurrection', somehow move all the trucks despite not having the equipment or the drivers and the people go back to being sheep? He has become caught up in the battle, with what's in front of him, and hasn't yet realized that it doesn't really matter whether he wins this one. Unless he is prepared to keep the country under what is, in effect, martial law on an indefinite basis – and the police and the military would have to agree to that – he has already lost.
I get the feeling that this 'pandemic' was supposed to the beginning of the transition – surveillance bills are being passed all over the world and the US seem to be in the middle of abolishing the dollar as the world's reserve currency, thus ushering in a centrally controlled digital currency instead. The biggest danger in this transition period between democracy and autocracy was always likely to be the tendency of the Progressive useful idiots, the shock troops for the elites, to move too swiftly. They do this because they are, in their own minds, right about everything and they have no desire to compromise a single belief or policy. The final leap to the objective, which must have seemed tantalizingly close (and still is) was likely to undo them, especially as time is short and momentum is faltering and there is the specter of Orange Man Bad and other reprobates haunting their dreams. They should have continued to tip-toe, as they have since the mid-sixties at the latest, but they haven't.
What has happened in America and elsewhere in the Western world over the past two years has been jarring. The constant refrain of Build Back Better from the Left has not felt like an organic movement that has arisen as the answer to a genuine problem, but rather as a piece of sloganeering that has been years in the making. But the current protest in Canada has provided a speeded-up rendition of what lies in store for all of us, if we let it.
The unexpected resistance, which has been growing throughout Europe for months, and which has not been extinguished by the indifference of both the media and the opposition parties, has surprised regimes. The Canadian truckers can be seen to be the most visible manifestation of this movement. They are inspiring others and the response of the authorities is only providing the truckers with more recruits. The collective veil is slipping; every 4'10” great grandfather or pastor that the police manhandle and arrest dents their credibility still further. When essentially law abiding people start viewing the police as the enemy, society has a large problem.
It is relatively easy to turn the screw slowly and incrementally as long as there is no challenge. But, as soon as there is and the regime makes the decision to defend its ground over-zealously, the true nature of the plot and the character of the people behind it are exposed. They have lost the goodwill of the people, which is inevitable given their character and that of their opponents. The gap between the narrative and reality is all too apparent.
There have been reports that the military has told the junta that they won't get involved in any civil enforcement. It seems clear that a significant number of rank and file police officers are also reluctant to be the meat in the sandwich. The tow truck operators aren't interested either, even the government contracted ones (apparently they've all got Covid). Many local residents are helping with food, fuel and funds. They are also going to see what is going on and coming away realizing that the media are peddling lies. The media themselves have been getting very short shrift.
What we have is a government that is engaged in democratic despotism, with the government as the shepherd and the people as the sheep. They believe that they are the final arbiter of the peoples' rights. Not just in Canada or the US, but across the Western world. Constitutions, Bills of Rights, the Nuremberg Code, the Helsinki Protocol, the Human Rights Act; all of these contracts with the people are void if a government wishes them to be.
Trudeau has repeatedly referred to the truckers as terrorists. This is a deliberate ploy, not just relevant at home but also internationally. It seems that, initially at least, he is going to try and bully the truckers into going home. I have a feeling that these tactics won't work. They do also have the power to direct the tow truckers to do the necessary. I’m not sure if that will work, either.And, once again, the regime is focusing on the battle in front of them, which they have sought, rather than thinking about who is going to comprise their haulage fleet when the protest is over.
It also allows the RCMP to interfere in provincial policing matters and it permits Trudeau to make policy, removing the nine provincial leaders from the mix. It makes all the protesters subject to arrest as they are now participating in an illegal assembly. Expect the word 'illegal' to be bandied about with gay abandon. Once the government has designated any opposition to mandates as the equivalent of domestic terrorism, without push-back from any political opposition, it opens up all sorts of enticing legal pathways. Which, interestingly, is already being leveraged south of the border.
The US can expect its own convoy from the beginning of March. It may be a coincidence, and it's almost certainly the case that the following has a much wider application, but this is the current mission statement of the Department of Homeland Security:
“The United States remains in a heightened threat environment fuelled by several factors, including an online environment filled with false or misleading narratives and conspiracy theories, and other forms of mis- dis- and mal-information (MDM) introduced and/or amplified by foreign and domestic threat actors. These threat actors seek to exacerbate societal friction to sow discord and undermine public trust in government institutions to encourage unrest, which could potentially inspire acts of violence . . . While the conditions underlying the heightened threat landscape have not significantly changed over the last year, the convergence of the following factors has increased the volatility, unpredictability, and complexity of the threat environment: (1) the proliferation of false or misleading narratives, which sow discord or undermine public trust in U.S. government institutions.....For example, there is widespread online proliferation of false or misleading narratives regarding unsubstantiated widespread election fraud and COVID-19. Grievances associated with these themes inspired violent extremist attacks during 2021. [And] malign foreign powers have and continue to amplify these false or misleading narratives in efforts to damage the United States.”(4)
I'd say Biden's misinformation and Trudeau's 'unacceptable views' are kith and kin. The speed at which the untethered and ludicrous becomes mainstream is extraordinary and it's a measure of how little respect the cabal of Progressives have with anything resembling a Bill of Rights or a Constitution. The wholly subjective nature of the DHS narrative, the ease with which it could be demolished if there was ever a need for them to justify any of it, the outright lies (even if they are counting January 6th as a violent extremist attack, why the plural?) and the complete absence of evidence are there for all to see. There was a time when a professional agency would have been ashamed to write anything so asinine, but lying is now routine because there is seemingly nobody in the media who is willing to subject them to rigorous questioning and when there is no deterrent, there is no brake on ideology.
In any event, I cannot see the US regime failing to capitalize on the convoy. The opportunities for false flag events, for biased reporting, for stooges waving Confederate flags will be legion and the intelligence services will have had over a month to prepare. I'm not entirely sure of the reason for the delay, but it may well turn out to be an error on behalf of the organizers.
There are also Freedom Convoys in several other countries, not least France, Belgium and Australia. What happens in Canada is of great import internationally. Not only will Trudeau not want to lose, he can't afford to let his globalist mates down. Much of the global 'pandemic' response has been in lock-step; are we now to believe that they aren't talking to each other any more? Or that they don't understand that if the truckers are seen to get their way, others around the globe will be much more likely to press on when things may seem to be going against them? Canadian truckers cannot be allowed to encourage les autres.
After Canada, the one that will matter most is the US. That convoy will present the authorities with one more opportunity to manufacture a crisis, if that is part of the plan for this calendar year; which it almost certainly is. For there are several brewing already, none of them accidental and, taken together, they could well provide the circumstances for the declaration of martial law in the US as well. But that's for next time.
In the meantime, Trudeau is boxing himself even further into a corner and making a classic mistake (or not, if it’s deliberate). He is bullying the truckers incessantly, effectively threatening to take away everything that enables them to earn a living. He is cornering them and leaving only one out, which is to surrender ignominiously. They do not seem the type for that and I think the ones in Ottawa will stay put. In addition, he is flagrantly flouting the law, both in invoking the Emergencies Act and in his interpretation of the measures it allows the government to undertake. The mask is slipping and people in Canada and around the world can see a power grab laid bare. Ultimately, his tactics are not grounded in reality. He didn't negotiate, he lied about the truckers and bullied them from the outset and he has lost popular support along the way. By bringing things to a head, he is forcing the police and military to make choices they shouldn't have to make. And he is demonstrating the idiocy of sticking with mandates that haven't worked and which are being abandoned worldwide. It may not end well for him. I hope it doesn't.
Citations
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-premiers-cabinet-1.6350734
https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-23/page-1.html#h-76161
https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/e-4.5/page-2.html#docCont
https://amgreatness.com/2022/02/11/our-greatest-domestic-threat-pro-government-extremists/