Pirate's Cove

What, if any, consequences are there if the hearing finds that Trudeau over-stepped his use of powers?

Trudeau went all in against the Freedom Convoy. This week, it’s on him to explain why.

In a rare showing this week, Canada’s prime minister will publicly defend his decision to invoke never-before-used emergency powers to end a weekslong occupation of the nation’s capital last winter.

Justin Trudeau’s highly anticipated testimony will cap six weeks of hearings at a public inquiry that has witnessed extraordinary disclosures of the inner workings of police and government during the protest, which culminated in the Feb. 14 invocation of the Emergencies Act.

The act gave authorities broad new powers they used to freeze the bank accounts of protesters, ban travel to protest sites, prohibit people from bringing children to protests and compel tow trucks to clear out vehicles blocking Ottawa streets. Officials have said those measures, especially the ability to freeze accounts, also helped deter blockades at Canada-U.S. border crossings.

The public inquiry must determine whether Trudeau was justified in using the act. To date, it has heard and seen considerable evidence casting doubt on the Liberal government’s decision.

Police agencies have testified the emergency powers weren’t necessary to end the protest of pandemic public health measures. Senior government officials were shown to have harbored doubts. And perhaps most damaging to the government’s case was a revelation last week that Canada’s national intelligence agency did not find the protests posed a threat to Canada’s security.

In the final week of hearings, it will fall to Trudeau and several of his ministers and senior staff to prove their case: that they needed unprecedented measures to deal with an unprecedented situation.

Everyone pretty much knew that what Trudeau did was unnecessary, and was pretty much authoritarian, measures enacted because those darned peasants dared to defy Trudeau and his vaccine mandates. Sure, the hard-left media tried to morph it into more, but, it really wasn’t, except some others demanding that all the COVID-tyranny rules get dumped.

The border blockades raised concerns about Canada’s reputation as a reliable trading partner, and Trudeau spoke with President Joe Biden about the situation on Feb. 11. Three days later, with the Ottawa protests entering their third week, Trudeau employed the Emergencies Act.

The act, passed in 1988, had never been used and is intended only for national emergencies that can’t be resolved by other means. Its predecessor, the War Measures Act, was most recently used by Trudeau’s father, former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, in response to a series of terrorist attacks by a militant Quebec independence movement in 1970.

Progressives (nice Fascists) will use anything to enforce their Beliefs.

The public inquiry to scrutinize the government’s decision was triggered by use of the act, but it’s unclear what consequences Trudeau will face if the commission finds he didn’t meet the requirements for its invocation. The inquiry is a fact-finding mission rather than a legal trial. (snip)

One recent poll found a majority of Canadians are paying at least some attention to the hearings. But it also found most people’s minds were already made up about the Emergencies Act, and a majority believe the government “made the best choice it could” in deciding to use it.

After all the spin, and time since, yes, perhaps people are feeling different. They should remember that the next person shut down could be themselves. It wasn’t that long ago that Canada was using emergency powers to keep them home, shut down their businesses, and force them to get the vaccine, and it wouldn’t take much to get the power mad leaders to do it again. Once they get power and use it with nary a pushback, well, they’ll feel free to do it again. Most COVID tyrants have paid no price at all. People just accept that government is dominant.