Oh, Canada -Trucker Protests

Fortunately, common sense was restored in Canada and the Emergency Measures Act was ended.

The situation started when the Federal government imposed a vaccine mandate on truckers crossing the Canada-US border. This was done with no scientific basis, and very, very late in the pandemic as it was already dying out. It was particularly egregious as the truckers have been working throughout the pandemic and were hailed as heroes.

As a reaction, the truckers organized a cross-country convoy that converged on our national capital, Ottawa.

Many unvaccinated and vaccinated truckers, and many millions of supporters, backed the truckers. They were demanding an end to all COVID mandates. Other related groups of truckers blocked various Canada-US crossings.

The protests were completely peaceful. At the start they were obnoxiously loud honking their horns in Ottawa, but they stopped that by court order. They worked with police to keep essential traffic pathways open for emergency vehicles. There was a party atmosphere in Ottawa with kids, bouncy castles, portable hot tubs, and an outdoor dance club set up under the Prime Minister's office window. The truckers shovelled snow, engaged in snow fights, and kept the national monuments clear.

This infuriated the Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, who refused to meet (or send anybody from the government to meet) with the truckers, called them racists, misogynists, holding "unacceptable views", and they were "not to be tolerated". The government and the mainstream media (all heavily subsidized by the government) broadcast propaganda 24x7 claiming the protests were all of those things and violent with no proof of any of it.

There was one fellow with a Nazi flag, and one fellow with a confederate flag, and they were both quickly chased away by the truckers. Not before Trudeau's official photographer was spotted taking photos of them, making one wonder if they were false flags.

The movement raised $10M on GoFundMe, who under pressure from the Canadian government, cancelled the campaign and told donors they needed to fill in a complex form to get their money back, and any unclaimed funds would go to charities of GoFundMe's choice. Under intense public pressure they changed their position and directly refunded the donors instead.

The fundraising moved to GiveSendGo and within a couple of days raised $5M. Canada tried to pressure them as well, but they resisted. 

The border blockades were all ended peacefully. Federal riot police came in with a heavy hand to clear out and arrest protesters in Ottawa. Several were injured, including by being trampled by horses. Organizers were arrested and thrown in jail without bail for conspiracy to do mischief. The reason for denying bail is that the judge said they were likely to face very long prison sentences.

While this was already underway, Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act, the replacement of the war measures act, for the first time in history. Using the powers of this act he began freezing the bank accounts (with no due process) of people they suspected of being part of the protest or supporting it. Using these powers they retroactively declared the trucker protests illegal. When asked if small donors would have their bank accounts frozen, the Canadian Minister of Justice said "you should be worried" and refused to rule it out.

The way the political system works in Canada is that we have a democratically elected House of Commons. The party with the most seats chooses a Prime Minister. Trudeau is the head of the Liberal party, and they are in a minority government, however they have allied with the New Democratic Party (even more left wing) under Jagmeet Singh to make a majority. There is also a Senate that ratifies laws passed by the house. Senators are appointed for life by the government of the day.

The Emergencies Act can be declared by the government and immediately goes into effect. However, it must be ratified in both the house and the senate in short order. Trudeau rammed it through the house with NDP support against the strong objections of the opposition parties. Because many of his own people and the NDP were dubious, he declared the vote to be a "Confidence" vote, meaning that if it was defeated, it would trigger an election. Liberals and NDP are both very unpopular and low on funds and knew they would lose badly in an election, so went along with it.

Seven Provincial governments stated their strong opposition, and court challenges were launched on the basis that the Emergencies Act has clear criteria for invoking it that in no way was met.

Canada received a tremendous amount of unfavourable foreign press over its actions, and condemnations from civil rights groups and governments from around the world, although the bought-and-paid-for Canadian press was supportive. Trudeau became an international laughingstock.

The Senate then began debating it. While a majority of the senators were appointed by liberal governments, most by Trudeau himself, it was far from clear that the motion would pass. One of the better (albeit longer) opposition speeches, that sums everything up nicely, was delivered by Senator Donald Neil Plett.

Stung by the criticism, and fearful of losing in the Senate (which arguably would trigger an election), Trudeau declared the emergency magically over 7 days after it had begun, despite earlier saying it would be in place for 30 days.

Democracy saved in Canada, for now.