This week, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the lightweight, unpopular elected leader of a country with a 93% vaccination rate for those over 60 and a total vaccination rate of 84%, announced that he would invoke the Emergencies Act in order to crack down on the Freedom Convoy — a group of protesters opposed to government vaccination mandates for truckers. Trudeau breathily announced that invocation of the law was in fact “reasonable and proportionate.” His public safety minister, Marco Mendicino, said that the actions were required thanks to “intimidation, harassment, and expressions of hate.”
Why the government would need to invoke emergency powers in order to move some trucks remains beyond understanding; after all, the police had just removed trucks from the Ambassador Bridge, reopening that trade artery with the United States. Meanwhile, provinces across Canada have already begun alleviating their COVID-19 restrictions, from vaccine passports to masking. There is no emergency here that would justify use of the Emergencies Act — as even the BBC noted, “It is so far unclear which scenario Mr. Trudeau would rely on to justify the use of the Emergency Act — (the relevant threats have not) been clearly present in Ontario.”
Nonetheless, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland explained that the government would be extending laws designed to stop terror funding to now encompass crackdowns on political dissent: “Financial service providers will be able to immediately freeze or suspend an account without a court order. In doing so, they will be protected against civil liability for actions taken in good faith.” In plain language, this means that the government of Canada has now empowered banks to freeze accounts who give money to political causes the government doesn’t like.
The move to de-bank disfavored political actors has already been gaining steam — in January 2021, PayPal blocked a Christian crowdfunding site from using its services; the next month, Paypal announced it would work with the Left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center to find users to boot. As one of Paypal’s original creators, David Sacks, wrote, “when your name lands on a No-Buy List created by a consortium of private fintech companies, to whom can you appeal?” In Canada, it’s worse than that: The de-banking has become government sponsored.
And if Trudeau is able to invoke emergency powers to de-bank his political opponents — people he has labeled racists simply for opposing his vaccine mandates — where, precisely, does this end? What’s to stop powerful political actors from violating liberties on the same pretext?
The answer, of course, is nothing. And perhaps that’s the point: from now on, dissent against Left-wing perspectives may be criminalized. Watch what you say — your bank account is on the line.
Over the course of the past century, the political Left made a promise: that if they were granted more and more centralized power, they would protect their citizens, particularly during times of emergency. That promise was always a lie, but the pandemic exploded that lie in particularly egregious fashion. This left the Left with two options: to abandon that article of faith, an idea central to their entire worldview; or to persecute heretics. Trudeau, unsurprisingly, has chosen the latter. Emergency powers will be necessary until the people enthusiastically agree that their betters in government ought to rule them.
Ben Shapiro, 38, is a graduate of UCLA and Harvard Law School, host of “The Ben Shapiro Show,” and editor-in-chief of DailyWire.com. He is the author of the New York Times bestsellers “How To Destroy America In Three Easy Steps,” “The Right Side Of History,” and “Bullies.” To find out more about Ben Shapiro and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
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“the government of Canada has now empowered banks to freeze accounts who give money to political causes the government doesn’t like.”
“Emergency powers will be necessary until the people enthusiastically agree that their betters in government ought to rule them.”
Does this sound like a Dictatorship? Or maybe a treasonous, “Socialist Democrat Party State”.
The reign of the “Socialist Democrat Party State” Dictatorship is just getting started.
The “Socialist Democrat Party State” political officers, Gestapo, Woke and Cancel Culture are just getting started.
You will obey, be loyal and support the policies of the “Socialist Democrat Party State” or you will be classified as “Enemies of the State” and “Domestic Terrorists”.
Why the government would need to invoke emergency powers in order to move some trucks remains beyond understanding”???? Well they must act quick before the virus of freedom spreads and infects the American side of the border, all the way to the Whitehouse, where no more masking of the truth can stop it, or keep it out of the Houses of THE PEOPLE.
Handing diminutive socialist men like Trudeau immense power over other people is a great mistake. Small men make for large ambitions, to prove they can measure up, but when they act on those ambitions, the prowess never seems to arrive, especially when they attempt it with other people’s borrowed life force and intelligence that they themselves lack. The smaller the man, the larger the offense, always followed by the greatest of failure. A truck driver in his seat stands taller than a Prime Minister on his knees who refuses to impose the will of THE PEOPLE over his own need to impose power OVER the people. Its’ now about you Trudeau, It’s about the freedom stupid.
As often quoted. WHEN YOU SILENCE YOUR opposition, all you are saying is you are SCARED OF WHAT HE WILL say!
If Trudeau is so unpopular, how did he get elected? The same way Biden got “elected”?
Bottom line—if the Canadian people cower to this fanaticism, they are forever doomed. The government will absolutely not relinquish this degree of power if they are successful in implementing it. So, the question becomes—how serious are the citizens of Canada in taming their government? How far are they willing to go?
They need to stage a revolt like no other and if it needs to get dirty, then dirty it is. Joe Biden, here in the US, is no different. People here had better wake up and pay very close attention to what is happening in Canada and they better be asking themselves the same questions. In our history, we have had to fight to save and protect our freedoms. Are we willing to do that again if necessary? How far are we willing to go?
Canada has the weird parliamentary system. I understand he had only thirty something percent of the vote but still gets to be the PM. I think it is pretty much a copy of the English version.
So true. EITHER we fight for our freedom, OR KEEP WATCHING IT be chewed up, piece by piece by the govt.
The Girly Man PM is proving to be the collectivist rat he appeared to be when praising Castro. He is delusional if he thinks he is going to get away with this. The Canucks are not that stupid.
Trudeau cannot impose tyranny without the agreement of public & private institutions &’businesses.
Even Hitler knew that if just the banks, major companies & police refuse to cooperate then brute force tyranny will fail.
A united Canadian people can easily force Trudeau govt to fall If they want to just by making a run on the banks or organizing a nation wide work strike.
If they don’t cooperate then Trudeau only option is to order military to start turning their weapons on the populace & I doubt or at least hope that Canadian military would refuse to follow those type orders from an obvious & dangerous self acknowledged wanna be Castro Marxist style dictator.
If banks & other major private institutions do cooperate with Trudeau freedom killing oppression of the population then the Canadian people will know they are complicit with govt tyranny & will.have to decide if they will tolerate such betrsyal.
So true.. I’ve already seen a # of news articles, where this or that trucker DID ALREADY MENTION “MY insurance company sent me a text saying My insurance has been cancelled because of this new law”..
SO HOW ABOUT NAMING AND SHAMING those damn companies CAVING INTO the tyrannical orders of Trudeo…. SO WE CAN ALL Punish them back, by REMOVING ALL of our business from them.
Fine example of what happens to a boys minds when he grows up without morals, decency, ethics and knowing he is a little nerd who never outgrew his desire to whine and cry when things don’t go his way.
HE wouldn’t be able to ENFORCE these tyrannical orders, WAS IT NOT FOR THE COMPLCIT COPS…