WEYBURN – There is a saying that “power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is very dangerously close to crossing the line to that of a despotic dictator, after he invoked the federal Emergencies Act for the first time.
Is this overstating the situation – or is the prime minister overstating things to grant such powers to deal with protesters that he happens to disagree with?
One wonders if he had thoughts of emulating his father, Pierre, when the elder Trudeau invoked the War Measures Act to deal with the FLQ crisis in Quebec.
At least in the former case, there was an actual threat that had to be dealt with after the FLQ killed two prominent politicians.
In this case, the younger Trudeau is badly over-reacting to a protest convoy of truckers, and is greatly blowing their significance out of proportion to enact powers that no government should ever use except in extreme circumstances.
The Emergencies Act is intended to deal with threats to sovereignty, security and territorial integrity.
In no way is a protest by truckers threatening Canada’s sovereignty as a nation, but by invoking this act the Liberals are elevating protesters to the level of terrorists.
Those who support Trudeau and the government’s mandates to deal with COVID are over-reaching by elevating protesters to that level. This is not an army of an invading country, and it is not an insurrection to overthrow the government, nor is it a terrorist plot.
The protests take issue with the ongoing restrictions and rules around COVID, many of which are not necessary, are inconsistent and do not prevent the spread of the virus. With the vast majority of people in Canada vaccinated, one could legitimately question why strong measures need to be in place any more.
The truckers are certainly questioning that, and in any free democratic society, the right to protest is a basic part of democracy - quashing that protest is what happens in Communist countries like China, or former Communist nations like Russia.
The protest has inspired truckers in other countries to also voice their displeasure, in Israel, France, Australia and New Zealand, as well as drawing much support from the United States.
Is it right in any way to authorize banks to freeze accounts of protesters, because the government is equating them to terrorist groups? That is over-stating things to a huge degree, and Canadians should be very, very concerned that this action is being taken against a group exercising a democratic right. It doesn’t matter if people agree with them or not, since in a democracy contrary opinions are allowed to be expressed.
