Note: I do not usually write about politics on his site. I usually focus on theology. But this is a dark week in Canadian history and it is a Christian duty to speak up when our civil liberties are being taken away.
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Fierce debate is raging in the House of Commons on the Emergency Act as I type these words. I feel that I have to write something and post it even though it is unlikely to do any good except provide a witness to the evil events that have overtaken my country this week. Maybe my grandchildren will read this one day and know that their grandfather at least spoke out back when it was still possible to do so.
For the first time since it was passed in 1988, the Federal Cabinet declared the Emergency Act on Feb. 14. Now it must be ratified by the House of Common and the Senate within seven days.
At first the justification was the economy; border crossing blockades were causing economic chaos. But now the blockades have all been cleared yet the government continues its power grab using ever more divisive, extremist, and hateful rhetoric describing peaceful protestors as Nazis, white supremacists, racists, terrorists, etc. They just pick whatever labels they think have emotive value to slap on their enemies, whose real offence is to challenge their power.
The Federal Cabinet has seized power to override the rights of Canadians to contribute to political opposition groups. This is an attack on free speech, freedom of association and freedom to protest.
Over a week ago, the government pressured the crowdsourcing platform GoFundMe to freeze donations to the Freedom Convoy and only under political pressure in the United States was the company persuaded to return the donations to the donors.
To defend democracy, we have to steal your money.
Then the GiveGoSend crowdsourcing site hosted an account to channel donations to the Freedom Convoy and it has been hacked. Its private donor information has been stolen and is now being used to intimidate and threaten donors. The role of the government in this crime is unclear. They certainly have not condemned or investigated it. They seem to be turning a blind eye to illegal activity; they appear to condone breaking the law when it is their friends breaking it. Maybe they funded it. In the absence of an investigation, we can’t be sure.
To defend democracy we have to steal your private information.
Now the government has admitted in the House that bank accounts of some protesters have been frozen. The Emergencies Act allows the banks and the government, working together, to “de-bank” anyone they choose, and the victims have absolutely no recourse because the Emergencies Act conveniently removes all civil liability from the banks. The path of least resistance for the banks is to go along with whatever the government wants.
So, if you made a $40 donation to the Freedom Convoy four weeks ago when there were no blockades, no trucks in downtown Ottawa, and no Emergency Act, you are in danger of having your bank account seized and frozen. Your bills won’t get paid. You can’t get at your money. You are crushed by a powerful alliance of (1) shadowy hackers whose motives and funders are unknown, (2) big banks who have no legal accountability even if they make a mistake as to your identity, and (3) the Federal government led by a power-hungry, divisive, hateful man bent on silencing his opponents.
To defend democracy we have to remove your ability to buy and sell.
Now, of course, not every small donor is going to get the full treatment. That might provoke more protest movements. No, what will happen is that a few will be made an example of to encourage the others. The point is intimidation. It is the politics of intimidation.
Over a thousand years traditions have evolved in the Anglo-Saxon world to prevent powerful forces from being able to intimidate the political opposition. Free speech, freedom of association, mobility rights, freedom of religion, the secret ballot, the division of powers, the independence of the judiciary, civilian control of the military – all of these and more have as one of their main purposes the prevention of intimidation. Democracy is not just a matter of having a vote; it is a matter of no one being able to silence opposing voices by threats.
To defend democracy we have to silence the opposition.
History will judge the NDP harshly if it aids and abets the Trudeau power grab. This will go down as the moment when a party started by blue collar union workers and farmers officially abandons its roots and reveals itself to be a vehicle of Gnostic, urban, elite – the laptop class. It will be an historic betrayal of the working class.
To defend democracy we have to make sure the working class knows its place.
How is this different from twentieth century totalitarian regimes of the left and the right? Is it Communist or is it Fascist? Forgive me for not being interested in the details of that debate while I’m trying to get enough money out of my account to buy groceries. Who cares what label you put on it? As Forest Gump might say, “Fascism is as Fascism does.”
If this law is allowed to go forward, there are no controls on who the government will go after and there is no reason to think they will be reasonable or rational. After all, the Prime Minister just yesterday accused a Jewish woman and descendent of Holocaust survivors of “standing with swastikas” in the House of Commons. He refused to apologize. That is how wildly irrational the Prime Minister is right now. Even Jews are Nazis if they oppose his power grab. If you look at his eyes, he does not seem to be well.
To defend democracy we have to engage in labelling, name-calling, and guilt by association.
This is a dark moment in Canada’s history. We stand at the precipice and a chorus of voices is chanting in unison: “Jump! Jump!” Parliament is supposed to protect the people from unscrupulous rulers getting unlimited power. The House of Commons is the house of the common people – like truckers – who want to live their lives without being crushed by the combined weight of big banks, big government, and shadowy forces whose names we don’t even know.
The House has 338 seats: Liberal = 159, NDP = 25, Conservative = 119, Bloc Quebecois = 32, Green = 2, Independent =1. The Conservative and Bloc (119+32=151 votes) oppose it. The Speaker does not vote so a majority is 169.
The vote will be close. The Liberals have the support of the NDP right now, which gives them 184 votes. I do not know how the 2 Green party members, or the 1 Independent will vote. So, they can afford to lose no more than 19 Liberal, NDP, Green, or independent votes in total. It is not known if any Liberals will defect at this point but two have spoken out against Trudeau in the past few days. The Senate is still a wildcard.
Canadians need the Liberal caucus to rise up and stop this out-of-control Prime Minister. They could do it. They would go down in history as heroes if they did it.
Things are moving quickly. The Federal Cabinet seized wide-ranging powers to over-ride civil liberties on Monday. Opposition had started to form by Wednesday. The majority of Canadian premiers, the country’s largest liberal newspaper, the Civil Liberties Association and the two largest opposition parties in Parliament have come out against it. The NDP is supporting the government but getting nervous about doing so. The Canadian Constitution Foundation* is launching a lawsuit. So is former premier Brian Peckford. Public opinion is fluid.
Two Western premiers and 16 US Governors have signed a letter asking Biden and Trudeau to reverse the covid mandate decision for truckers crossing the border, which sparked this crisis. This represents a big shift from a week ago.
Defusing the crisis would be easy. It could have been done days or even weeks ago. But we cannot assume that Trudeau wants to defuse the crisis. He is use to ruling without meaningful opposition and so, with the pandemic winding down, he is manufacturing a new crisis to justify doing end runs around the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
To save the Charter we had to violate it.
By the time Trudeau is finished “saving democracy” there won’t be much of it left.
This is an extremely serious situation. The government is in position to attack its opponents without judicial oversight right now and nothing can stop a 40-person cabinet from doing basically anything it wants in terms of knee-caping anyone it perceives as its enemy. If you had predicted this would happen a few weeks ago, you would have been dismissed as a crazy conspiracy theorist. But this is real, and it is dangerous.
O Canada, will Parliament stand on guard for thee?
*The name of this group has been corrected. It previously said the “Canadian Civil Liberties Association” but that it not the group in the story. The Canadian Civil Liberties Association, however, is also launching a lawsuit. See here. It is getting hard to keep up with all the groups wanting to sue the government!