Putin A La Poutine
By Mitch Berg
Justin Trudeau has essentially seized dictatorial power in Canada to rid his capitol of unruly subjects and their :
This is the first time the Emergencies Act has been invoked since it came into force in 1988, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said yesterday it is necessary to protect critical infrastructure such as borders and airports from the blockades, and create time-limited powers that do not already exist.
The government will use the act to force towing companies to remove big rigs and other vehicles that are blocking highways and other critical infrastructure.
It will also be used establish zones where public assembly is not allowed, and require banks to suspend or freeze accounts suspected of supporting the blockades, including those belonging to companies whose trucks are part of the convoy.
That seizure of assets, by the way? No court order or due process needed.
What could go wrong?
Can you imagine what the likes of Trudeau, and the rest of western pseudointelligentsia, would have done if Trump had declared a state of emergency to shut down a legitimate, if obsstreporous, protest?
One of the main organizers behind the truckers’ protest in Ottawa, now in its third week, said members are not going anywhere, and will “hold the line” in the face of the act.
This, after weeks of the Canadian media – generally no less incurious and subservient than the US media to government – telling the world the protesters were violent (the only the actual violence was when some counterprotesters rammed a vehicle full of protesters), racist (no photos) and destriuctive (all “vandalism” was easily picked up).
Let’s make sure we’re clear on this: after a year of barbering about the (real, serious) riots on January 6, which had no chance whatsoever of affecting the Constitutional process, much less seizing any actual government power, the western Left is applauding a western “progressive” leader usurping banana-republic powers to stifle obstreporous and boisterous speech that could be dealt with by legal, due-process means, had Trudeau the will and the courage.
This is not only the work of a coward, awash in fear over his 16% approval rate.
It’s the work of a politician, at the head of a moment, that has no respect for representative democracy.
Scratch a “progressive”, and they’ll bleed “tyrant”.
February 15th, 2022 at 11:14 am
Well, what’s Little Castro to do? Canada has no army nor national guard per se.
February 15th, 2022 at 11:28 am
“Can you imagine what the likes of Trudeau, and the rest of western pseudointelligentsia, would have done if Trump had declared a state of emergency to shut down a legitimate, if obsstreporous, protest?”
MBerg, please remind us — who tried to overthrow the US election to remain in power despite losing his election?
February 15th, 2022 at 11:31 am
threadjack
February 15th, 2022 at 11:36 am
Quillette has a longish interview with two of the trucker/protesters here:
https://quillette.com/2022/02/15/canadas-freedom-convoy-protesters-in-their-own-words/
February 15th, 2022 at 11:36 am
First they came for the illegally parked vehicles, and I was silent for I was not an illegally parked vehicle. These are highly specific, closely tailored emergency measures. Towing illegally parked vehicles is not exactly the first step on the road to a dictatorial-totalitarian regime.
February 15th, 2022 at 11:43 am
Your comment on social media objecting to Mitch’s post has been noted. Objectors are terrorists. The very existence of the nation is at stake. You will be dealt with accordingly.
We’ve notified your lending institution and credit card companies to freeze all accounts. Automatic payments for mortgage, gas, electric, will not be paid. Your driver’s license and vehicle tabs have been suspended – do not attempt to operate your vehicle on the public roadways. Your home, life, health, dental and car insurance has been cancelled. We’ve levied on your Social Security account, flagged your Medicare and seized your pension.
There is no judicial appeal from this order. Why should there be? You’re a terrorist.
You have no one to blame but yourself.
Hater.
February 15th, 2022 at 11:45 am
JD, you forgot to add: serial trollbot threadjacker.
February 15th, 2022 at 11:48 am
This is not a L/R issue, it is a liberal versus non-liberal issue, in the Toquevillean sense of liberalism. Matt Taibbi is a Lefty but also a liberal in that sense, he says about the Canadian fiasco:
As for talking to protesters, that’s out of the question. As Politico recently put it, the “conspiratorial mindset” of the demonstrators means “sitting down with them could legitimize their concerns.” Since we can’t under any circumstances have that, the only option left is the military “eventuality.” Or, as former Obama Deputy Homeland Security Secretary and CNN analyst Juliette Kayyem (the same person who went nanny-bonkers over the Southwest Air “Let’s Go Brandon” incident) put it, “Slash the tires, empty gas tanks, arrest the drivers, and move the trucks.”
Any sane person should be able to see where any of these ideas would lead. The problem is, we’re heading into our third decade of Western leaders embracing not thinking ahead as a core national security concept. It’s like these people went to anti-governing school.
https://taibbi.substack.com/p/the-great-international-convoy-fiasco
I would add that the reason it seems that “these people went to anti-governing school” is because they are not acting like governors, they are acting like tyrants. In a liberal democracy you obey the law, in tyranny you obey the government. These are not the same thing.
February 15th, 2022 at 11:50 am
Here is the formal emergency order from Trudeau cabinet
https://orders-in-council.canada.ca/attachment.php?attach=41560&lang=en
The order cites five reasons for invoking it. Three are economic or involve trade with the US. It makes clear that keeping trade links open with the US is a major aspect of Trudeau’s rationale for doing this.
February 15th, 2022 at 11:53 am
It’s surreal to see foreign critics far more animated against Trudeau’s move than his own domestic opposition.
Not sure if it tells us about the difference in Canada and US political cultures; or about the difference between being in politics and being in political entertainment…..
February 15th, 2022 at 12:15 pm
Someone must have said to the troll this morning “tell me you are a fascist tyrant without telling me you are a fascist tyrant.”
Mission accomplished troll.
Things like you are the reason so many people arm themselves.
February 15th, 2022 at 12:27 pm
Although it remains a tailored and proportional order. I also expect it will bear on those who have been self-enriching from the protests. Individual protesters have been complaining of seeing little of the money supposedly raised for them.
As I read the order — there are new financial reporting provisions and financial institutions will be directed to temporarily freeze accounts suspected of supporting illegal activity without a court order. Since the people doing the truck-protest crowdfunding seem so far to be keeping most of the money for themselves, it’s not clear that the protesters would notice any cut-off anyway.
February 15th, 2022 at 12:34 pm
Right on cue… LOL…
Several Canadian provincial executives resisted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s invocation of emergency powers on Monday to shut down the Freedom Convoy protests against vaccine mandates.
February 15th, 2022 at 12:42 pm
Emery Incognito on February 15, 2022 at 11:53 am said:
It’s surreal to see . . .
I imagine that for Emery life consists of one surreal vision after another, as the things that he believes to be absolutely certain truths are revealed to be falsehoods.
February 15th, 2022 at 12:46 pm
So this “small fringe minority” has resulted in the Canadian government suspending democracy, free movement and introducing the power to force labor, as well as confiscate Canadian’s bank accounts.
You know, perhaps if the Canadian gov’t invited the truckers to discuss things in the Parliament bldg. And then when they arrive, let them in, and then started firing tear gas, attacking them, killing a few, arresting the rest and jailing them under brutal conditions for the next year or more… aw, sorry, that would be crazy.
February 15th, 2022 at 1:11 pm
Read it again, EI.
Everything I said in my 11:43 is authorized by the emergency order. No court is ever involved. There’s no evidence required, no limitation on time or amount, no appeal. The punishment applies to anybody the bank or the insurance company decides it applies to, and they cannot be held liable for their decision.
It’s the No Fly List on steroids.
February 15th, 2022 at 1:39 pm
JD, how dare you mess with trollbot’s talking points du jour!
February 15th, 2022 at 1:40 pm
MBerg, please remind us — who tried to overthrow the US election to remain in power despite losing his election?
Did you actually read the post?
BTW, one doesn’t affect, much less justify, the other.
February 15th, 2022 at 1:41 pm
It’s surreal to see foreign critics far more animated against Trudeau’s move than his own domestic opposition.
Given their odds of being sent to an internment camp in the Yukon without trial…
February 15th, 2022 at 1:43 pm
Not sure if it tells us about the difference in Canada and US political cultures
It tells us about the difference between Ottawa/southern Ontario and western Canada.
Ottawa and Toronto control the media, and the shaping of the message presented to and parrotted by the left’s herd animals.
February 15th, 2022 at 1:43 pm
Accounts can be frozen for those “suspected” of supporting terrorism, not actually proven to be doingso. I know, how about we freeze the assets of all U.S. Congress-critters suspected of using their inside information to buy or sell stocks – but only until we get this hashed out in the courts, sometime around 2029.
Another element of Trudeau’s emergency powers, though, is that they must be approved by Parliament within 7 days, or they lapse. With the provinces already withdrawing their COVID restrictions, I wonder how the politicians representing these provinces might vote when it comes to sustaining Trudeau’s own threat to democracy?
February 15th, 2022 at 3:20 pm
Trudeau should not have issued an order like this — expressly designed to be used against terrorists — unless he knew he would get 100% backing by parliament.
February 15th, 2022 at 3:37 pm
MP – If Parliament doesn’t back him, Trudeau can declare them terrorists and then dissolve Parliament in the time-honored tradition of tyranny.
February 15th, 2022 at 4:14 pm
It’s not a matter of what he can do legally, Night Writer, it is a matter of what is politically prudent. If you invoke extraordinary powers, you want all of the parliament (or congress in the US) behind you. Otherwise it looks like a partisan action, and gives opponents of the PM a rallying point.
The Dems are unbelievably bad at simple governance. Biden has invested immense amounts of political capital in measures which have had a negative return (Afghan bug out, Voting legislation). He continues to push BBB and it will never pass in anything like its current form. Synema and Manchin are the holdouts, and with Biden’s approval rating in the 30 percent range in AZ, and in the teens in WVA, there is zero chance that Synema and Manchin will take Biden’s orders because they will pay a heavy price at the ballot box if they do so.
Biden’s advisers are mostly Obama admin retreads, and Biden was a senator for over three decades and veep for eight years, so you would expect minimal political competence from his administration.
What he is doing is terrible, it is breaking the country and breaking our remaining international alliances.
February 15th, 2022 at 4:17 pm
Otherwise it looks like a partisan action, and gives opponents of the PM a rallying point
On the other hand, once you’ve crossed the bridge to “ha[ving] essentially seized dictatorial power”, does partisanship really matter anymore?
February 15th, 2022 at 4:36 pm
Somewhere in H***, Jeremy Bentham is smiling at Justin Brandeau.
February 15th, 2022 at 6:37 pm
On the other hand, once you’ve crossed the bridge to “ha[ving] essentially seized dictatorial power”, does partisanship really matter anymore?
Well, Little Castro is really showing who his daddy really is. Apple does not fall far from the tree.
February 15th, 2022 at 8:11 pm
Oh, seizing bank accounts? That’s bad. That’s the type of thing a clever fellow might have foreseen when converting fiat currency into silver and gold, in hand.
Getting at treasure stored in a gunsafe often entails getting past the other items stored there.
February 15th, 2022 at 8:16 pm
That prissy little maple leaf faggot is “protecting the lively hoods” of some Canadians by seizing the assets of others.
I’ve said it before, and it bears repeating; when you’ve got nothing left to lose, you’re free to act as your conscience guides you.
Take a guy’s money and means of replacing it away, and you’ve stoked the flames of war.
February 16th, 2022 at 6:51 am
There are evidently many people who think it’s an outrageous act of tyranny to tow illegally parked trucks, but perfectly ‘normal political discourse’ to storm Congress to overturn a presidential election by violence.
Truckers — and everyone else — are free to continue to protest, demonstrate, and call for whatever measures they see fit, but without blocking critical infrastructure. As is reasonable in a free and democratic society under the rule of law.
@ JD These people at no longer legitimate, law abiding protesters so your 11:43 and 1:11 comments really seem to be in bad faith.
February 16th, 2022 at 7:16 am
Bad faith? That’s rich, even for you.
February 16th, 2022 at 8:33 am
Joe Doakes SiTD analyst is already reaping the benefits of banning books, I see.
February 16th, 2022 at 9:06 am
. . . but perfectly ‘normal political discourse’ to storm Congress to overturn a presidential election by violence.
I have never in my life met a person who believed this. I doubt that I ever will, but if I do, it is virtually certain that they will be on the communist or anarchist left.
February 16th, 2022 at 9:34 am
“Civil” Disobedience
RCMP charge four men with plotting to murder officers in connection with Coutts border protest
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/alberta/article-rcmp-charge-four-men-with-plotting-to-murder-officers-in-connection/
February 16th, 2022 at 10:21 am
Are these the same four guys who plotted to murder the Michigan Governor? Charged by the guys who preemptively vandalized an excavator on private property so it couldn’t be used to protest?
Scroll down to look at the photo of that weapons cache, SITDers. Does that look like an impressive arsenal for a dozen people in half-a-dozen families living just north of Montana? I no longer have any guns (after that tragic canoe accident) so maybe it’s a terrifying quantity of firepower, I wouldn’t know. At least there are no side-by-side upland game shotguns.
Another question: is that all the ammo they had? For all those guns? Geez, they must have been planning a January 6th-style insurrection – that’s not enough ammo for a dozen people to spend a weekend hunting prairie dogs.
Next up, child porn will be found on their computers; anonymous complaints will be received of hearing the N-word; and two women and one tranny will come forward to allege they were raped at a party in high school.
This is just laughable.
February 16th, 2022 at 10:23 am
Moderation. I referred to a prairie-dwelling animal popularly shot for sport. Oops, shares the same word as a former canine commenter. Bad commenter. Bad. No treat.
February 16th, 2022 at 10:26 am
Truckers — and everyone else — are free to continue to protest, demonstrate, and call for whatever measures they see fit, but without blocking critical infrastructure. As is reasonable in a free and democratic society under the rule of law.
Awesome. Too bad you didn’t have this opinion during the hundreds of protests that have happened that blocked freeways, city streets, and other infrastructure in many major cities in the US, since George Floyd died. But, better late than never, I guess.
February 16th, 2022 at 10:55 am
^ Most days, if you’re *really* determined to overlook it, you can just about ignore how much the far-right despises their countries and the actual human beings who live in them. But events like this make it impossible to ignore.
February 16th, 2022 at 11:09 am
^ Oh, look, the far-right boogieman finally showed up. Now *that’s* how you win in ‘normal political discourse’.
February 16th, 2022 at 12:15 pm
In the meantime, speaking of tinpot tyrants:
Biden Rejects Trump’s Executive Privilege, Orders Release of White House Logs to January 6 Committee
Canadian Prime Minster Justin Trudeau has stepped up his ruthless oppression of Freedom Convoy demonstrators, with police now visiting the homes of people who post in support of the protests on Facebook and a woman forced out of her government job after donating to the demonstrations.
Please repeat after me – libturds are all about law and order. Emergency executive powers are benign and just for show. Nothing to see here folks, just boiling some frogs…
February 16th, 2022 at 12:16 pm
darn open tag. That last paragraph is obviously mine, not a quote.
February 16th, 2022 at 2:39 pm
how much the far-right despises their countries…
It often amazes me just how off the mark liberals can be, or attempt to be.
… and the actual human beings who live in them.
We only despise those who are trying to destroy what this country was, still is, and is still trying to be despite their best attempts. Which is everyone on the left.
February 16th, 2022 at 6:15 pm
Failure can be defined as finding that 40 to 50 percent of your fellow citizens and far-right extremists who hate their country.
February 17th, 2022 at 10:11 am
The far-right hijacked this effort early on. The hack of the funding site made it clear — almost half of those funds and donors are from the US. The seizure of a weapons cache in Coutts AB demonstrated the risk that these domestic terrorists pose.
The claims of “harassment” that the protesters (who are NOT truckers … truckers are out there doing their jobs) made yesterday were laughable. These cretins have harassed the city and residents, including the poor, elderly and vulnerable, for three weeks.
February 17th, 2022 at 2:07 pm
The far-right hijacked this effort early on. The hack of the funding site made it clear — almost half of those funds and donors are from the US.
I just you’re working an explanation of this non sequitur. Money from US can only come from the far-right? And who are these far-right boogiemen who float around in your nightmares. And what about the other half of the money?
February 17th, 2022 at 2:17 pm
Hang on, as an ex-Canadian, I don’t think we (certainly not I) realized that one of the E-trolls is probably related to Diane Deans, Ottawa City Councillor. The Ottawa Official Who Demonized the Freedom Convoy Gets Her Just Deserts. I mean, doesn’t that headline fit the comments of the last two weeks?
February 19th, 2022 at 8:18 pm
There are evidently many people who believe that preventing the enforcement of traffic laws in downtown Ottawa is a vital US national interest — but that the first major-power war in Europe since 1945 is no big deal one way or the other.