US Press Hides Key Info On Canadian PM Trudeau Invoking 'Emergencies Act' Attacking Truckers

P. Gardner Goldsmith | February 16, 2022
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At 4:30 PM, Monday, February 14, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told citizens he was invoking the so-called “Emergencies Act” in opposition to widespread and popular pro-freedom demonstrations at the capitol of Ottawa and other provinces.

He is the first Prime Minister to claim the “emergency” powers since the Act replaced the 1940’s-era “War Measures Act” in1985 (and given “Royal Assent” in 1988) and, contrary to what US media outlets CNN and NBC have claimed and implied, he simply cannot “invoke” this reworked vestige of World War Two military rule.

 

 

Echoing his gaslight-styled rhetoric of February 11, when Trudeau (whose COVID edicts and recent “jab” mandates on cross-US-border truckers have wiped out not only truckers’ freedoms and jobs, but the Canadian economy itself) flipped the narrative, hinted at initiating violent police action, and claimed it was his victims who were “endangering jobs,” yesterday, he outrageously claimed his move was about protecting people’s jobs.

That’s one bit that CNN got right, quoting his obtuse statement:

This is about keeping Canadians safe, protecting peoples' jobs and restoring faith in our institutions.

But, curiously, in their seeming icon-worship of Trudeau and their evident antipathy for -- and dismissiveness of -- the freedom-ralliers, CNN did not mention the data on the Canadian economy that I hyperlinked above.

They also did not mention that, according to the text of the so-called Emergencies Act itself, a Prime Minister cannot simply “invoke” it, and it does not grant HIM many of the powers his bureaucrats and media sycophants claim he can wield.

First, the subject of “invocation”…

This is not some kind of magic spell. As extra-judicial and anti-rights as the act is, it requires approval from the Canadian Parliament within seven days of a PM “invoking” it. To grasp this simple fact, Mr. Trudeau and the US pop media might have referred to the Canadian Encyclopedia, which points out:

Under the Act, Cabinet orders and regulations must be reviewed by Parliament, meaning the Cabinet cannot act on its own, unlike under the War Measures Act.”

Even last week, Parliament members of Trudeau’s own party were breaking ranks with him on lockdowns and his COVID jab attack on truckers.

Second, as the Canadian Civil Liberties Association points out (as part of an excellent thread on Twitter):

“The Emergencies Act can only be invoked when a situation ‘seriously threatens the ability of the Government of Canada to preserve the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of Canada’ & when the situation ‘cannot be effectively dealt with under any other law of Canada.’

Digging further – something CNN, NBC, and Trudeau’s cheerleaders seem unwilling to do – the act focuses on the ability of Provincial Governments to handle “emergencies.”

Even if Parliament were to approve of Trudeau’s call for the employment of the act, a PM cannot unilaterally move into the provinces without requests from their Premiers.

As Aanachal Nigam notes for RepublicWorld, four Provincial Premiers already have stood in opposition to Trudeau’s claim of power:

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said in a statement shared on Twitter, ‘The illegal blockades must end, but police already have sufficient tools to enforce the law and clear the blockades, as they did over the weekend in Windsor. Therefore, Saskatchewan does not support the Trudeau government invoking the Emergencies Act.’

Alberta’s Jason Kenney, Manitoba’s Heather Stefanson and Quebec’s Francois Legault also posted similar statements as Moe is opposing Trudeau’s plans on the Emergencies Act. If the act is invoked, Moe and Kenney have demanded that the measure should apply only in jurisdictions that request it.

Further, as the Act clearly notes, much of the “invocation” of “power” is not to be conducted by a Prime Minister, but by a different cadre of people, who, in toto, are called the “Governor in Council” of Canada.

From the Act:

Orders and regulations

  • 8 (1) While a declaration of a public welfare emergency is in effect, the Governor in Council may make such orders or regulations with respect to the following matters as the Governor in Council believes, on reasonable grounds, are necessary for dealing with the emergency:
    • (a) the regulation or prohibition of travel to, from or within any specified area, where necessary for the protection of the health or safety of individuals;
    • (b) the evacuation of persons and the removal of personal property from any specified area and the making of arrangements for the adequate care and protection of the persons and property;
    • (c) the requisition, use or disposition of property;
    • (d) the authorization of or direction to any person, or any person of a class of persons, to render essential services of a type that that person, or a person of that class, is competent to provide and the provision of reasonable compensation in respect of services so rendered;
    • (e) the regulation of the distribution and availability of essential goods, services and resources;
    • (f) the authorization and making of emergency payments;
    • (g) the establishment of emergency shelters and hospitals;
    • (h) the assessment of damage to any works or undertakings and the repair, replacement or restoration thereof;
    • (i) the assessment of damage to the environment and the elimination or alleviation of the damage; and
    • (j) the imposition
      • (i) on summary conviction, of a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars or imprisonment not exceeding six months or both that fine and imprisonment, or
      • (ii) on indictment, of a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars or imprisonment not exceeding five years or both that fine and imprisonment, for contravention of any order or regulation made under this section.

The “Governor In Council” is a vestige of British Royal Authority, and it is comprised of the Prime Minister’s Cabinet and the Royal Governor General (the oldest political position in Canada, currently occupied by Mary Simon). Without her assent, in addition to the Parliament’s within seven days of the PMs “invocation,” this is a non-starter.

But, of course, CNN and MSNBC didn’t bother to mention those systemic mechanisms.

Oh, and something else the pop media has not mentioned…

The Act also requires compensation to citizens who suffer losses due to government demands, and, as the Canadian Encyclopedia notes, the Act is SUPPOSED to be constrained by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The Emergencies Act outlines how people affected by government actions during emergencies are to be compensated. It also notes that government actions are subject to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Canadian Bill of Rights.

This is problematic for supporters of Trudeau and those who want him to crack down on everything from the peaceful protests, to freedom of movement, to the ability of supporters to furnish the demonstrators with food or monetary aid.

In part, the Charter explicitly states:

Fundamental Freedoms

  1. Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:
    1. freedom of conscience and religion; 
    2. freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication; 
    3. freedom of peaceful assembly; and 
    4. freedom of association.

It also states:

Mobility Rights 

  1. Every citizen of Canada has the right to enter, remain in and leave Canada. 
  2. Every citizen of Canada and every person who has the status of a permanent resident of Canada has the right.
    1. A.to move to and take up residence in any province; and
    2. B. to pursue the gaining of a livelihood in any province. 

But who expects the Trudeau regime to conform to the rules? Already his Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland (an ironic surname, indeed), she who also is Deputy Prime Minister (and on the BOARD of Klaus Schwab's World Economic Forum), has announced that the “Trudeau Government” is authorizing banks in any Province to freeze the accounts of anyone suspected of being involved in “illegal activity” -- no trial, no accusation of a crime, simply an o’ersweeping proclamation of what appears to be some claimed “immunity-granting” power that she and Trudeau will offer to banks through extant byzantine Canadian financial regulations and cross-province corporate connections.

As a way of circumventing the requirement in the Emergencies Act that the Provincial Premiers give their assent to central government operations inside their Provinces, it’s darkly ingenious.

As a matter of honest dealing, rights, and proper judicial operation, it’s horrific.

But it is consistent with Trudeau’s unwarranted demonization of the demonstrators, the biased “reporting” that gives Trudeau passes on his new heights of attempted tyranny, and the overall blindness to fundamental rights that Trudeau and many of his supporters display.

 

Related: As Lockdown Politicians Gaslight, Many Americans See Trucker Demonstrations As Freedom Movements | MRCTV

 

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