Here's how you know the Freedom Convoy is winning:
Yup, the truckers have put on a true workers protest in Canada and it's, like, totally disrupting the economy, man.
So instead of caving to the protesters' desires, as his polling suggests he should do, he's going to go ahead and use emergency powers to stop them instead (it is now confirmed that he is doing this, as this CBC headline fails to deliver).
Lemme know how that works out for ya, bud!
The Emergencies Act…defines a national emergency as a temporary "urgent and critical situation" that "seriously endangers the lives, health or safety of Canadians and is of such proportions or nature as to exceed the capacity or authority of a province to deal with it."
The act gives special powers to respond to emergency scenarios affecting public welfare (natural disasters, disease outbreaks), public order (civil unrest), international emergencies or war emergencies.
It grants cabinet the ability to "take special temporary measures that may not be appropriate in normal times" to cope with an "urgent and critical situation" and the resulting fallout. It is still subject to the protections of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms…
Once cabinet declares an emergency, it takes effect right away — but the government still needs to go to Parliament within seven days to get approval. If either the Commons or the Senate votes against the motion, the emergency declaration is revoked.
Sounds like a whole lotta fun up there in Canada!
And while Trudeau says he will be using Canada's national police (RCMP) to shut down some of these protests, he claims he will not be using the military.
So that's cool, at least.
And he still needs approval from the Commons and the Senate, as noted above. He'll have to convince them that there is a true emergency here worth invoking the act over. If not, he'll probably scratch his head a little, disappear for another week or so, and then return with a new plan.
Hopefully that's what happens here, though I'm not counting on it.
The good news? It does look like some of the provinces—including Canada's most populous, and home of the Ottawa protest, Ontario—will be dropping the vaccine mandates and easing restrictions as early as next month.
The truckers, however, are not convinced. They claim they've heard this kind of noise before, and nothing has come of it.
Here's some of what Trudeau plans on doing, at least until he gets shut down by the Senate or Commons.
Trudeau said the measures will be geographically targeted and "reasonable and proportionate to the threats they are meant to address."
The unprecedented deployment of the Emergencies Act gives police more tools to restore order in places where public assemblies constitute illegal and dangerous activities, such as blockades and occupations, he said.
The government is also designating and securing critical areas such as border crossings and airports. Invoking the act will also allow the government to make sure that essential services — such as towing services to remove trucks — are rendered, said Trudeau.
The act also permits the federal government to direct financial institutions to render essential services to address the situation, and to prohibit the use of property to fund or support illegal blockades.
Trudeau said the act also will enable the RCMP to enforce municipal bylaws and provincial offences where required.
Like I said, we'll see how that goes.
A lot of these Freedom Convoy protesters say they'll need to be forced to leave or else they ain't leavin'.
Hopefully, everything will remain peaceful.
But we shall see...
Quick note: the only other prime minister to use emergency powers like this during peacetime: Pierre Elliott Trudeau during the October Crisis. That was back when it was referred to as the War Measures Act.
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