Trudeau’s behavior and the nature of the Canadian government as a whole is laid bare through the events between Ottawa and the trucker convoy. The coming winter storms are already here.
Watching major events being covered is fascinating. You can usually tell who is the villain and who is the victim.
It’s been going on for a long time. The most memorable was seeing Benito Mussolini on the cover of Time Magazine in 1923. Or perhaps Hitler as Man of the Year, January 2, 1939 (To be fair, Time was selecting him by identifying the person who has “had the greatest impact on the news, positive or negative.)
There has been a bit of back and forth between Chinese and Russian good guys and bad guys. During World War 2, Russia was a US ally, then came the Cold War and all the media warned us to beware of those communists. (The enemy of my enemy is my friend sort of thing–until the first enemy is vanquished. Then things snap back to baseline.)
By then, China had overshadowed Russia. From being a great partner, China was now a great economic threat.
It seems that the good guys and the bad guys are now partisan. Chinese conservatives view Russia as worse than China, and Russian liberals view China as worse than Russia. In the meantime, both countries cooperate with each other-and are fast becoming close buddies.
It was Justin Trudeau who was the political darling of Canada and even by many Americans. His charm, multilingualism, youth, and idealistic traits made him a favourite. Nevertheless, recent events indicate his intestinal fortitude was far less impressive.
Despite his political popularity, Trudeau’s future will depend on how he deals with the truckers. US politicians and journalists are interfering in the meantime-it hasn’t been ignored that he is seemingly getting away with power grabs that have our own politburo drooling in anticipation.
After the truckers’ convoy first hit Ottawa, Premier Trudeau tested positive for Covid-19, and remained indisposed for four days before speaking to the nation. Conservative members of Parliament were incessantly taunting him, forcing him to come forward.
In an appearance on Parliament Hill after emerging from COVID-19 isolation, Trudeau said protests must end, and that while people have a right to protest, it does not mean they may “blockade” others from living their lives.
The efforts to get the truckers to leave have failed so far, but they certainly illustrate the power struggle at play.
A protest was transformed into an “occupation” to being a “state of emergency” all within a span of a few short weeks.
In an attempt to muzzle anti-vaccine mandate protests that have roiled Canadian domestic politics for weeks, Justin Trudeau invoked his country’s Emergencies Act of 1988. Under the act, Trudeau is able to increase government scrutiny of crowdfunding platforms and payment processors by bringing them under the Terrorist Financing Act.
As part of these new police powers, all truckers traveling across Canada have been vaccinated in order to enter the country in the past few weeks, resulting in the arrival of the “Freedom Convoy,” which marched to Ottawa to protest Trudeau’s requirements that truckers be vaccinated when returning from the U.S. The policy came into effect in January. In a report published in late January, the Toronto Star quoted the Canadian Trucker Alliance as saying that 16,000 truckers might be affected by the new restriction.
It has been reported that Trudeau said yesterday that the protesters’ blockades, along with those set up at Canadian border crossings as well as on Ottawa’s streets, are “endangering public safety.” He said if he invoked the Emergencies Act he would have the ability to call in the military (although he has resisted doing so, saying it is a “last resort”). In order to invoke the Act, “there must be a belief the protesters constitute a national emergency and cannot be dealt with under existing laws,” reports The Guardian.
It was hardly a coincidence that they went from legitimate protest to illegal occupation at the EXACT SAME TIME that the truckers’ convoy began drumming up substantial financial support on GoFundMe.
Due to “the promotion of violence and harassment” on the streets of Ottawa, GoFundMe froze nearly $10 million in donations, citing: “the violation of that line of demarcation.”.
Initially, GoFundMe was going to return donations to anyone who “made a request for a refund” by using a certain form within a certain timeframe, and any remaining funds were to be “distributed to other acceptable charities and organizations” (see below: Seattle Riots).
During the peak of the summer 2020 riots in Seattle, Washington sparked by George Floyd’s death, GoFundMe helped promote and fund the illegal “Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone” or CHAZ/CHOP.
As a result, other crowdfunding platforms stepped up. In addition to Tallycoin, which raised close to $930,000, there is also Flipstarter that raised just over $33,000.
GivingSendGo is another digital fiat platform that has gathered $6.3 million in donations to provide fuel and food to truckers as humanitarian aid.
Ontario took several measures Including: Diesel fuel was seized from truckers by Ontario Police. Fuel containers were seen being brought to truckers by supporters afterward.
Ontario Courts ordered an end to the honking. The truckers complied. (Okay, this one I agree with. Point made)
In an attempt to remove them, Trudeau sent in tow trucks. It would take a little over an hour for each rig to be set up if the truckers were totally cooperative and wanted their trucks towed. But they weren’t cooperative, and they didn’t want their rigs taken.
In other words, no matter what they did, their air brakes would lock their wheels. Additionally, there are not just one or two trucks parked on the roadside. It’s nothing short of a parking lot of trucks parked at odd angles. Not only do the truckers have to cooperate, but the tow companies need to as well. Despite numerous requests to haul away participants of the convoy, they have unilaterally refused to do so.
Trudeau seems to be targeting the children who are participating in this protest with their parents. (Isn’t this a Mafia practice?? “Take it to the mattresses?”)
It focused on the “welfare of the children”. Trudeau specifically mentioned “the children” in his tweet from February 3rd at 2:03PM:
“Make no mistake: The border cannot, and will not, remain closed. Every option is on the table. So, if you’re participating in these illegal blockades that are taking our neighborhoods and our economy hostage, it’s time to go home – especially if you have your kids with you.”
A ruling by the Ottawa Superior Court froze donations collected through crowdsourcing for the Ottawa government. However, GiveSendGo believes it is unenforceable and is even willing to sue: “Canada has zero jurisdiction over how our funds are managed here at GiveSendGo,” the company wrote on Twitter. “All funds for EVERY campaign on GiveSendGo flow directly to the recipients of those campaigns.”
And now this has happened: “Toronto-Dominion Bank has frozen two personal bank accounts into which C$1.4 million ($1.1 million) had been deposited to support protesters fighting the Canadian government’s pandemic measures”, a bank spokesperson said on Saturday.
TD applied to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on Friday to take the funds, which were sent through GoFundMe and bank transfers, so they can either be sent to the intended recipients or returned to the donors “who have requested refunds but whose entitlement to a refund cannot be determined by TD,” the bank said in a statement.
This is what a government is capable of doing.
Here is what a government doesn’t seem to be capable of: opening a dialogue to understand the protesters’ grievances. (In the United States, protests over police brutality are met with platitudes, empty promises to correct or investigate, wagon-circling, and victim shaming– which is why protests continue to occur.)
Thus far, truckers have received nothing but epithets and finger-wagging. Justin Trudeau has accused the truckers of “hate, abuse, and racism“, and has called the convoy “a fringe minority“.
Trust and goodwill aren’t fostered in this way, strangely enough. Neither is threatening them with criminal records, loss of employment, or activating Child Protective Services on them or their families. As evidenced by the money the truckers have raised, their supporters go beyond the protesters at the border.
People who have donated to the Freedom Convoy are being contacted by The Washington Post to ask why they did so. So much for privacy.
Christian crowdfunding platform GiveSendGo was back online Tuesday after being hacked.
A fundraiser for the Canadian trucker Freedom Convoy was hosted on the platform, which has been criticized for refusing to comply with a government order to freeze the funds.
There is a lot at stake here. The trucking industry comprises a considerable portion of the supply chain. Canada and the US cannot exchange goods if the ports and the truckers are down.
Here, a number of important issues are involved. What comes to mind is this: I think it’s pretty clear that the Gum’Ment is civil ONLY as long as what you’re doing doesn’t threaten their agenda. Up to and including the fuel in your cars, you are vulnerable to seizure of your money, wealth, and assets. If the state has access to your property, it may decide what you do with it.
Yes, this is Canada–but it is foolish to think that our politicians aren’t watching.
And taking VERY good notes.
To bring up a totally unrelated observation: if a government is willing to do this WHEN we have guns, well, just IMAGINE what it might be willing to do if we DIDN’T have them.