This week, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the lightweight, unpopular elected leader of a country with a 93% vaccination rate for those over 60 and a total vaccination rate of 84%, announced that he would invoke the Emergencies Act in order to crack down on the Freedom Convoy — a group of protesters opposed to government vaccination mandates for truckers. Trudeau breathily announced that invocation of the law was in fact “reasonable and proportionate.” His public safety minister, Marco Mendicino, said that the actions were required thanks to “intimidation, harassment, and expressions of hate.”
Why the government would need to invoke emergency powers in order to move some trucks remains beyond understanding; after all, the police had just removed trucks from the Ambassador Bridge, reopening that trade artery with the United States. Meanwhile, provinces across Canada have already begun alleviating their COVID-19 restrictions, from vaccine passports to masking. There is no emergency here that would justify use of the Emergencies Act — as even the BBC noted, “It is so far unclear which scenario Mr. Trudeau would rely on to justify the use of the Emergency Act — (the relevant threats have not) been clearly present in Ontario.”
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