Friday, February 18, 2022

Will It Work?

The events of the last three weeks represent the failure of all three levels of our government. They all responded too late. But, Tom Walkom writes, the Trudeau government had no choice. They had to invoke the Emergencies Act:

If Canada was to protect its sovereignty, it had to adopt drastic measures.

Much attention is being paid to the long-running occupation of downtown Ottawa. But the border blockades in places such as Windsor and Fort Erie are much more important.

These have threatened Canada’s ability to protect its own borders.

Leaving the decision on enforcing border laws to private citizens is to surrender Canada’s sovereignty over such laws. And ultimately those surrendered powers will be picked up by whatever government along the border is left standing — which in most cases means the U.S. government.

In short, if Canada is to present itself as a power along the U.S. border, it will have to demonstrate to Washington its ability to exercise control over cross-border trucking.

Invoking the Emergencies Act is an effective way to make that point. It leaves no question as to who is in charge.

The threat comes from inside the country. But it's clear its inspiration -- and much of its support -- comes from south of the border:

The convoy protesters do include people with backgrounds in hard-right politics.

It has been reported that some of the funding for the protests comes from Americans.

The border blockades are gone. This morning, police are moving in on the blockade in Ottawa.

What's really important is that implementation of the Emergencies Act works.

Image: The Toronto Star

16 comments:

zoombats said...

When the shoe was on the other foot. Actions against legitimate grievances were swift.

https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/lessons-from-the-time-250000-workers-shut-down-canadas-largest-city/

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2020/11/ontario-days-of-action-canada-workers-unions-strike-mike-harris

Lorne said...

If we are to restore badly-shaken faith in our institutions, Owen, this measure is surely needed.

Owen Gray said...

Strange, isn't it, how the Conservative party has devolved, zoombats?

Owen Gray said...

I agree, Lorne. It's ironic, isn't it, that a Progressive Conservative Prime Minister -- Brian Mulroney -- gave us the Emergencies Act?

Northern PoV said...

Yes - it is working. Borders open, showdown in Ottawa today.

And gottta love Paul Champs - he got a new order to get the crypto-money stopped - two steps ahead of the gov't as usual. Get them via the courts and $$ - very wise - those trucks are worth big bucks.

New law needed to make vehicular protests illegal. (ie vehicles in protests have become weaponized).

Owen Gray said...

The police appear to be moving slowly and methodically, PoV. Let's hope there's no violence.

Anonymous said...

A good feature of the Emergencies Act is the mandate for an enquiry into the circumstances that led to its use. We need to know why the Ottawa police welcomed the protest with open arms and did nothing to stop it for almost three weeks. We need to know the extent of right-wing extremist infiltration into municipal, provincial and federal police forces. We need to know what sort of coordination, if any, happened between the protest organizers and the CPC and PPC parties. Lots of other questions need to be answered and I hope an enquiry will allow us to fix an ailing security system.

Cap

Owen Gray said...

There were lots of things that went wrong here, Cap. We need to know what they were -- and fix them.

Lulymay said...

I agree with Cap, Owen. I live in BC, where we have certainly had our share of protests, and the police have been johnny on the spot very quickly and didn't hesitate to drag little old ladies (and others, of course) off their protest. I watched this thing develop in Ottawa, and it really appeared that the police, in addition to some Con politicians, didn't put any effort that I could determine anyhow, to deter these so-called "truckers in distress because they couldn't work bla-bla-bla.

This has all the appearances of being more of a political action - at least according to Tamara's "manifesto". She's also keen to have all western provinces separate from Canada. Her blather is as far away from these s-called poor truckers who can't work because something, something, vaccine mandates.

This whole fiasco has to be looked at very carefully and eyes fully opened! What's to stop other one-off idiots from doing the same thing?

Owen Gray said...

Exactly, Lulymay. This has been carefully organized. The word "mandates" is a cover. This is a political operation that is contemptuous of democracy and how it should operate.

Dana said...

With the CCLA attempting to provide philosophical cover. Paving the road to hell with split hairs.

Trailblazer said...

So far I am pleasantly surprised at the actions of the various police departments , drawn from the four corners of Canada ; I may have to eat my earlier caustic remarks of their actions.

As with government , who guide the actions of policing, there has been a vacuum of responsibility.

The actions of our government and the departments they guide bare too much resemblance to Trumps USA for my liking.

That the protesters cling to US cliché's is disturbing .

TB

Tim said...

This mess should be looked through the same lens as the January 6th insurrection in the US. They crippled Canada's capital, blocked the border and caused untold millions of dollars in economic damage. Not to mention terrorizing and disturbing the peace of residents and chocking off many livelihoods. If they wanted to protest something, why not the pandemic profiteers Musk, Bezos and many others who made obscene amounts of cash on their backs? Also their hero, the ever repugnant Trump, who continues to get rich off their stupidity. The machine that supports this was amazingly effective in convincing them to reject basic public health measures. The stupidest framing ever was to call them restrictions which added fuel to the anti government sentiment that this had devolved into. We must call on a Royal Commission to get to the bottom of this as the goal was to topple our government. BC Waterboy

Owen Gray said...

The reaction of the CCLA isn't surprising, Dana. They miss the big picture.

Owen Gray said...

It really is quite disturbing to see how Donald Trump has influenced these misguided souls, TB.

Owen Gray said...

I agree, waterboy. We must establish a Royal Commission when all this is over.