Canada truly has become a tyrannical hellhole. Crackdowns on those who refuse to line up for the COVID-19 vaccine have led to the Freedom Convoy. Rather than listening to the convoy protesters, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has decided to double down on authoritarianism.
Trudeau invoked his country’s Emergencies Act for the first time in history, authorizing crackdowns on the protesters in Ottawa and at the U.S.-Canada border in Alberta.
On Monday, Trudeau announced:
Here’s how the measures we’re taking today will help get the situation under control: The police will be given more tools to restore order in places where public assemblies constitute illegal and dangerous activities, such as blockades and occupations as seen in Ottawa, the Ambassador Bridge, and elsewhere. These tools include strengthening their ability to impose fines or imprisonment.
The government will designate, secure and protect places and infrastructure that are critical to our economy and people’s jobs, including border crossings or airports.
We cannot and will not allow illegal and dangerous activities to continue.
The Emergencies Act will also allow the government to make sure essential services are rendered, for example, in order to tow vehicles blocking roads.
In addition, financial institutions will be authorized or directed to render essential services to help address the situation, including by regulating and prohibiting the use of property to fund or support illegal blockades.
The petulant brat in charge of Canada is now siccing the power of the state on a group of peaceful protesters.
For Our VIPs: Trudeau Proves It Was Always Going to Be the Left That Went Full Authoritarian
But move over, Hank Williams, Jr. Justin Trudeau is carrying on his own family tradition: authoritarianism.
Let’s hop in the time machine and go back to Oct. 1970, before Justin was even a glimmer in his parents’ eyes.
Back then Canada was menaced by the short-lived Front de libération du Québec (FLQ), a Quebec separatist group. On Oct. 5, 1970, the FLQ kidnapped British Trade Commissioner James Cross. Five days later, they kidnapped Minister of Labour and Vice-Premier of Quebec, Pierre Laporte.
The FLQ whipped up support among college students across Quebec, and on Oct. 15, 3,000 students rallied in favor of the FLQ. The day after the rally, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau (yep, Justin’s daddy) invoked the War Measures Act, the precursor to the Emergencies Act that Justin loves so well. One day later, police discovered Laporte’s body in the trunk of a car, and the FLQ issued a series of demands for Cross’s release.
The Harvard Crimson reported at the time:
Prime Minister Trudeau, a Quebecborn millionaire with a master’s degree from Harvard, stated that the exact measures to be imposed would be announced at 11 a. m. today. While the War Emergency Act grants his government virtually unrestricted powers to suppress insurrection, indications are that the measures announced yesterday will be largely limited to search and seizure without warrant and regulation of public assembly.
Hundreds of troops and police took part in fencing off parts of Montreal yesterday, while additional hundreds made arrests of FLQ members and sympathizers.
Penalties of five years in prison have been set for those who “advocate, promote, or engage in the use of force or the commission of criminal offenses” in seeking governmental change.
When a reporter asked Trudeau père about his use of the War Measures Act, the prime minister decried the “bleeding hearts” who were “challenging the elected representatives of the people.” The reporter pressed how extreme Trudeau’s use of the Act would get, and Trudeau replied, “Just watch me.”
The circumstances during the October Crisis in 1970 were quite different: the terroristic FLQ had murdered one man and kidnapped another. Then again, those pesky Freedom Convoy people have blocked a bridge and honked their horns a lot. Tel père tel fils, one might say in Quebec.
What have we learned today, kids? When the Trudeau family is up against trouble, they default to authoritarianism. And that’s especially troublesome when you realize that Trudeau wouldn’t be PM were it not for the coalition-building in parliamentary governments that can turn a minority into a majority.
Editor’s note: this article was corrected to clarify the timeline of the crisis in Oct. 1970.
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