End the Mandates

[:en]Last week, Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Government invoked the Emergencies Act to deal with ongoing vaccine mandate protests in Ottawa.
On Monday, with the help of the NDP, they passed it in the House of Commons.
This is a staggering overreaction by the Prime Minister.
This has nothing to do with public health or the security of Canadians. This is about the Prime Minister and his steadfast refusal to positively engage with those who disagree with him.
What ever happened to “common ground”?
What ever happened to diplomacy?
Instead of reaching out, Justin Trudeau went for the nuclear option.
Only in Justin Trudeau’s Canada would the government invoke an Act that wasn’t even invoked after 9-11 to deal with a (largely) peaceful protest. The Act wasn’t invoked to deal with more dangerous stand-offs like those in Oka, Caledonia, and the rail blockades in support of the Wet’suwet’en in 2020. Why do so now?
Only in Justin Trudeau’s Canada does the government authorize banks to go after ordinary Canadians who made small donations so truckers could have a meal or a bed for the night.
What Justin Trudeau has done is a stain on our country.
Law enforcement was (and remains) in control of the situation and in possession of the tools (through existing legislation) needed to deal with those individuals who go too far.
The bridge blockade came down without the Act in place. The truckers moved out of residential neighborhoods in Ottawa without the Act being in place. The border blockades in Coutts and Emerson came down without the Act being in place. All the PM needed to do to rectify the situation in Ottawa was talk to the truckers and end the mandates.
Now that the Act has been passed by the House it goes to the Senate. However, now that the protesters have been removed, why continue to pursue it? If the Act wasn’t justified before—and it wasn’t—why pursue it now when the situation has rectified itself?
There never was a “national emergency” and there certainly isn’t one now. Does the Prime Minister really expect Canadians to let him keep emergency powers in case something should happen? If a real situation did not merit the Act, a hypothetical one certainly doesn’t. Yet that seems to be the government’s justification.
There is no justification for the use of the Emergencies Act in this situation, and the world is watching.
Canadians are watching.
There is a very simple solution to this crisis. The Prime Minister needs to heed his own advice, follow the science and end the mandates.
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