Justin Trudeau\u0027s unjustified suspension of civil liberties has tainted his moral authority to govern, writes Joe Oliver. Read more.
Yet restricting the rights of 38 million Canadians has not attracted the widespread outrage it merits because the blue-collar protesters it targeted are widely viewed with disdain, including by much of the mainstream media. This selective indifference is both distressing and dangerous. Suspending civil liberties because of a peaceful protest that went on too long sets a low bar that puts everyone’s freedom at risk.
Conventional opinion can change, sometimes swiftly and radically, and governments’ electoral interests shift with the political landscape. This is especially true of a self-righteous woke government led by a prime minister who deliberately sows divisions based on his own ideological and partisan preferences. So there may come a time when those whose opinions are currently in the ascendant may need the Charter’s protection.
Our view of the Emergencies Act should not be governed by our admiration of or scorn for the protestors. The Charter is meant to protect speech of all kinds from all sources. Unfortunately, personal views are too often determinative, which can create a political opportunity for governments willing to run roughshod over dissent. I have not met anyone hostile to the truckers who opposed the act, including otherwise staunch civil libertarians.
We are learning a lot from the Commission hearings, which were mandated by the Emergencies Act to determine, among other things, whether its invocation met the legal threshold, including that the “national emergency … cannot be effectively dealt with under any other law of Canada.” In deciding this, the fact that existing legislation was not relied on is irrelevant. Otherwise, incompetence or deliberate inaction could be used to invoke the Act anytime a government found it convenient.
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