Judge says Canada's use of Emergencies Act to quell truckers' protests over COVID was unreasonable
ABC NewsJan 24
Canadian Court: Govt. Emergency Powers in Trucker Protests 'Not Justified'
Image copyright: Scott Olson/Getty Image News via Getty Images
The Facts
A federal court in Canada found that the Canadian government's use of the Emergencies Act during the 2022 trucker protests against COVID health mandates was "not justified in relation to the relevant factual and legal constraints that were required to be taken into consideration." Justice Richard Mosley further ruled that the government's actions were "unreasonable" and violated Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
In response, Finance Minister [and Deputy Prime Minister] Chrystia Freeland said that while the government "respect[s] very much Canada's independent judiciary," it disagrees with the ruling and "will be appealing it." She claimed the decision to invoke the emergency powers — which ranged from making arrests to the impounding of trucks to freezing the funds of suspected convoy financiers — was to protect public safety and national security.
The Spin
Left narrative
If the trucker convoy wasn't a threat to national security then nothing is. Not only did this far-right, reactionary operation threaten the Canadian economy by blocking border crossings consisting of 25% of US-Canada trade, but some of the truckers had large amounts of weapons and ammunition. The previous public inquiry was correct, and hopefully, the next appeal will come to the same logical conclusion.
Right narrative
This ruling is a win for democracy and the first step to holding Trudeau accountable. The invocation of the Emergencies Act was completely unconstitutional —while protesters were merely exercising their rights to oppose extraordinary public health mandates, the government responded with an assault on civil liberties. Labeling all protesters far-right reactionaries is a deliberate distortion of the truth to justify an authoritarian crackdown.
Nerd narrative
There is an 82% chance that Pierre Poilievre will become Prime Minister of Canada before 2026, according to the Metaculus prediction community.