Rex Murphy: Trudeau's national 'emergency' was a pure concoction of political convenience - National Post

 ...  Up until COVID, rights listed in the charter were the bedrock of Canadian society. Enter COVID and they were as a morning mist.

The federal Liberal government and most of the provinces could (now) issue decrees, impose drastic penalties — fines or job loss — shut down some businesses, leave others (mainly very big ones) open, prescribe mandates, forbid even domestic gatherings, interfere with religious observances, then turn around on a dime — and mostly Canadians took it all too complacently.

There were a few ardent civil libertarians, and some brave protesters, but they were quickly either barred or banned, or branded, rather cruelly, as “anti-vaxers” — in essence snarled at by the authorities, and also in many cases reviled by a supine media ...

The only really serious protest came with the truckers’ convoy ...

They went all the way to Ottawa to give political expression to their stand on COVID mandates. And where else should they have gone? Ottawa, as so many seem willing to forget, is the centre and site of what is left of Canadian democracy — the location of the House of Commons ...

Trudeau, by this time accustomed to ruling by fiat, denounced the protesters even before they arrived. And not once did he offer an opportunity for a meeting, or delegate ministers to have a discussion. The PM in fact treated them more like invaders than a representative group of Canadian citizens with relevant and pressing concerns. ...

One day Canada was a country at rest. The next day “there’s a movement to overthrow the government.” It was a pure concoction of political convenience, and by no means incidentally, a huge gesture of contempt for those in disagreement with the government.

The Emergencies Act came, like a meteor, flashing out of nowhere, with no specified circumstance to justify it, no convening of Parliament before so fierce a legislative response, and absolutely no communication with the protest or its leaders. ...

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