As the folk wisdom goes, be careful what you wish for, you might just get it.
Albertans, who have a habit of complaining bitterly when they are not at the top of the national agenda, are a step closer this morning to having their wish granted thanks to the vote of the House of Commons yesterday to authorize implementation of the Emergencies Act.
Within 60 days of the end of the current national public order emergency declared by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet on Valentine’s Day, an inquiry must be established “into the circumstances that led to the declaration being issued and the measures taken for dealing with the emergency.”
The report of the inquiry must be put before the House of Commons and the Senate 360 days after the end of the declaration of the emergency.
This is the law of the land, not subject to endless delays and procedural manoeuvres as with an inquiry conducted under provincial legislation in Alberta. It’s stated quite plainly in Part VI, Section 63, Paragraphs 1 and 2 of the Emergencies Act.
A number of prominent Albertans, quite possibly including our present premier and members of his cabinet and caucus, as well as a number of unsavoury figures connected to funding and organizing of the “Freedom Convoy” whose activities led to the national emergency, are likely to find themselves under the microscope during such an investigation.
No wonder Alberta Premier Jason Kenney would very much prefer the declaration of the national emergency to be ruled unconstitutional, because any serious inquiry into his conduct in this affair is not likely to show him in a particularly kind light.
Even if the inquiry comes too late to do him political harm, Mr. Kenney is without a doubt a man who thinks about how he will be remembered by history.
And as University of Calgary law professor Shaun Fluker wrote in the Law Faculty’s blog, part of the reason for the current lack of faith by large numbers of Canadians in our democracy is the result of actions by provincial governments like Mr. Kenney’s during the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Say what you will about the far-right fanaticism of many of the leaders of the convoy insurrection, Professor Fluker wrote that “we … find ourselves here today because of decisions made by the executive branch of governments in most provinces that have shown almost no regard for basic democratic practices.”
“Slowly but surely over the course of two years, voluntary compliance with the COVID-19 rules was going to end because the rules were (1) too often announced for the first time, and without any advance public notice, at media scrums; (2) made with little or no explanation for where the lines between acceptable and unacceptable conduct were drawn; and (3) often difficult to understand or even incoherent. And the longer this messy lawmaking went on, the uglier it would be when defiance overshadowed compliance.”
Professor Fluker continued: “In asserting that federal emergency powers are not needed in Alberta, Premier Kenney is misconstruing the real reason for this proclamation of a national public order emergency.” (Of course, anyone who has followed Mr. Kenney’s career will not be shocked by such a turn of events.)
“The emergency is not just the blockades and occupations, which were always just a symptom of what really ails Canada as the COVID-19 pandemic nears the two-year mark,” Professor Fluker wrote. “In my view, the real emergency is a governance and legitimacy crisis for government.
“An emergency which was created by the very sort of lawmaking practices exhibited by the Premier and his executive in addressing COVID-19, only further exacerbated the absence of any significant use of enforcement powers under the Critical Infrastructure Defence Act to clear out the Coutts blockade.”
These are important issues. Practically speaking, though, one imagines the inquiry will have to focus on the acts of the Kenney Government and the convoy conspirators leading up to the specific crisis of January and February 2022 – both their omissions and commissions.
Even so, this is not likely to be an easy or happy process for Mr. Kenney and his cabinet, for the anti-vaccine-mandate cabal within his caucus, or the large group of Conservative MPs, many of them from Alberta, who praised the convoy participants for defying the law and blockading trade at great economic cost and in some cases actively encouraged illegal actions.
Sadly, this may speed the decline of the Conservative Party into full-blown Republican-style abandonment of democratic principles if a result is that our Parliamentary system fails to deliver electoral victories to the party in the face of its steady radicalization.
To return to the Emergencies Act, it is proof that once upon a time Canadian Conservatives could create legislation that respected democratic norms and dealt with practical matters of governance, and not the implementation of ideological nostrums in the face of common sense that dominates Conservative governments like Mr. Kenney’s.
When prime minister Brian Mulroney’s Conservative federal government penned the Emergencies Act in the 1980s, its drafters took considerable pains to ensure it met the tests of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Unlike the War Measures Act it replaced, it requires Parliamentary oversight of the declaration of an emergency, clearly delineates the time an emergency can be in place without additional Parliamentary review, and sets out the requirement for an inquiry and the report of the inquiry to Parliament.
Last night the emergency declaration passed the first step of Parliament’s oversight, with the House voting to authorize the emergency measures by 185 to 151. The NDP supported the Liberals while the Conservatives and the Bloc Québécois voted against. The two Green MPs split their vote.
The oversight process moves to the Senate this morning.
As for the court challenge touted by Mr. Kenney on social media Saturday, it is unlikely to be anything but an embarrassing waste of time and money.
The Emergencies Act seems to be a fairly well drafted law, obviously in response to past over reach. Of course, not to say that it is perfect, nothing is, but perhaps reflection on the use of it and the situation will lead to ideas for improvement.
It seems to have reasonable to use it in this situation and it seems to being used with restraint. Obviously, when there is a crisis governments also have to work with the tools they have and not try to create some perfect one that does not exist. Lastly, more importantly from a political point of view , it seems to have to have worked, ending the occupation and the blockades.
So, it makes sense it was implemented by Parliament. Of course, the vote was spilt two parties for, two against and one party itself split and there are reasons for the opposition.
First of all, the Conservatives can’t seem to decide if they are on the side of the protesters or not. They seem to go back and forth. They are a divided party. Unlike the US which is a very intense partisan two party system, it is not as easy here to gain power just by attacking the other party. Second, the BQ might have some reservations in general about giving the Federal government more power.
Lastly, back to Alberta, some UCP MLAs also did seem quite cozy with the Coutts border blockade protesters. We can’t say if that includes the ones with all the illegal weapons or not, but one can see how looking into things further might make Kenney uncomfortable. So what better to try distract from what happened, or stop looking into things too closely, than with a law suit.
The head honcho of the UCP is in panic mode. He wants to try and save his political career, in any way he can, and he also wants the UCP to remain relevant, and have them remain in power. I don’t think this will be a success. The UCP has done many major failures, and many very costly shenanigans. Albertans will be footing another hefty bill for another lawsuit which the UCP are sure to lose. If Albertans support the UCP for even another 4 years, this won’t be a good thing.
I got very dizzy from the spin you put on that one Dave.
I’m glad Canada is waking up. Trudeau hasn’t got much time left. The Libs and the Jr. Libs (NDP) have run Canada into the crapper. I mean all Notley has to complaim about is “private” health care when the public system literally murdered thousands during the pandemic. She’s soooooooooooooo braindead.
The left is nonsense. Canada is conservative now. Hang on tight, the country is about to buck you evil lefty lunatics right outta here.
Would you care to call Gretchen Whitmer “brain dead” while you’re at it, Mr. Ke — I mean “Dizzy”? After what went on at the border crossing in Coutts, I suggest you follow the advice of the late Jim Prentice and “look in the mirror”, sir.
Buddy, Canadians HATE this ridiculous “convoy” movement, look at the polling. We hate you. Go home idiots.
I suppose anything seems possible when you don’t care what’s actually possible.
If you believe the people here are ‘evil lefties’, why are you engaging with us? “Gosh, some rando on the internet called me an evil lefty, that’s definitely going to prompt me to rethink my life choices.”
Why are you spreading demonstrably false absurdities, like that ‘the public health system literally murdered thousands during the pandemic?’ The reason so many people died of covid in alberta is because the government of alberta values the ‘right to lick doorknobs’ over ‘the right to life’. People working in the public health system have suffered enormously trying to keep people from dying needlessly, only to have our gains squandered time and time again by opportunistic, greedy, willfully ignorant individuals. It takes a special kind of entitled know-nothing to slander the people who have been working mandatory overtime to try to protect them from themselves.
Do you actually not get that 75% of Canadians did not support the illegal actions of these yobs and yahoos? This isn’t ‘left vs right’ this is ‘the nutty half of CPC supporters vs just about everyone else.’
Finally, if you are proud of your words and actions… maybe put your name behind them?
We are the Houyhnhms.
You, like a lot of people it seems, live in cloud cuckoo land. It’s going so well in Alberta due to the mighty UCP, right?
DIZZY: These phony conservatives and Reformers sure fooled people, but I’m not one of them. I know what true conservatives are, and Alberta had that under Peter Lougheed, who was doing things correctly. Ever since, Liberals turned Reformers, like Ralph Klein, and the head honcho of the UCP, or Reformers were running things, and it’s been very pricey shenanigans, time after time, losing hundreds of billions of dollars, such as $575 billion that has vanished for good, because the royalty rates of Peter Lougheed weren’t adhered to, $260 billion is required to address the abandoned oil wells in Alberta, $150 billion is also not there because of poor corporate tax policies, and there was more pricey boondoggles on top of that, losing so much more money. These pretend conservatives and Reformers support their rich corporate friends, and don’t support Albertans, nor do they want to support core essential services, and they want to privatize it all. This isn’t going to improve things. Spining it, by blaming the lefties, isn’t going to fly.
Dizzy A lawyer friend of mine said it best. There is nothing dumber than a stupid senior trying to pretend that he is a conservative, going around bashing anyone who isn’t as stupid as him , while he is the one dumb enough to support the guy who creating the problem for all of us.
Yesterday at coffee the true conservatives in our circle of friends were praising Trudeau for how he handled this mess in Ottawa and we think he has won over a lot of supporters. How do you support these damn Reformers when they were the ones praising these truckers for creating this mess and how do blame Trudeau for the horrible mess Kenney made of the way COVID was handled in this province? Maybe you should get your head out of your behind.
DJC, there are some trenchant observations in this blog post, in particular, the predication that the investigative process compelled by the act and the subsequent embarrassment of many in UCP caucus caused by their own hidebound foolishness “may speed the decline of the Conservative Party into full-blown Republican-style abandonment of democratic principles if a result is that our Parliamentary system fails to deliver electoral victories to the party in the face of its steady radicalization.”
I would simply add that the Parliamentary system, at least federally, is already failing to deliver victories for the CPC in the face of a steady radicalization. Erin O’Toole may have tried to moderate the party, but many voters knew, at best, that this was a shoddy Potemkin village that was meant to hide the embarrassing nutbars with fascist tendencies from view. The voters were not fooled. Now, with the spectacle of Candice Bergen and Skippy in the ascendancy and emboldened right-ringers within the CPC, such as Leslyn Lewis, Andrew Scheer, Marilyn Gladue, and Mark Strahl, piling on with even more foolishness, the anti-democratic tendencies already on display are likely to come into full relief.
Consequently, the investigation will also likely embarrass the CPC. This might be a reason for some good old-fashioned Schadenfreude! That said, we should be wary. The CPC seems to be toying with the use of full-blown misinformation campaigns that are intended to distract and mislead. Take, for example, the apparent false claims promulgated by Mark Strahl and Marily Gladue about single moms having their bank accounts frozen as conseqeunce of having donated to the Clownvoy. Both Strahl and Gladue claim they can’t release any information about these “victims” out of concern that they might be doxxed. In any event, I fear that the use of such tactics will only grow, taking us further toward the madness that is US style politics.
The use of the Emergency Act to deal with this crisis is troubling, notwithstanding. At a minimum, let’s hope the investigation can recommend some updated legislation that will find a better balance between allow democratic dissent and providing effective deterrents for protests that have significant, negative impacts on the income and freedoms of others. We need such legislation to ensure we do not have to use a blunt hammer like this in the future.
I would have said the electoral system, not the “parliamentary system”, has succeeded in proving that the CPC has failed to persuade enough Canadian voters that it should be government instead of either the Liberals or a Liberal/NDP alliance.
Or, to put it another way, our parliamentary democracy (all the systems involved) has succeeded in electing centre-left federal governments in 2015, 2019, and 2021. These and other features of the CPC rather suggest failure in a cascade.
It’s probable that, if the current parliamentary alliance loses a vote of confidence (as the NDP leader has warned he has the power to do if the Liberals abuse the Emergencies Act), and the the NDP does not support the CPC to form government in the parliament extant (it’s virtually guaranteed this would never happen), there would be an election called. And, after the shameful behaviour of CPC MPs and their professed adherents during these illegal blockades, it is quite probable that voters would return the Liberals to government —indeed, quite possibly with a majority.
That would be four times in a row that the CPC failed to win government back—although, owing to offshoot parties potentially influencing the proportions of partisan seats in the Commons and to the usual vicissitudes of politics, it’s possible—although improbable—that the CPC might win a thin minority government next time. Such is what our parliamentary system manifests of voters’ choices.
Still, three duds in a row has been enough to divide the CPC and hive off a couple of far-right federal parties. It’s more obvious every day that the CPC needs a win—not to constructively cooperate with the provincial federates to meet the challenges of our times (heck, the CPC overtly challenges that Covid and climate-change even exist), but purely to save itself from oblivion. Its quandary is its rote circularity: the more desperately it tries to hang onto radicalized reactionaries, the less likely enough citizens will vote for it, and the more often that happens (three, back-to-back so far, remember), the more it’s rendered to a degree of irrelevance and repugnance that effectively throws gas on its own funeral pyre. The extent our parliamentary system plays any part is in allowing CPC members to join in parliamentary debate (the systemic and systematic embarrassments CPC MPs reveal in the Commons are their party’s own, not the parliament’s).
Hence, it’s its own party system (political parties are not even mentioned in the Constitution and they are relatively free to be what they want to be) is what fails the CPC and, plainly, it can’t adjust its flightpath as much or fast enough to avert what looks like a crash landing. Our parliamentary system has little to do with that, itself.
But our parliamentary democracy does.
There can be no doubt that while the expected review of the effect and results of the Emergencies Act Inquiry will commence in sixty days, Kenney and another UCP-appointed blue ribbon panel will conduct their own, parallel inquiry that will serve, in Kenney’s mind, as the definitive, most comprehensive, most transparent, and the most truthful of the rationale behind the implementation of the Act. So, give Alberta Ninety-hundred-billion-gazillion-trillion dollars for else.
One Alberta CON MP, a Ziad Aboultaif, denounced the whole measure as a draconian way to solve a “parking problem in Ottawa”. Judging by the immediate and effective impact of the measure in Ottawa, perhaps the measure should be applied as a solution to the parking situation in Calgary? This is the level of the ridiculousness that has come to Alberta. For the value of the comedy, you’re welcome Canada.
Given that Alberta has become something of the hub for all kinds of reactionary, anti-federal antics, all financed by the deep pockets of the provincial government and its various fellow travellers, there can be no doubt that it’s entirely warranted that, in the interest of national security, to investigate every instance where Alberta has got its filthy, knuckle-dragging paws on whatever crazy that is going on. I suspect that such and inquiry will find mountains of evidence to suggestion that the mere exist of Alberta is a threat to everyone breathing and should be immediately disposed of for being the stupidest people alive.
“Sadly, this may speed the decline of the Conservative Party into full-blown Republican-style abandonment of democratic principles…”
That may be true but meanwhile the Prime Minister has resorted to calling everyone who disagrees with him as siding with swastika waving Nazis and white sumprecaists. During the debate yesterday the Liberal MP for York Centre equating the honking of horns as an acronym for “Heil Hitler.” Lunacy abounds.
https://youtu.be/abJWcMkQdfU
Yet another ridiculous generalization from the person who thinks everyone left of Fox News is a communist.
Why do you even post on this blog ? Did you get kicked off Facebook ?
Why do you even post on here Little Bird? I agree with a lot of things you say but Ronmac makes a perfectly reasonable statement and all you come back with is ad hominems. First of all it’s not a ridiculous generalization because that’s exactly what JT did at the start of this. He appeared to freeze and go into hiding, when he ocassionally came out he didn’t present as anything close to leadership. It’s said here that if JT and other more local politicians and officials had got together and worked on this thing properly the Emgs Act could have been kept in its box.
I viewed the clip Ronmac posted and indeed it was lunacy, I thought that maybe it was cropped out of context but I don’t see how it could be anything than what she said. Is this the level of discourse you expect from our MPs?
If you’re going to post something try to make it intelligent, like I think you usually do.
I’m going to be completely honest, I don’t click YouTube links, period. It is not a platform with any standards and it’s easily manipulated.
As far as the pm calling everyone who makes up the convoy nazis, they’ve been saying that over and over for weeks. Many people have pointed out that there is a strong contingent of fascists in said movement, ALMOST NO ONE including the PM has claimed that about all these folks. It’s a ridiculous over generalization.
I post on this blog for the same reason everyone else does, I generally enjoy the commentary, even when folks disagree. But when other folks just flog their hobby horses over and over I’ve got less and less reason to engage meaningfully.
I wish JT had a better understanding of what is and isn’t helpful for a prime minister to say, and more willingness to work for the common good than the partisan good. That said, the first step to abandoning facts entirely is carelessly omitting details that may detract from the conclusion you wish to draw from your facts.
Pretend you supported JT – how might you interpret events? How might you react to “nearly true but misleading” attacks against him? Does it frustrate you when people make similar “nearly true but misleading” attacks on the people or causes you support?
It’s easy to feel strongly, and we all get caught up in it sometimes, including me, and I’ve been actively trying to cut down on it for years now but I still backslide all the time. Often we think less clearly while we are caught up in the grip of passion.
I recognize and respect that you are making the effort to avoid getting stuck in an echo chamber and that you are making the effort to stick to true facts. I don’t want to come across as taking down to you, I feel like this is coming across as arrogant but don’t have time to fiddle with the wording. Sorry if the tone is condescending, lunch is ending and I gotta get back to it.
Thanks for writing another elucidating column, David.
Something that is really interesting is the timing of these things. If the state of emergency lasts the full 30 days, it will end on Mar 16, which will have the inquiry due to Parliament on Mar 11 of next year, a bit more than 2 months before Albertans go to the polls. The NDP won’t have to pay for attack ads, the federal government will do it for them!
As I watched the police cordon envelop the Trawniki Truckers in Ottawa I kept hearing the cry ” Hold the Line” as if we were being transported in time and place to Chickamauga Tennesee in 1863 to hear General ” The Rock ” Thomas exhorting his men after the Union right flank disintegrated or Maximus leading his calvary to attack the Germanic Tribes in the rear and calling to his men to ” Hold the Line”.
To break the enemys line usually meant the end of the battle and was the goal of both Generals. A good General would examine his opponents troop dispositions and skillfully maneuver his forces to take advantage of any perceived weakness and at the critical moment commit his reserves turning the broken line into a rout. I digress.
The irony was certainly not lost on me if we consider that we were at war with Covid 19 for going on 2 years and it was important that we , by we I mean everyone in Society, showed a united front to the dread virus. To “hold the Line” , to keep a united front whilst we looked for weakness in the enemy. That’s how we were to win the war against the virus, at least that’s what the experts and common sense were telling us.
Unfortunately there was a ” Fifth Column ” of traitors in our midst against the pandemic. The Anti-Vaxxers,Anti Maskers, pro Freedom movement guided by misinformation(Tucker Carlson,Fox)and USED by right wing politicians in the US of A ( Trump,Desantis,Abbott) and ( Kenney, Moe, Poilievre,Bergen) in Canada. These right wing politicians were happy to use the Pandemic as a wedge issue to gain political capital. They are selling us out. I say are because the pandemic is on going.
The salient point in all this is that the Trawniki Truckers were happy to have a united front and to ” Hold the Line” when the long suffering citizens of Ottawa were finally forcing them out of there encampment but couldn’t bring themselves to unite with the rest of us to end the pandemic.
Dizzy should be reminded that we had an election where the Cons received more votes but less seats under our first past the post system. Canada still uses an election system to change government, not the bullshite we have witnessed in Ottawa.
Hmm…that is true. But, the parties know this and know where they must target their votes.
Erin O’Toole tried to appeal to those ridings in BC, ON, and QC that would take the CPC over the top. The voters in these ridings were not deceived by O’Toole’s attempts to put lipstick on a pig, with all the crazies, such as Derek Sloan and others, creating tension within the party. And, let’s face it, Erin O’Toole’s campaign was bad, and his studio appearance laughable and ridiculous. This was his election to lose, but I doubt any of the other CPC leadership candidates could have done any better.
@Dizzy, are you arguing for proportional representation? Do you think the CPC would have formed a majority government with proportional representation? Are you living on a fantasy island?
Anyway, with Skippy about to be coronated by the CPC, I sense more tough times ahead for both the CPC and Canada as a whole. If Skippy is anointed leader, I think we can watch CPC fund raising tactics to go into full-on hate, rage, anger, and disinformation mode to compel people to fork over as much of their hard-earned cash to the CPC as they can.
We can only hope that the CPC step back from the brink and elect someone like Michael Chong as leader:
https://twitter.com/i/status/1495873507988750336
That choice might make the CPC more competitive and improve the tone of debate.
Entirely because conservatives run candidates in ridings they can’t lose. It doesn’t matter if 90% of those folks vote conservative, they still only need 50% for the riding and they don’t get “extra democracy” for having more votes stuffed in the box.
Clearly the actions of a party that knows they have the mandate of a plurality of Canadians
I would add that the reason that AB is ignored by both the CPC and the Liberals is that the majority of federal ridings will be won by the CPC candidate, regardless of the actual policies and platforms put forth by the CPC, not to mention the worthiness of the candidate. I have said it before: you could elect to parliament the stinking, rotting corpse of a dead goat if it were running as a CPC candidate. And, when the conservatives actually hold power, as they did in days of the execrable Stephen Harper, Alberta’s concerns take a back seat. Why? Because the CONS do not have to worry about the votes we guarantee them every time. By our voting patterns, we condemn ourselves to being suckers and rubes.
Yes, in AB, we give a huge percentage of votes in many ridings to the CPC candidate. I can’t explain why other parties are not more competitive in the province, especially when you consider that many CPC policies actually hurt ordinary Albertans. At the very least, I wish AB voters in general were not so stupid, were savvier, and would vote for other parties more often, even if the only goal is to poke the CPC in the eye to make it pay attention to the concerns of the province.
Having a more competitive election battleground in the province would give us more influence and power. Instead, we are viewed by the ROC, including many in the CPC I am sure, as little more than the embarrassing, inbred 2nd cousins to confederation who happened to be very lucky by coming into possession of a rich motherload of resources, which we squander and which we impotently feel gives us false sense of importance. Even worse, because of the FluTraxKlan FreeDUMB Clownvoy, we are viewed increasingly as major source and exporter of right-wing, authoritarian, fascist, know-nothing nutbars who have become more than just a small nuisance and represent a real and palpable threat to peace, order, and good government.
Kenney is just the latest in the long string of provincial blowhard leaders who are completely impotent and useless outside of the province, but very damaging to residents, both current and future, of the province itself. I hope he and his ilk get their comeuppance very soon.
Alberta’s sickening slide into fascism could be laid at the feet of Special K and his enabling UCP caucus? It can’t happen quickly enough. History will not remember him kindly. Hopefully Albertans will learn their lesson that democracy is fragile and easily broken by power-grabbing despots and their sycophants. Those Coutts blockaders escaped without consequences for the most part, and they’ve threatened that things will “snowball”. The Con-voyeurs and their armed resistance could rise again, possibly at the same time as the federal inquiry. How long does it take for their non-perishable food supply to expire?
This is all about April 9. Kenney is desperate to change some of those potential rural votes.
As one who has no liking for any of the political parties across our nation, I do fear that the future my kids and grandkids will have to deal with will consist much more of those who espouse “re-gaining” what we had in the way of energy and economic growth through authoritarian measures, and those who claim that we can move onto ever-increasing economic splendour with more windmills and solar panels. As one not opposed to the latter, but cognizant that they will not replace the energy of fossil fuels, I can but commend those who look past our present dilemmas to a rather much pared down world through localized living.
I recognize that this view has no place among our current political, nor economic, purveyors of ‘how we are to proceed’ to enduring livelihoods on this finite planet. But the prospects of much more of what we are witnessing from those who claim their ‘right’ to have all they want, either from the so-called right or left could certainly lead to more violence, beyond the language used at this point [nothwithstanding the arsenal found at Coutts, of which there are likely more, nor in the reaction used to curtail such obstructionist behaviour].
A little footnote: Mackenzie County in northwest Alberta has decided to stop awarding contracts to companies that have mandatory vaccination policies. Furthermore, companies with mandatory vaccination policies already under contract to the county are not allowed to send employees to county worksites, and must either work remotely or subcontract their work to other companies without vaccination policies. Presumably those other companies will be the locally owned ones, wink, wink.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/mackenzie-county-alberta-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-1.6358978
An expert points out that “there’s no objection to companies that, for example, have mandatory drug tests that ensure employees are not coming to work under the influence of substances.”
Is this more of the “vaccines bad, tear gas good” view of parents at the Coutts blockade who used their children as human shields?
We might ask if this retroactive revisionism, much like our provincial government’s approach in general, is breach of contract. Perhaps the bigger question is whether the county has now de-banked itself.
Tear gas? Pepper spray? Clubs? Far more serious side affects than any vaccine I’ve been injected with or any mask I’ve worn! I’m certain our host will take time to debunk the good people on both sides narrative. From where I sit? “We” have been in conflict with these mofos, for just going on forever!
I find it interesting that there are so many (likely lots from ‘berta) you genuinely want a civil war. I can’t say what their intentions for their civil war will be, but I’m assuming is will be for the cause of “FREEEEEEEEDUUUUUMMMMMBBBB!!!!!”
I can imagine all these wannabe Davy Crocketts running for their AR15s (or reasonable facsimiles thereof) and storming whatever forts there are told to storm, because “FREEEEEEEEDUUUUUMMMMMBBBB!!!!!” Of course, all this is done in the belief that Canada doesn’t have an army. Really, Canada has no army at all.
I recall and interesting opinion piece written by Dead Byfield years ago about Canadian conservatives can get anything they want because, as Dead put it, “the king as no muskets”. I guess this is why so many of Alberta good ole boys feel they can run amok in their trucks.
But times change and government has new measures to deal with special challenges that may come its way.
During the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, the US took to hiring thousands of “independent security contractors” to do the military’s dirty work. Sure, these guys can be expensive to hire. But like the mercenaries of old they were effective and loyal — so long as the pay kept coming. Oh, and there was that little thing called “there are no war crimes” aside from W. Bush.
Yep, those good ole boys from Alberta better be wary of aggrevating PMJT, because a few hundred contractors with no compulsion to act in regard to any wartime conventions can become a huge problem real fast.
HILARIOUS BUT IMPLAUSIBLE POSSIBLE FUTURE
Society at large realizes that the biggest terrorist threat is far right Canadian and American white people, and directs the governed to treat the real threat the same way they’ve been treating Muslims for the past 30 years. Then all the thin blue linebackers melt down because the system they supported is, for the first time ever, being used against them. Wouldn’t that be a piping hot piece of comeuppance pie?
I put this as 20% more likely than my “Canada charges Tucker Carlson with counseling to commit mischief and demands America extradite him here to face charges” fantasy.
If any of you want a good laugh read the two letters in the Camrose booster today. Apparently the problem in Ottawa was nothing more than a peaceful party according to these lunatics. They don’t give a damn about the constant honking, or reporters being spit at, or police officers being threatened. They don’t care that the cash of guns could have been turned on the crowd , or that by freezing bank accounts they may have stopped more guns from being purchased.
As much as I am not a fan of Trudeau he is a hero in my eyes. God only knows what might have happened if these stupid Reformers had been in power egging these criminals on.
You seem to imply that the inquiry will not be held if the court challenge is successful, but wouldn’t that be a “revocation”?
Keith: You’re probably right. I’ll have to go back and look at the Act again. As previously noted, I’m not a lawyer. That said, politically speaking, the effect of a successful court challenge would surely defang the impact of any inquiry finding. Politics, ya know. DJC
Trudeau has revoked and says there will be an inquiry. Kenney says he will still throw our money at the court challenge.
https://dailyhive.com/calgary/jason-kenney-emergencies-act-trudeau-challenge
It seems the OSCE pullout was only partial:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/20/ukraine-claims-russian-bias-among-frontline-monitors-after-western-pull-out
https://twitter.com/aaronjmate/status/1496308793810034688
The investigation will surely bring up Ms. Lich’s former position with the Wexit movement/party and the convenient timing of her leaving said position. If this was all motivated by a political party bent on the destruction of confederation, then sedition comes into play as a charge. Possibly good news for the premier of Alberta?
As an aside, I found it revealing to see the BQ, a separatist party, vote shoulder to shoulder with what passes for a conservative party. Birds of a seditious and secessionist feather?
p.s. I was taught by Jesuits from the age of 11, I turned out ok. Cheers, 🙂
Green: I certainly didn’t mean to suggest that being taught by Jesuits was in any way a bad thing. On the contrary! Mr. Kenney, obviously, came to Jesuit instruction far too late in life. DJC
I actually am not at all surprised at the Bloc Québécois’ vote against the motion to support the government on the Emergencies Act, given Québec’s history with its predecessor legislation, the 1914 War Measures Act — famously proclaimed in October 1970 by none other than our current Prime Minister’s Dad (although he wasn’t yet a father, Justin not being born until Christmas 1971).
As it happens, I’m old enough — barely — to remember the October Crisis. I was 11, and my family was living in Gatineau, Québec. I went to an English Protestant elementary school in Hull — schools in Québec then being categorized by denomination as well as language — and I distinctly remember armed troops on the doorsteps of the school during that period. Hallowe’en was also a scary experience given worries about bombs and so forth. As members of the distrusted Anglo minority, my family cheered the proclamation of the War Measures Act, which made us feel somewhat safer. It was only later, as an adult, that I learned of the excesses: the hundreds of people arrested and jailed without due process and without evidence of wrongdoing. Many Québec politicians are also old enough to remember those days, and many others whose parents are. So, the Bloc’s position on this is entirely understandable.
The CBC has an excellent podcast on the FLQ — Québec’s more amateurish & ineffectual answer to the IRA — and the October Crisis: “Recall: How to Start a Revolution”, for anyone interested
https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/recall-how-to-start-a-revolution/id1529010597.
If you wish to imitate the “Boogaloo Boys”, Hawaii-en shirts are mandatory.
Fer Havens Sake
Pretty funny blaming the conservatives when it’s the liberals and ndp who are breaking out the totalitarian tool box.
Not funny at all watching the conservatives backing racists, separatists and seditionists.
BRET LARSON: I think Alan got it right in his comments. It’s pretty hard to claim otherwise.
Vapid, dishonest, bad faith partisanship. Good on you for getting out of your echo chamber and trying to engage with people who see the world differently, but come on. Who is going to be persuaded by this? Is this about having a useful conversation, or venting your spleen? You can do better than this.