In a ruling that criticized both the “Freedom Convoy” protesters and Trudeau’s government, Federal Court Justice Richard Mosley said protesters turned violent but the government’s use of the Emergencies Act went too far. The protests “reflected an unacceptable breakdown of public order,” the judge wrote, but invoking the Emergencies Act “does not bear the hallmarks of reasonableness – justification, transparency, and intelligibility.”
He also wrote there was “no national emergency justifying the invocation of the Emergencies Act.”
Among the worst of its actions, the Trudeau administration brazenly froze the bank accounts of protesters, without obtaining a court order to do so, by invoking the never-used executive power in the Emergencies Act.
In his ruling, Judge Mosley again weighed the actions of both the protesters and the government. There was a “rational connection” to stop the blockade by freezing the accounts, he wrote, but Trudeau’s government violated the protesters’ Charter rights with an “unreasonable search and seizure” and also violated their freedom of expression.
Dr. Charles McVety, a vocal Trudeau critic who leads Canada Christian College, says unfortunately the fight is not over.
“The prime minister is going to appeal it to a higher court,” McVety says, “and he may very well win this case at a higher court."
Despite the judge’s clear criticism, the Canadian public is watching their leaders – already described by critics as arrogant tyrants – defend their actions.
"We believed we were doing something necessary and something legal at the time," Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said Tuesday. "That continues to be my belief today."
Freeland, who is not well known to Americans, made news recently when Rebel News reporter David Menzies attempted to interview her but was physically blocked by an unnamed officer for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. That confrontation, which was recorded by an accompanying cameraman, showed the officer accuse Menzies of pushing him and told the journalist he was being arrested for assaulting him.
Freeland, meanwhile, kept walking away and ignored the illegal arrest happening right behind her involving Menzies and Rebel News, a rowdy and fearless news outlet known for its conservative stories.
When a news outlet asked her about the incident, Freeland later told CTV News she had no opinion about the arrest – because she does not involve herself in local police matters.
McVety says Trudeau and his cabinet will ultimately be tried by the court of public opinion.
“And the court of opinion in Canada is turned against Trudeau,” he advises. “Trudeau's polling numbers are disastrous. It looks like his party is going to go down to just a fraction of what it is today, and then the next election he is going to lose and the Conservatives will take a stronghold of the government."
After frustrated Canadians had to wait until 2024 to see Trudeau punished for what he did in 2022, voters will have to wait until 2025 for the next round of elections.
