Good morning, When listing Prime Ministers who did not invoke the Emergencies Act, you neglected to mention that the Act was not invoked by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau back in February, 2020 when Indigenous protesters blockaded Canada's railway tracks for weeks, and also blocked various ports across the country. How quickly we forget. What is also interesting is that Marc Millar was sent to negotiate with the Indigenous protesters, while the Freedom Convoy protesters were completely ignored.
You said: "…calling on Senators and the Governor General to collaborate with the convoy protesters in setting up a provisional junta to replace the Trudeau government. This is an actual thing that happened."
First, let me say, I think writing the MOU was a dumb thing to do. I think it was motivated more by desperation than malice. But what I see in that document is:
- A request to the Governor General, the Senate, and the MPs to form a COMMITTEE called "Citizens of Canada" and appoint members to it.
- Then those entities indicate specific dates for the desistence of each of the mandates. ("immediately" is the request, but note that sections e, f, g, and h have unique dates).
Get past the faulty legalise and notice the document is essentially a request to get relevant people in a room to describe a plan - a timeline - for ending the mandates.
And remember: ALL opposition parties were, contemporaneously, calling on the Liberal Party to announce a plan - a timeline - to repeal all the mandates.
Paul, I sense you've gotten used to spinning this issue like a top. But you can now choose truth.
Truth be told, that "MOU" was so preposterously unaware of basic civics that it would embarrass a not very adept ten-year old. Just to start with its ridiculous title, "Memorandum of Understanding". That requires two parties to agree. What made the writers of this scribble think that the Governor-General and Senate would agree? And if they didn't, who was going to make them? If you're going to take over the government by force, you likely wouldn't ask permission and agreement beforehand. I know I'm off the pearl-clutching zeitgeist on this, but I never saw the protest as - absent the few weirdos - anything but a bunch of really, *really* frustrated people who, having endured two years of it, were up to their back teeth with being bossed around. The fact that the bossing was necessary does not take away an inch from the frustration. And I should mention that I live 6 blocks away from the protest and never felt either unsafe or hampered in my daily activities.
Let's also not forget that the entire episode, including the Emergencies Act, could have been averted but for the incompetence of Ottawa's then-police chief, hired by a City Council that should be a Harvard case study on municipal governance incompetence, who insisted on a warm and fluffy candidate so they could feel better about how police interact with citizens. Pro tip: the rule of law ultimately depends on the projection of force. If you can't either accept that or think that some "woke" formulation would somehow allow the dismissal of the "f-word" part of the equation, then you are too naive to ever be elected to anything.
I'll reiterate (in agreement with you) that the MOU was a dumb thing to do. It's likely it was written by a well-meaning and enthusiastic early supporter of the convoy, and was posted on the website by way of Abilene Paradox.
I'm willing, however, to read it through a most charitable lens and, like you, I see deep frustration in it. Nobody was setting out to overthrow the government; they were hoping to be taken seriously — and just months prior, the same people who wrote the MOU had watched our government negotiate with the organizers of the rail blockades; the precedent was set.
Add to that, that the only person to do anything useful early on was that 21-year-old lady who, having suffered several nights of horn-honking, went out and secured an injunction against it. Something that could have been done by City Council, of course, but it was too taken with pearl-clutching deer-in-the-headlights blather while listening to Chief of Police Hug-a-Bunny complaining of being overwhelmed (after not having taken the elementary precaution of blocking off streets leading to the Parliamentary Precinct before the truckers got here, causing the misery in the first place). As I said, a whole Harvard Business School course in municipal incompetence.
I don't attribute the Chief's mismanagement to incompetence. I believe Trudeau and others wanted escalation. There were only three ways out of it for Trudeau: either he could admit the mandates are nonsense, but the truckers would appear to have won; he could talk with the truckers, but doing so would be an admission that their grievances are valid; or turn the event into a political crisis such that he appears, to his base, as the saviour. For a narcissist like Trudeau, the latter option was his preferred course of action.
Paul, for breaking the Jody Wilson-Raybould story, has earned my respect. I applaud his decision to leave the mainstream outlets and go independent. I'm oversubscribed at the moment, at Substack or to other independents, but I want to support Paul's new platform.
But…but, the evidence is extremely flimsy for the strong claim he made in this article ("to replace the Trudeau government") and I think it's appropriate to demand better evidence. Put up or shut up, Paul, I say! The evidence indicates the organizers wanted a committee formed so that government would have a discussion not unlike the precedent set in Smithers, BC, 2020.
1) stopping traffic across the border is illegal and should have been treated as a crime immediately. Police / politicians do not let a break and enter go uncontested because it might be done by a violent Biker gang or terrorist gang and could result in more crime. Why was this allowed to go on more than an hour?
2) Never have there been funds frozen for donations to what might be considered a political movement. The BQ/PQ presented more of a challenge to Canada than the Truckers protest. No one would have considered freezing bank accounts of those people giving them political donations.
3) There needs to be an explanation as why the government officials did not at least make an token meeting and discussion of the protest and explain the government position. It certainly looks like the government was pushing for an escalation and was hoping for violence to discredit the opinion.
4) The Truckers were proven correct that the government bungled the mandates and lock downs. Florida did not have these and did as well or better than Canada. ie At the very least the Trucker protest had a valid opinion that was being suppressed to the point that they were forced to protest.
I tend to like elephants and can certainly see one in a room because of its size . How about the fact that the world is in lockstep with the WEF - old idea not conspiracy- and has been ushered in very much so in Canada via the pandemic . Klaus Schweb has bragged about young trudeau being a great student and that he has been able to infiltrate our government . Freeland is on the board of the WEF and from my understanding and considered readings , Singe is also a grad from the WEF mission . Our constitution as Canadians is being eroded as is reported by Brian Peckford who is in the process of suing this current government . I'm pretty sure I didn't vote for Klaus and his ideologies and mission statements . No matter what any one in our current government does to look at the Emergency Act - it is too late , they will all say the same thing : nothing to be found here and that it was necessary . Too bad there weren't more contrarians here in Canada because we are losing what we were known for with the ushering in of the 4th revolution for the benefit of the global elites ... in my opinion.
Don't you love Kool -Aid ? Just wondering Sean if you have looked any of this up as a suggestion because you won't hear anything on main stream media about these facts . Where have you been these past few years ? The other political people are actually talking about this openly with their own interpretations . I'd love to be wrong and please prove to me this WEF agenda isn't happening here in Canada - because it's a great shock once you pull back the curtain . I do appreciate you reading my comment and rather than suggesting I am somehow drinking something poison , how about coming up with some facts and or proof, that proves otherwise , then I'll concede your point. Until then, I'll keep looking for some valid proof that something isn't right in Denmark.
Thanks Paul, but you're gonna have to be sharper than this to hack Substack. You no longer have to worry about an editor or paid ads. Be blunt and tell us what is really happening in the circus rings, if you know. Call out the corruption, spin and liars. Name them. Be clear.
Good morning, When listing Prime Ministers who did not invoke the Emergencies Act, you neglected to mention that the Act was not invoked by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau back in February, 2020 when Indigenous protesters blockaded Canada's railway tracks for weeks, and also blocked various ports across the country. How quickly we forget. What is also interesting is that Marc Millar was sent to negotiate with the Indigenous protesters, while the Freedom Convoy protesters were completely ignored.
Paul,
You said: "…calling on Senators and the Governor General to collaborate with the convoy protesters in setting up a provisional junta to replace the Trudeau government. This is an actual thing that happened."
Citation please??
I found the text here: https://www.netnewsledger.com/2022/02/05/the-canada-unity-memorandum-of-understanding/. Please point precisely to where the MOU says such things??
First, let me say, I think writing the MOU was a dumb thing to do. I think it was motivated more by desperation than malice. But what I see in that document is:
- A request to the Governor General, the Senate, and the MPs to form a COMMITTEE called "Citizens of Canada" and appoint members to it.
- Then those entities indicate specific dates for the desistence of each of the mandates. ("immediately" is the request, but note that sections e, f, g, and h have unique dates).
On a related note: do you think it's possible the laymen who wrote this MOU document were inspired, perchance, by the events in Smithers, BC, on February 27, 2020 wherein a COMMITTEE was struck to negotiate the desistence of Rail Blockades?? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Canadian_pipeline_and_railway_protests#Meetings_and_memorandum_of_understanding
Get past the faulty legalise and notice the document is essentially a request to get relevant people in a room to describe a plan - a timeline - for ending the mandates.
And remember: ALL opposition parties were, contemporaneously, calling on the Liberal Party to announce a plan - a timeline - to repeal all the mandates.
Paul, I sense you've gotten used to spinning this issue like a top. But you can now choose truth.
Please choose truth.
Truth be told, that "MOU" was so preposterously unaware of basic civics that it would embarrass a not very adept ten-year old. Just to start with its ridiculous title, "Memorandum of Understanding". That requires two parties to agree. What made the writers of this scribble think that the Governor-General and Senate would agree? And if they didn't, who was going to make them? If you're going to take over the government by force, you likely wouldn't ask permission and agreement beforehand. I know I'm off the pearl-clutching zeitgeist on this, but I never saw the protest as - absent the few weirdos - anything but a bunch of really, *really* frustrated people who, having endured two years of it, were up to their back teeth with being bossed around. The fact that the bossing was necessary does not take away an inch from the frustration. And I should mention that I live 6 blocks away from the protest and never felt either unsafe or hampered in my daily activities.
Let's also not forget that the entire episode, including the Emergencies Act, could have been averted but for the incompetence of Ottawa's then-police chief, hired by a City Council that should be a Harvard case study on municipal governance incompetence, who insisted on a warm and fluffy candidate so they could feel better about how police interact with citizens. Pro tip: the rule of law ultimately depends on the projection of force. If you can't either accept that or think that some "woke" formulation would somehow allow the dismissal of the "f-word" part of the equation, then you are too naive to ever be elected to anything.
I appreciate your comments.
I'll reiterate (in agreement with you) that the MOU was a dumb thing to do. It's likely it was written by a well-meaning and enthusiastic early supporter of the convoy, and was posted on the website by way of Abilene Paradox.
I'm willing, however, to read it through a most charitable lens and, like you, I see deep frustration in it. Nobody was setting out to overthrow the government; they were hoping to be taken seriously — and just months prior, the same people who wrote the MOU had watched our government negotiate with the organizers of the rail blockades; the precedent was set.
Add to that, that the only person to do anything useful early on was that 21-year-old lady who, having suffered several nights of horn-honking, went out and secured an injunction against it. Something that could have been done by City Council, of course, but it was too taken with pearl-clutching deer-in-the-headlights blather while listening to Chief of Police Hug-a-Bunny complaining of being overwhelmed (after not having taken the elementary precaution of blocking off streets leading to the Parliamentary Precinct before the truckers got here, causing the misery in the first place). As I said, a whole Harvard Business School course in municipal incompetence.
I don't attribute the Chief's mismanagement to incompetence. I believe Trudeau and others wanted escalation. There were only three ways out of it for Trudeau: either he could admit the mandates are nonsense, but the truckers would appear to have won; he could talk with the truckers, but doing so would be an admission that their grievances are valid; or turn the event into a political crisis such that he appears, to his base, as the saviour. For a narcissist like Trudeau, the latter option was his preferred course of action.
Paul, for breaking the Jody Wilson-Raybould story, has earned my respect. I applaud his decision to leave the mainstream outlets and go independent. I'm oversubscribed at the moment, at Substack or to other independents, but I want to support Paul's new platform.
But…but, the evidence is extremely flimsy for the strong claim he made in this article ("to replace the Trudeau government") and I think it's appropriate to demand better evidence. Put up or shut up, Paul, I say! The evidence indicates the organizers wanted a committee formed so that government would have a discussion not unlike the precedent set in Smithers, BC, 2020.
1) stopping traffic across the border is illegal and should have been treated as a crime immediately. Police / politicians do not let a break and enter go uncontested because it might be done by a violent Biker gang or terrorist gang and could result in more crime. Why was this allowed to go on more than an hour?
2) Never have there been funds frozen for donations to what might be considered a political movement. The BQ/PQ presented more of a challenge to Canada than the Truckers protest. No one would have considered freezing bank accounts of those people giving them political donations.
3) There needs to be an explanation as why the government officials did not at least make an token meeting and discussion of the protest and explain the government position. It certainly looks like the government was pushing for an escalation and was hoping for violence to discredit the opinion.
4) The Truckers were proven correct that the government bungled the mandates and lock downs. Florida did not have these and did as well or better than Canada. ie At the very least the Trucker protest had a valid opinion that was being suppressed to the point that they were forced to protest.
I tend to like elephants and can certainly see one in a room because of its size . How about the fact that the world is in lockstep with the WEF - old idea not conspiracy- and has been ushered in very much so in Canada via the pandemic . Klaus Schweb has bragged about young trudeau being a great student and that he has been able to infiltrate our government . Freeland is on the board of the WEF and from my understanding and considered readings , Singe is also a grad from the WEF mission . Our constitution as Canadians is being eroded as is reported by Brian Peckford who is in the process of suing this current government . I'm pretty sure I didn't vote for Klaus and his ideologies and mission statements . No matter what any one in our current government does to look at the Emergency Act - it is too late , they will all say the same thing : nothing to be found here and that it was necessary . Too bad there weren't more contrarians here in Canada because we are losing what we were known for with the ushering in of the 4th revolution for the benefit of the global elites ... in my opinion.
Wow! Just wow.!!! Someone has been sipping the Kool-Aid.
Don't you love Kool -Aid ? Just wondering Sean if you have looked any of this up as a suggestion because you won't hear anything on main stream media about these facts . Where have you been these past few years ? The other political people are actually talking about this openly with their own interpretations . I'd love to be wrong and please prove to me this WEF agenda isn't happening here in Canada - because it's a great shock once you pull back the curtain . I do appreciate you reading my comment and rather than suggesting I am somehow drinking something poison , how about coming up with some facts and or proof, that proves otherwise , then I'll concede your point. Until then, I'll keep looking for some valid proof that something isn't right in Denmark.
Appreciate the explainer here: ‘three ring circus’ indeed.
Thanks Paul, but you're gonna have to be sharper than this to hack Substack. You no longer have to worry about an editor or paid ads. Be blunt and tell us what is really happening in the circus rings, if you know. Call out the corruption, spin and liars. Name them. Be clear.
You're right. The entire City Council was incompetent. The Chief was just doing what he was hired to do - hug bunnies rather than police.
Every City Transit has large tow trucks they could have used. I understand the reluctance to use military vehicles.
The Ontario Highway Traffic Act states clearly that the police can "compel" towing companies to tow vehicles.