Commentary
The descent to Canadian authoritarianism is that on July 1st, when citizens were flocking to metal detectors to celebrate Canada Day in the Canadian capital, they were searching for bags under tight security. It was shown when I saw it.
Police issued a warning, hundreds of vehicles were issued, and dozens were towed because they were too close to the Capitol and were tracked down. The celebrations, mostly held at Lebreton Flats Park this year, were described as calm with low turnout.It’s difficult to celebrate the creation of a country if you are treated as a potential criminal and can be ticketed to use sidewalk chalk or cause something “Abnormal noise.”
While the COVID-19 pandemic is fading, the government seems obsessed with newly acquired authority and continues its efforts to erode the fundamental pillars of democracy and personal freedom. .. The state has learned how easy it is for Canadians to hand over freedom under the guise of protecting public goods.
After the SNC-Lavalin scandal in 2019, the Trudeau government no longer had a track record of respecting the rule of law and judicial independence. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau never felt anything wrong, even after his conflict of interests. Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion concluded that he violated the conflict of interest law when he tried to put pressure on then-Minister of Justice and Attorney General Jody Wilson Raybold in a proactive proceeding. Perhaps Trudeau was right, given that he had never faced anything more serious than waving his judicial finger on his actions. The prime minister feels beyond the law, and for now, he may.
Perhaps Trudeau felt boldly due to his lack of results on his past actions when he tried to influence the aggressive investigation of the Nova Scotia mass shootings in the spring of 2020 through the RCMP Commissioner.
He sees institutions such as the judiciary and RCMP as subordinate to his office rather than independent of his office. It doesn’t help when the Prime Minister personally appoints the RCMP Chief and Attorney General. Canada’s power structure is arranged in such a way that it makes it nearly impossible for the Prime Minister to take responsibility for his or her actions during his tenure.
The House of Commons is supposed to check the authority of the Prime Minister’s Office at once. But in the majority of governments, this is rarely the case. Nevertheless, the House of Representatives is where the government is publicly questioned and publicly explained about its actions by members of the opposition. The pandemic provided the government with a means to significantly remove the fangs of the house through a “hybrid” sit-in. Since the pandemic began in 2020, members did not have to attend the session directly. Members were virtually able to participate and vote through the app. The government learned to enjoy this lack of effect, despite the noisy questions it had to endure when attending Congress directly, without peeping from the public or legacy media, House. Quietly expanded its hybrid status until 2023.
This year’s legislative agenda reflects the government, which has embraced authoritarianism as its core ideology. Almost all major government bills submitted to the House of Representatives and the Senate aimed to give citizens more power to the government.
Both invoices C-18 and C-11 are modeled to control information and representation. Bill C-18 imposes strict regulations on Internet platforms such as Google and Facebook, requiring content to be paid to a “qualified news business.” Of course, government committees decide which news business is eligible, but small stores can be left on the roadside. Bill C-11 allows CRTC to regulate streaming content to Netflix-independent podcasters. Both bills seem to be the solution seeking the problem. The government sees free media and speech as a problem.
Bill S-7 was designed to provide customs authorities with the ability to enforce access to citizens’ personal digital devices for the following reasons: “Reasonable and general concerns.” The Senate seems likely to drop the bill, but we have to ask why the bill was proposed in the first place. Why does the government have an urgent need to access the personal information of its citizens?
Bill C-21 proposes to freeze the sale of all pistols in Canada and imposes strict new regulations on long guns. Canada is unaffected by firearm crime, but it is well established that legitimate firearm owners have little to do with it. Anyway, the government is sticking to cracking down on law-abiding firearm owners.
The enforcement of the Emergency Act in Ottawa in February was the government’s worst attack on civil liberties. The blockade was destructive and needed to be addressed, but the imposition of the Emergency Act was a terrible overreaction as the rationale for the government invoking the Emergency Act collapsed under the supervision of the Commission. Is becoming clear.
Accountability, democracy, civil liberties, and transparency seem to be a nasty retrofit for Canada’s Liberal Party government. They are all obstacles that should be avoided and bypassed if possible. They do not apologize when the government turns out to be overkill. Indeed, they tend to react to laws designed to give citizens more power to the state.
Today’s government is ideologically obsessed with top-down control. Citizens should be guided and controlled for their own benefit, rather than listening on the surface.
Worst of all, most Canadians now seem to be okay with this. Our obedient nature only makes this government bold.
Images of children being patted while a line of seemingly discouraged people pass through guards and enter Ottawa Park for a calm Canadian celebration should serve as a call for awakening. The Capitol is considered a place for people, and citizens couldn’t even use it to celebrate Canada Day this year.
The hills are now the place of government and people come second.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
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Cory Morgan is a Calgary-based columnist.