BREAKING: Trudeau will retain emergency powers

Report by Keean Bexte

By Keean Bexte 

Following a tumultuous but brief vote by Parliamentarians, the House of Commons has confirmed that PM Justin Trudeau will retain the power granted by the Emergencies Act.

By a vote of 185 to 151, Trudeau will retain the ability to have banks freeze the accounts of anyone who may have donated trivial or non-trivial amounts of money to the Freedom Convoy, without a court order or due process, to monitor, regulate, and confiscate cryptocurrency, decide which fundraisers can be donated to, and to further embolden police to crack down on peaceful protesters.

Keean Bexte @TheRealKeean

So this is how democracy dies.

Before the vote, all eyes were on NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, who many hoped would break rank with the Liberal Party as he claimed that the invocation of the Emergencies Act represented a “failure of leadership” on the part of Trudeau and that he would “withdraw [the NDP’s] support if [Trudeau’s new powers] are abused.” Instead, but to no one’s surprise, the NDP voted with the Liberals, ensuring that Trudeau retains his stranglehold over Canada.

The evening began with MP John Brassard, who asked the Speaker whether this vote would also double as a confidence vote, potentially triggering yet another snap election.

Indeed, this was hinted at by Trudeau earlier today, in which he said that a vote against his retaining of power would represent a loss of faith in the current government — a loss of confidence in his leadership.

While a rigorous debate over the matter may have been warranted, the Liberal Party smacked the request for clarification down, demanding that Parliament vote on the Emergencies Act immediately.

They similarly smacked the Conservatives down following the result of the vote, asking for Parliament to be adjourned.

Earlier today, during a Q&A following a speech teeming with horrific irony, Trudeau claimed the invocation of the Emergencies Act is actually protecting Canadians’ liberties and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and confirmed that he would fight for ongoing use of his emergency powers, possibly for two to three months.

“Hello from Radio Canada,” a state-funded journalist began. “The truckers could come back in two months, three months, so does that mean we would have to keep [the Emergencies Act] for another two, three months?”

“Indeed,” Trudeau responded. “This is something we are thinking about, of course.”

He further says that despite protesters being dispersed in Ottawa and every blockade being over, the emergency is not over, and he needs to retain power, just in case. 

Canadian Civil Liberties Association @cancivlib

The federal government has not met the threshold necessary to invoke the Emergencies Act. This law creates a high and clear standard for good reason: the Act allows government to bypass ordinary democratic processes. This standard has not been met. 1/3

During his speech, he thanked law enforcement for their work in crushing peaceful protesters in Ottawa and said that while Canadians may protest, even protest him, no one can participate in the Freedom Convoy… which is, in part, a protest against him.

It is currently uncertain how bad things will become under a Prime Minister with near unlimited power despite having no imminent emergency to warrant such power.