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X75's avatar

This may be Doombergs best commentary yet. I won't comment on Canada as it is up to Canadians to decide how far they will or will not support their government. I will say, having most of my own family in Australia, that I am just shocked at the dictatorial approach taken by the Australian authorities over Covid and just how complacent the wonderful Australian citizens have been over the impositions. However I can comment on the USA.

I came to the USA, from the UK, in 1988 to work for the oil industry in the Great State of Alaska. We had a family and just loved Achorage and the new American friends and colleagues I made there. It was an easy decision to "Green Card" in 1996 and indeed on a return to the UK in 1997 I was amazed at just how much I no longer felt at home in the nation of my birth. Until 9/11 I thought the USA was just the greatest country in the world. This article refers to the imposition of the Patriot Act and its effects on all of us. Initially, I was supportive as almost all my fellow countrymen and women were. I understood it would be "temporary" in nature and so thought that once "terror was defeated" things would return to normal. How naive I was.

Then came the so called "Great Financial Crisis" and all the regulatory financial creations that followed it. But after a few years it appeared clear that we appeared to have sidestepped a depression and I thought perhaps things could soon return to normal. How naive I was.

Then came Covid and although a little skeptical of the threat to me personally I fell into line. I was one of the first few to start wearing N100 masks in Houston Texas in March of 2020. Once the vaccines came out I avoided the mRNA and got the J&J single shot. However, after 100s of hours of reading data and watching interviews with scientists and doctors I decided by end 2020 the threat was minimal to the vast majority of citizens and being overblown for "some reason". I am most certainly no longer naive. I have concluded that the old adage that a government should "never let a good crisis go to waste" is at play here, just as it did post 9/11 and just as it did post the GFC.

I barely recognize the country of my birth nor the chosen country of my naturalization any more. What I do recognize is the creeping authoritarianism throughout the West, the continuous encroachment by bureaucratic entities on our lives, the approaching failure of our social welfare systems, the slow and steady drum beat of military build up, the polarization of citizens to the right and the left and away from the more contemplative middle ground toward outright "dogma". All empires in world history have succumbed and Pax Americana will succumb too. It just a question of time. The real question is...... what shiny ball will our government use next to distract the people and introduce more onerous restrictions? Climate change and hydrocarbon taxes and bans........ or war with Russian and or China?

Please forgive the length of this comment but I need to stop now because of tears welling up in my eyes. Thanks to Doomberg for providing such a stimulating post this morning.

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Andrew Nicholas's avatar

Very valid points with regards to government overreach, and certainly the mishandling and verbiage towards of the trucker protest from the onset.

That said, I think this article lacks the nuance of the actions that our Canadian government has actually taken in an effort to further paint the Trudeau is a dictator and to further the narrative of government overreach.

First things first, Canada is founded on PEACE, ORDER and GOOD GOVERNMENT. Those are the primary values of our nation.

1) The Emergencies Act is not martial law, full stop. It is a watered down version of the War Measures Act (done by the 1st Trudeau) and MUST be compliant with the Charter (as set out by the act). Any comparison to martial law or stating that it can trample on any right is fully inaccurate.

2) The Emergencies Act cannot be done by decree. It must receive parliamentary approval. In our minority parliament another party must vote in favor of this measure, which they will be doing shortly.

3) The Emergencies Act must be fully voted on every 30 days for renewal AND each 30 days will be subject to judicial review. There is a strong court check and balance on this.

4) Subjecting crowdfunding and Crypto to FINTRAC should have been done a long time ago. Real Estate transactions, moving large sums of cash (10k+), investment account transfers are all covered under this umbrella. Why are these different?

Also important missing from your article, which actually does change the narrative you put forward. While the goal of the trucker convoy at first seemed to be anti-mandate it clearly morphed into something very different. Leaders of the individuals sitting in Ottawa for the past three weeks issued press conferences and MOU that wanted the resignation of Justin Trudeau and a new government formed through undemocratic ways. Local and provincial police seemed incapable or unwilling to remove this occupation even after the city and province declared a state of emergency. The Province of Ontario asked for the emergencies act to be used. I'm unsure how a 3 week sit in at the white house would be received if state/local police allowed them to occupy the premise for three weeks?

Finally, the Coutts blockade was not in the process of being dismantled. It dispersed after the emergencies act was proposed. There was zero indication that it was being dispersed prior and anecdotal evidence it dispersed as protestors there did not want their insurance and account suspended. Let's be frank blockages over economic pathway are not protests. They are an infringement of the freedoms of those who need these vital pieces of infrastructure for a variety of reason. They also a infringement of the sovereignty of a nation. If a nation cannot determine how and when their borders can be used, that is a serious problem for a nation state.

Valid points on who's accounts get frozen. While you speculate it will be far reaching, I will reserve judgement/outrage on the aftermath of it, knowing that there is a very strong court check that will occur on any actions that go on as a result of the emergencies act in 30 days. To be seen.

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