From the Foreign Desk: John A. MacDonald

Emergency Powers

Canada, Citizen of Canuckstan- Trudeau hasn’t brought in the military. Yet. He is instructing banks to freeze the accounts of anyone “associated” with the protesters. I think we will find that “associated” has a very broad definition. I expect to see many people who supported the trucker protests having their bank accounts frozen. And possibly seized by the government. Why not? Trudeau cannot back down, he must crush the truckers’ protest in such a way that it is clear that he is in charge and the rest of us are just his servants. Trudeau has gone from the supposed leader of Canada to the ruler of Canada. But nothing will change the fact that he fled the capital when the truckers arrived. This will not end well.

But if he does crush them, what next? Does he truly believe that everyone will just go home, go back to work and pretend this never happened? Of course not. Protesters and their leaders, regardless of whether Trudeau stays in power or not, will have their lives destroyed. This is the price of standing up for freedom and holding a peaceful protest. I have seen no murders, no assaults, no broken windows, no looting. Unlike virtually every protest in North America in the last decade Yet more and more pressure has been placed on the protesters, and less and less leeway is given to them. The protesters will likely spend time in prison, to make it clear that you do not cross Trudeau. He is in charge, and you are not

I don’t think it will end here, even if the police remove the entire protest group from Ottawa. I expect to see work slowdowns, further protests and pressure on Trudeau to repeal the Emergency Act and step down. I fear Trudeau will do neither.