If the Senate axes the Emergency Act, what are the odds Trudeau will resign?

Unlikely, and equally unlikely it will matter much

As expected, a two-faced Jagmeet Singh and his whipped followers supported Trudeau’s invocation of the Emergency Act as if a peaceful protest comprised a national emergency akin to war. Now it goes to the Senate and over time to the Courts. What happens if the Senate puts an end to it or the Courts rule it unconstitutional? Will Trudeau resign, and if he does, would it matter?

A two week old petition calling on Justin Trudeau to resign now has more than 200,000 signatures. But claims by American journalists and NHL hockey player Theo Fleury that over 1 million Canadians were marching on Ottawa to demand his resignation were overblown. Similar calls last fall for Trudeau’s resignation by conservative media were ineffective despite citing polls that found 55% of Canadians thought the Prime Minister should resign owing to his divisive policies and inept leadership of Canada.

The dispersal of the Ottawa rioters saw inflamed tempers on both sides of the political aisle, not a surprise given the emotions involved. Right wing journalist Ezra Levant, not Trudeau’s biggest fan, called for his resignation as did others. While there were incidents of police overreaction to protesters, they were isolated and not characteristic of what was an orderly police effort to end the protest with as little harm as possible. What was disorderly was the Liberal government’s efforts to call protesters racists, misogynists, fascists and far right extremists, seizing on one protesters use of the Nazi symbol to ask “is this what you want for Canada” and misrepresenting that incident as evidence the protesters were “white supremacists” and Nazi sympathizers. The point was well made but the mainstream media jumped on the chance to pretend the use of the Nazi symbol was right wing extemism, and most leaders of all parties made statements on how inappropriate that symbol is for any purpose. They are correct, of course, but the misrepresentation of the intended message is equally vile. Footage of the protester shouting “is this what you want for Canada?” received no coverage. The propaganda coming out of mainstream media, the PMO and the Liberal cabinet is a disgrace at any level.

On the pretense that the largely peaceful truckers posed a “threat to democracy” Trudeau invoked the draconian Emergency Act and began to use its broad powers to attack ordinary Canadians for doing no more than donating to the protest because they wanted an end to vaccine mandates, the underlying reason for the protests. Most Canadians want an end to these mandates according to reports. Stories of frozen bank accounts of Canadian citizens whose only “crime” was to donate $50 to $250 dollars to the protest show just how far Trudeau and his Deputy Prime Minster Chrystia Freeland are willing to go to suppress freedom of speech and freedom of assembly and to muzzle any dissident voice that does not embrace the Liberal ideology. It will be interesting to see if the Trudeau edicts result in Jagmeet Singh’s brother in law having his bank accounts frozen since we know he donated $13,000 to the Freedom Convey protest. No doubt under pressure from his brother, he has asked the money to be returned, a step that cannot rescind the fact that he made the donation and supported the truckers until politics played a role.

This Liberal government is the real threat to Canada and voters will likely have to wait until election day to make that threat diminish or disappear, since the Senate seems to have been stacked and I expect will abandon their duty in favor of the Liberal brand. A Trudeau resignation would be welcomed by many but would simply see an equally dogmatic and anti-democratic Prime Minister take his place as Chrystia Freeland is elevated to Liberal party leader. She appeared to be nearly gushing with glee when she announced that assets would be seized, insurance canceled and bank accounts frozen.

Voting the Liberals out of office is the step needed to keep Canada a free and thriving country and, if accomplished, may see the Liberal party return to its roots as a strong proponent of small government, liberty and personal freedom - values it represented for well over a century and continued to espouse until a Trudeau became leader. If that happens, I may once again be a Liberal voter.