Trudeau's use of Emergencies Act against Freedom Convoy deemed ILLEGAL by Canada's Federal Court of Appeal

Cazart! It took nearly four years -- things never happen quickly in the Great No-longer-white North -- but the truth has come out! Canada's Liberal government has lost its appeal against a ruling by the Federal Court that found the invocation of the Emergencies Act by the despised Prime Minister Trudeau during the 2022 Freedom Convoy protests was unreasonable. Honk honk honk!

The decision of the Federal Court of Appeal -- second highest to the Supreme Court of Canada -- follows a ruling by the Federal Court in 2024 that the invocation of the act in response to the protests was unreasonable, unjustified, and violated Charter rights. 

In the 178-page decision, released on Friday, Chief Justice de Montigny said he was dismissing all the appeals against the lower court’s decision. "We are therefore of the view (like the Federal Court) that, on the basis of the record, Cabinet could not reasonably come to the conclusion that existing provincial capacity and authority could not effectively address the situation,” he wrote. 

"We are of the view that Cabinet did not have reasonable grounds to believe that a national emergency existed, taking into account the wording of the Act, its constitutional underpinning and the record that was before it at the time the decision was made,” he continued. 

Following the lower court's decision, then deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland (see WWW passim) vowed her government would appeal the ruling. Her boss, Blackie McBlackface, invoked the Act on St. Valentine's Day of 2022, to end the protests by freedom-loving truckers that had gridlocked Ottawa’s downtown streets for almost a month. The act gave the feds the power to compel tow truck companies to co-operate with local police to clear blockades, mark parts of the downtown core as no-go zones and freeze the bank accounts of some protestors. 

Canadian civil liberties organizations, including the Canadian Constitution Foundation (CCF) and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA), argued the federal government went beyond its powers. Christine Van Geyn, litigation director at the CCF, said they were thrilled with Friday’s decision, which represents a "complete repudiation" of Shiny Pony's position on the invocation of the act. 

"This is an affirmation from the court that these are fundamental freedoms that Canadians have that were violated by the freezing of bank accounts, by the invocation of this act, by the by the banning of assemblies," said Ms Van Geyn. "We’re thrilled with the decision, and we think the court got this right."

The CCLA said they were pleased with the court’s decision and the reasons given by the Federal Court of Appeal. "You’ll recall that in order to invoke the the Emergencies Act, the Cabinet must be satisfied of two things; that there are threats to the security of Canada, and that the existing laws of Canada are insufficient to deal with those threats so that the emergency is a national emergency," said Ewa Krajewska. "Neither of these legal thresholds were met in this case."

Both organizations said they will be prepared to go to the Supreme Court of Canada, should the federal government decide to take the case to the highest court. A minion of the Public Safety Minister [sic] said the federal government now led by Marx Carnage (who was in China sucking up to the Commies when the decision was released) is reviewing the ruling and assessing next steps.

Walt has questions about those "next steps".

Will the people who supported the truckers financially and were "debanked" in consequence get their savings (confiscated by the Liberals) refunded?

Will the truckers whose vehicles -- the tools by which they earn a living -- get their were seized get them back? 

Will the alleged leaders of the protest, demonized as criminals by lickspittle Ontario criminal courts, have their convictions overturned or at least receive pardons?

And how about a sincere apology to all victims of the tyranny of "liberal democracy"? Walt reckons chances of that happening are slim and none. Lifetime pct .989.

Canadian court calls out Trudeau for Freedom Convoy suppression

Yesterday was a big news day, not just in the Excited States of America but to the north of the World's Longest Open Border (TM). Those who participated in or supported the Freedom Convoy were finally vindicated when Mr Justice Richard Mosley of the Federal Court of Canada ruled that Prime Minister Just In (from Jamaica) Trudeau’s use of the Emergencies Act to shut down the trucker protests against vaccine mandates and other lockdown measures unconstitutional. 

The lawsuit was brought against Canuckistan's Liberal misgovernment by the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, the Canadian Constitution Foundation, and other individuals concerned about the loss of freedom of speech, not to mention fines imposed by liberal judges and the confiscation (without notice or appeal) of their bank accounts.

The plaintiffs did not seek damages or reparations -- although claims for such may follow yesterday's ruling -- but a declaratory judgment confirming that Blackie McBlackface and his minions were wrong, wrong, wrong!

They argued before you can invoke the Emergencies Act, you have to have an emergency. The truckers' protests, they said, did not meet the legal threshold for the government to use the powers granted under the Act, which had never been used since its enactment in 1988, as a replacement for the War Mesures Act, a means of combatting terrorism. 

The invocationt of the Act by "Little Potato" (as the Chinese call M Trudeau) -- reportedly at the urging of Senile Joe Biden hisself -- allowed the federal government to arrest the leaders of the Freedom Convoy, freeze bank accounts of protesters, and seize donations by supporters of the protest, including many American citizens and organizations.

The Act states that, for the government to declare a public emergency, there must be "threats to the security of Canada that are so serious as to be a national emergency." Was there such an emergency? In February of 2023 the Whitewash Commission presided over by Mr Justice Paul Rouleau -- a Liberal appointee -- found "with reluctance" that the threshold had been met. After all, Blackie had gone into hiding at an undisclosed location -- not Jamaica but somewhere in the Gatineau hills -- so he must have thought it was a real threat.

On the contrary, Mr Justice Mosley said, "I have concluded that the decision to issue the Proclamation does not bear the hallmarks of reasonableness – justification, transparency and intelligibility – and was not justified in relation to the relevant factual and legal constraints that were required to be taken into consideration.

"The potential for serious violence, or being unable to say that there was no potential for serious violence was, of course, a valid reason for concern. But in my view, it did not satisfy the test required to invoke the Act."

The judge went on to say that the actions from the government also "infringed" on the rights guaranteed to Canadian citizens under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. "It is declared that the Regulations infringed section 2(b) of the Charter and declared that the Order infringed section 8 of the Charter and that neither infringement was justified under section 1."

Prime Minister McBlackface was unavailable for comment yesterday, but the state-owned Canadian Broadcorping Castration reported that the lovely and fragrant Deputy Prime Minister said during a cabinet meeting in Montréal that the government intends to appeal the ruling.

The case will almost certainly go to the Federal Court of Appeal and likely beyond that to the Supreme Court of Canada. But the decision of Mr Justice Mosley -- like Mr Justic Rouleau, a Liberal appointee -- will be hard for Trudeau’s minions to dismantle. 

Further reading: 

"Turns out bouncy castles aren’t a national emergency after all", by Andrew Lawton, 24/1/24 

"Was the Freedom Convoy a threat to Canada's national security?", WWW 28/11/22

So what were you expecting?

Trudeau met threshold to invoke Emergencies Act, commission finds 

So says long-time Liberal and Trudeau appointee, Mr Justice Paul Rouleau Whitewash. Quelle surprise! Walt's lifetime pct .991.

Meme scraped from Blazing Cat Fur.

Sad tales from the Heart of Wokeness

In "Fearless predictions for 2023" (WWW 10/1/23), Walt predicted that at least one of the three following heads of government would be out of office by Christmas, as a result of resignation, revolution or death: "Pope" Francis,  Demented Joe Biden, and  Justin "F*ck" Trudeau. Lifetime pct .989.

My batting average would be higher had I foreseen the pleasant surprises of the resignations of not one but three authorities of the wokest kind, all of which have occurred in the last month. A big Nelson Muntz HA-ha has already gone out to New Zealand's Queen of the Lockdowns, Jacinda "Karen" Ardern. Today we add two "leaders" from the wokest country on earth, Canuckistan.  

The first is Brenda Lucki, Commissioner (top cop) of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, whose retirement was announced yesterday. HA-ha!

Ms Unlucki was appointed by Prime Minister Blackie McBlackface, the well-known "male feminist", because she's a woman. Oh, and she also happens to be married to Ray Gauthie, a relative of former finance minister Bill Morneau. That could explain why M Trudeau was never arrested for violating ethics laws in the SNC-Lavalin or numberous other affairs.

In a statement announcing what she called a "personal decision", Ms Unlucki said she has decided to retire ahead of reaching five years in the role. Her last day will be March 17th.

We are assured that the timing of her resignation has nothing to do with the impending (tomorrow!) release of the report of the Whitewash Rouleau Commission into the brutal repression of the Freedom Convoy, one year ago.

Brenda has been criticized for not speaking up in the cabinet meeting at which Mr Socks invoked the Emergencies Act to quash all dissent, although emails from Ms Lucki show that she thought there were other alternatives. This prompted Alberta's justice minister to call for her resignation, to which Ms Lucki responded by asserting she remained "fully committed to leading the RCMP."

March will see the release of the final report of the Nova Scotia Mass Casualty Commission. They have been looking into how the RCMP handled the 2020 killing rampage in Nova Scotia that involved a gunman using a replica RCMP vehicle. Ms Unlucki has on several occasions denied accusations of political interference in the case. 

But wait, there's more. In 2020, amid conversations around the woke hobby horse of defunding the police, Ms Lucki faced calls to resign after saying that she struggled with "five or six" definitions of systemic racism. She then quickly acknowledged what she called the national police service's "history of racial discrimination."

Looks from here as if Ms Unlucki has decided to fall on her sword to save PM McBlackface from the embarrassment of having to fire here. Further reading: "Hiring based on gender/workeness rather than merit: not a good idea", WWW 23/1/21.

We turn now to news from Toronto, aka The Wormy Apple -- a "world-class city" in the sense that it has world-class problems of crime, homelessness, crumbling infrastructure, and did I mention crime? 

John Tory -- Tory by name, "progressive" by inclination -- ran for re-election in October on the "politics of hope", taken whole and unadulterated from the teachings of The Prez. He won in a landslide. Because Toronto.

This week, surprise surprise, he resigned in the wake of the revelation by the Toronto Red Star of his affair with a former staffer. HA-ha!

This is like Lori Lightfoot winning re-election on February 28th [Ya think? Ed.] and then resigning because she's been sleeping with Hunter Biden!

According to Hizzoner, the relationship began during the Covid-19 Dempanic, when he and his long-time wife were spending "lengthy periods apart." Honesty John, has always made much of his reputation for integrity, said he was stepping down so he can "reflect on my mistakes" and "do the work of rebuilding the trust of my family."

That's all? Errr, no. Mr Tory also said the relationship "ended by mutual consent" earlier this year, adding that the former staffer had also decided to pursue employment outside of city hall. The word on Bay Street is that she landed in the executive offices of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, with which, by virtue of being a trustee of the Rogers family trust, the now-ex-mayor has some connection. 

The shadow of #MeToo looms in the background. Further reading: "Canada's top general latest victim of 'Me Too'", WWW 4/2/21.

2022 Wally Awards: Best pictorial explanation of "our" foreign aid policy

Sometimes it's hard to understand government policies, particularly foreign policy and the trillions spent on foreign. For a clearer understanding of how your tax dollars are spent to help the development of third world shitholes, check out this photo, taken somewhere in the Middle East.

One picture may be worth 1000 words, but is it worth $1000? You be the judge. And be sure to let the rulers of your country know how proud you are of their wokeness.

Footnote and protest alert! Organizers of the original Freedom Convoy protest that paralyzed the capital of Canuckistan (Prime Minister McBlackface's residence is pictured above) for three weeks in early 2022 say they're planning on bringing a new convoy to Winnipeg MB next month. 

In a Facebook post reported by CTV, Canada Unity shared a live video in which they proclaimed that a "world unity convoy” would be held in Winterpeg, so named because of its insalubrious climate, from the 17th to 20th of February, to coincide with the Whitewash Rouleau Commission report into last year's protest.

Mr Socks is said to be making reservations for a skiing holiday at "an undiscosed location" (read: NOT Winnipeg) for the 16th through 21st.

Trudeau discovers another threat to national security

What follows is a true story, not something made up by the good folks at the Babylon Bee. Clever as they are, they couldn't make up something as ridiculous as this.

Assiduous readers will remember that the Liberal government headed by Emperor Trudeau II were quick to see a "threat to national security" in the peaceful protests of the Freedom Convoy last winter. The Emergencies Act, aka Son of War Measures Act, was invoked, and dissent was quelled.

Apparently, however, they had the blinders on when it came to the awarding of a contract worth C$549,637 (just over $400,000 in real money) for the building and maintenance of a radio frequency (RF) filtering system for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The contract went to the lowest bidder (surprised?), a company called Sinclair Technologies, based in Aurora ON, just north of Toronto.

Sinclair Technologies? Who they? Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC), the sinecure for Liberal appointees in charge of awarding government contracts to firms with the left right connections should have asked that question, but apparently didn't. Radio-Canada, a state-owned broadcaster, found the answer on... wait for it... Wikipedia.

A Wiki that mysteriously disappeared overnight said that, while Sinclair is based in Ontario, its parent company Norsat International has been owned by Chinese telecommunications firm Hytera since 2017. The Communist Chinese government owns "about 10 per cent" of Hytera through an investment fund. Well, that's only a minority interest, so... no problem, eh! 

Errr... well... hmm... maybe it could be a bit of a bother, if the Chicomms were dishonourable enough to install spyware on the Mounties' radio systems, and use the intelligence ["police intelligence"? Ed.] gained for nefarious purposes. 

Although the Chinese are Canada's friends (unlike those Nazi racist truckers), that could indeed pose a threat to national security. Prime Minister Blackie McBlackface called the revelation of Sinclair's ties to the People's Republic "disconcerting" and promised a "review" of the contract and the process by which it was awarded. 

In a scrum outside the House of Commons yesterday, Mr Socks told the meeja that while security agencies were "advising us as a government and as Canadians that we have to be very careful about foreign interference in our institutions ... other parts of the civil service were signing contracts that have questionable levels of security for our operations and our national security institutions like the RCMP."

Marco Mendocino, the Minister of Public Safety said the government is looking at the contract "very carefully." A bit late perhaps, since Sinclair is already installing its equipment at RCMP bases, but never mind. Said Mr Mendacious, "We're eyes wide open about the threats that are posed by hostile state and non-state actors, and that includes [China]."

Coming next... an investigation into the threat to national security posed by TikTok? Stay tuned.

Trudeau speaks out for freedom of expression, right to protest

Testifying before the Whitewash Rouleau Commission on Friday, Trudeau II, Emperor of All Canuckistan, said he was "serene" and "confident" that he had done the right thing in invoking the Police State Emergencies Act to quash the peaceful Freedom Convoy that upset the Laurentian elites last winter.

Yesterday, speaking of the peaceful protests over Wuhan flu lockdowns that have rocked China in recent days, the same Trudeau said it's crucial that protesters be allowed to speak up. "Canadians are watching very closely," he said. "Obviously everyone in China should be allowed to express themselves (and) should be allowed to share their perspectives, and indeed protest."

But wait (as Vince Offer used to say), there's more. Mr Socks added, "We're going to continue to ensure that China knows we'll stand up for human rights. We'll stand with people who are expressing themselves. We also need to make sure that China, and places around the world, are respecting journalists and their ability to do their job."

Pretty rich, eh. But kudos to Blackie McBlackface for having learned that in politics you succeed by learning to speak out of both sides of your mouth at the same time. Sez Walt, "Bah!" And the ordinary people of Canada respond, "Baa baa."

Was the Freedom Convoy a threat to Canada's national security?

As noted earlier this morning, Mr Justice Paul Rouleau, presiding over the eponymous commission, must decide whether the Freedom Convoy constituted a threat to the security of Canada. He has to review his notes and transcripts of six weeks of oral testimony, plus over 7000 pages of documents (many of them heavily redacted), and the written submissions of counsel for a dozen or so (I lost count!) parties with standing, and the Commission itself.

The Commission was supposed to lift the veil of secrecy shrouding the events of February and the Liberals' decision to invoke the Emergencies Act, but much remains hidden. 

In refusing to release minutes of Cabinet meetings, counsel for the government of Canada relied on the principle of cabinet confidentiality. Questions about what was said in those meetings, or by one minister to another were objected to and disallowed.

Moreover, the documents produced by the government were so heavily redacted as to leave only the titles visible in many instances. Counsel for the Freedom Convoy organizers and other parties made several motions to have sight of uncensored versions of the documents, but almost all such motions were denied.

The other means by which the government kept secret key elements of its decision-making process was solicitor-client privilege. The Honourable David Lametti, Minister of Justice [!] said that he had considered a legal opinion on the matter. What was the opinion? He couldn't say -- solicitor-client privilege. Was the opinion shown to Cabinet? Same answer. Would he let the Commission see the opinion? What do you think?!

Agent 3, our non-resident legal beagle thinks that Mr Justic Rouleau is entitled to draw inferences from the government's refusal to waive solicitor-client privilege, and/or* release unredacted versions of the 1000s of documents which were censored. If the government has nothing to hide, if the legal opinion and other papers raised no doubts about the legality of invoking the Emergencies Act, why not show let Canadians see these things?

Is Commissioner Rouleau bothered by the government's stonewalling? Maybe not. In his closing statement Friday evening, he said he is satisfied that he can now make factual findings and answer the key questions the commission was mandated to explore: Why did the federal government declare the emergency? How did it use its powers? And were those actions appropriate? "These are questions that, as I said at the outset, the public wants answered," said the judge. "I'm confident that I am now well positioned to provide those answers."

In his deliberations, Mr Justice Rouleau will have to consider the argument made repeatedly by counsel for the Freedom Convoy organizers, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, and others that the protest did not constitute a threat to the security of Canada, as defined by the Emergencies Act, which incorporates by reference the definition of a threat contained in the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act. 

Section 2 of the latter act says: "threats to the security of Canada" means

(a) espionage or sabotage that is against Canada or is detrimental to the interests of Canada or activities directed toward or in support of such espionage or sabotage,

(b) foreign influenced activities within or relating to Canada that are detrimental to the interests of Canada and are clandestine or deceptive or involve a threat to any person,

(c) activities within or relating to Canada directed toward or in support of the threat or use of acts of serious violence against persons or property for the purpose of achieving a political, religious or ideological objective within Canada or a foreign state, and

(d) activities directed toward undermining by covert unlawful acts, or directed toward or intended ultimately to lead to the destruction or overthrow by violence of, the constitutionally established system of government in Canada, but does not include lawful advocacy, protest or dissent, unless carried on in conjunction with any of the activities referred to in paragraphs (a) to (d). [Walt's emphasis.]

M Trudeau's minions kept referring to Jan. 6th, and to the sighting of one (only) "Nazi" flag and one (only) Confederate flag (both likely carried by agents provocateurs), as evidence that "IMVEs" (Ideologically Motivated Violent Extremists) were behind the protests. 

That gruel being shown to be pretty thin, they then switched to the argument that the protests were detrimental to Canada's economic security, i.e. bad for business. Ms Freeland said she'd had calls from Michigan Governor Karen Whitmer (D) and Mr Socks said he'd been on the phone with President Brandon. The Americans, they said, might not invest so much in Canada, in future, if it became "unstable". Judge Rouleau said he didn't see anything in the CSIS definition about economic insecurity.

In closing statements on Friday evening, a lawyer for the federal government said it's clear after six weeks of testimony that there were serious threats of violence by demonstrators, that blockades posed threats to the economic security of Canada, and that there were reasonable grounds to declare a national emergency. 

But are "reasonable grounds" sufficient? What about legal grounds?! Lawyers for the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan said provincial governments were not consulted enough on the special powers. 

A lawyer for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, argued that the use of the act was inappropriate, and that a "creative and privileged legal opinion" from the government isn't enough to conclude that the legal threshold was met. She said the act was ultimately a way for the government to be seen to be doing something about the protests, which had gridlocked downtown Ottawa for weeks and halted trade at several Canada-US border crossings. 

"Instead of establishing clear and appropriate lines of communication, having frank discussions and putting instructions about strategic priorities to police in writing, the government gave law enforcement the biggest and most public nudge it could," she said, "it invoked the Emergencies Act and handed law enforcement across the country sweeping and unnecessary new tools and a clear political mandate to use them."

Counsel for Freedom Corp., representing some of the protest organizers, said the Emergencies Act constituted state violence. "The sad irony is that the protest in Ottawa was fundamentally about government overreach. Canadians felt that the current government had gone too far with the COVID-19 mandates. The government's response to the protest by invoking the Emergencies Act was a further reach of power over people instead of power by the people." 

Let us say, using the current buzzword, that there's a lot to unpack there, and Mr Justice Rouleau is going to have his work cut out for him. His report is due in February 2023. That's a pretty short time in which to mix up so many gallons of whitewash!

* Footnote from Ed., regarding "and/or". Lawyers love "and/ors". You see them all the time in contracts, statutes and other legal documents. They are expensive, though... because they are imported from Andorra.

COMMENT, from Carson Jerema, National Post, 28/11/22. Trudeau’s use of the Emergencies Act was a profound attack on the rule of law, and any finding from the Public Order Emergencies Commission that it was legal would be an unfortunate precedent. Despite that, polls have shown that Canadians supported the move in high numbers, much higher than support for the Liberals generally.

Comment from Walt: Are Canucks really that careless of their freedom? Hard to believe.

Rouleau Commission public hearings end with a week of bullshit

While Americans were giving thanks at the end of last week, Canadians were giving thanks for the end of the public hearings of the Rouleau Commission of inquiry into whether the Liberal government of Canuckistan was justified in invoking the never-before-used Emergencies to quell the Freedom Convoy protests of last February. 

As reported in Walt's first post on this subect, the public fact-finding hearings began six weeks ago with the Parade of the Snowflakes. The week before last saw the Parade of the Minions -- the Commissioner of the RCMP and assorted deputies and secretaries of the Privy Council (Americans read: Cabinet) Office and the Prime Minister's Office. Most of them were shady-side-of-50s females so smitten with Blackie McBlackface that they would say or do anything, anything to protect him from harm -- physical or political.

This past week was the big finale, the Parade of the Ministers: the Honourable William Bliar (President of the Privy Council and Minister of Emergency Preparedness) [Seriously? Ed.]; the Honourable Marco Mendacious (Minister of Public Safety); the Honourable Omar Algebra (the Saudi-born Syrian-Canadian Minister of Transport); and the Honourable David Lamentable (Minister of Justice [sic]).

The semi-finalist was the fragrant and Honourable Chrystia Freeland (Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister). At right is a note from Ms Freeland, tendered in evidence. What does the handwriting tell you about her?  

The star attraction though, the big finish on Friday, was Emperor Trudeau II, his own self. Those who expected him to wilt under questioniong about his decision -- and it was his alone -- to order the most sweeping suspension of Canadian civil liberties since the October Crisis of 1970 (his father was prime minister then) were deeply disappointed.

Not only did he deny doing anything wrong, hinting that the "worst" might have happened had he not invoked the Emergencies Act, but he proclaimed himself "serene" -- confident that he could and would do the same again if he thought it was the right thing to do. That's exactly what Canadians are afraid of!

The lawyers refrained from questioning Mr Socks about his whereabouts at the height of the peaceful demonstration, so as not to draw attention to the fact of his hiding at a cottage somewhere in the hills north of Ottawa. Nor did they press him on his characterization of the protesters as a "tiny minority with unacceptable views." 

They did, however, ask him if he was wrong to call unvaccinated people names like "racists" and "misogynists". He denied having done so. Those epithets were uttered in a September 2021 appearance on La semaine des 4 Julie (a Québec talk show), in which Junior said, "We all know people who are a little hesitant (about vaccination), and we're going to try and convince them, but there are also people who are fiercely opposed to vaccination; who don't believe in science, who are often misogynists, who are often racist as well."

In his testimony to the Commission, M Trudeau said that "using protests to demand changes to public policy is something that I think is worrisome." How about that! Doesn't every protest have as its object the changing of public policy?

Now it falls to the Honourable Mr Justice Paul Rouleau -- a Liberal appointee and former Party apparatchik -- to decide whether the Liberal government's decision to invoke the Emergencies Act was lawful. We'll let Agent 3 pick up this thread later today.

VIDEO: Freedom Convoy inquiry: testimony the liberal legacy media don't want Canadians to hear

I'm back, with thanks to all who have sent their good wishes. The result of the procedure was good and it looks as if I'll be able to continue ranting for some time yet.

I know our American readers will be waiting for me to say something about the mid-terms, and I will. But the Rouleau Commission hearings continuing in Ottawa this week are important not just to Canadian readers but for all concerned with protecting the freedoms of speech, assembly, and peaceful protest.

This week the Commission is hearing evidence from the Freedom Convoy organizers, the people Canuck Prime Minister Just In Trudeau called "a tiny minority with unacceptable views." Agent 3, who has been watching the live stream, writes:

Have you had a chance to see any of the Rouleau Commission hearings? If you're just seeing clips on the news, you're missing a lot of fun, because the lickspittle media are cherry-picking the clips that make the truckers look bad and make the feds look justified in invoking the Emergencies Act. But I've been watching them live, streaming online, and it's like a Saturday Night Live sketch. 

E.g., the characterization of Diagolon as a dangerous right-wing conspiracy. It was actually a joke started by a couple of guys in Alberta, and the feds took it seriously. The crowd in the hearing hall actually laughed out loud, and Rouleau threatened to clear the room, as he has done several times now. Pretty soon what was supposed to be an open hearing is going to be closed. Already they've decided that the CSIS [the Canuck equivalent of the CIA. Ed.] spies can testify in camera, so we won't be able to see their incompetence.

Ed. has searched the Net and has come up with hours of video. Links will appear below. Here's one clip -- not one seen on the legacy TV network newscasts, featuring Tamara Lich, the little lady from Saskatchewan who was arrested, denied bail twice by Liberal judges and finally released on appeal, and is still under house arrest awaiting trial. I found her testimony very calm and rational, and yet moving. 

 

I should have put "organizers" in quote marks. A thread common to the testimony of Ms Lich, James Bauder, Benjamin Dichter, Tom Marazzo, Chris Barber and the controversial Pat King, is that none of them knew more than two or three of the others and had divers motives for being involved in the Freedom Convoy.

There were a number of different groups and sub-groups, and no unifying command structure. No-one knew for sure what the others were doing or trying to do, the prime example of the disconnect being the so-called "Memorandum of Understanding" authored by James Bauder, which some of the leaders never saw and others regarded as "fake news".

Tamara Lich agreed with previous testimony that there were "power struggles" between groups involved in the Freedom Convoy, and felt like some were just looking for an opportunity for self-promotion, while others were more interested in getting their hands on some of the millions of dollars raised through GoFundMe and other sources. That was a problem for her as she was tasked with handling a lot of the money.

She said there were tensions between herself and Pat King, whom she described as “very controversial.” She confirmed she had a tense conversation with King about his involvement and that she’d both told him he should not come to Ottawa and to “check his ego” after he claimed he’d organized the convoy alone./

Ms Leach characterized the Ottawa protest as a "love fest" and said she had seen no evidence of the harassment and intimidation alleged by local residents, businesses and police.  about harassment and intimidation. "I can’t say I ever witnessed any of that."

She described herself as "concerned" about Mr King’s controversial rhetoric. Some months before the Ottawa demonstration, he said in a video circulating on social media that Prime Minister Trudeau might "catch a bullet". He also spoke of a the Great Replacement conspiracy to reduce people of Anglo-Saxon descent to a minority. Said Ms Lich, "I was getting messages and phone calls from a lot of people that were concerned that he was involved."

Another convoy organizer, Benjamin Dichter, a former Conservative candidate who Ms Lich described as "a friend", testified that he was frustrated by the decision-making, or lack thereof. He complained about a deal that some convoy members struck with the City of Ottawa to move vehicles out of residential areas and onto Wellington Street, in front of Parliament Hill. 

Mr Dichter said the deal was a bad idea and the people pushing it weren’t aligned with the protesters broader goals. "I think they were focused on ending the protests and getting everybody out of the city as quickly as possible," he said. Dichter. And he accused Keith Wilson, a lawyer who had represented the convoy, as being "Pat King in a suit."

The commission also heard from James Bauder, a self-described "tirbal person" [like Pauxcahontas? Ed.], who came to Jesus not long ago and felt that God had led him to organize not just this convoy but a "Beat Hug" convoy which had staged a protest in Ottawa some months previous.

Mr Bauder was the publisher of the controversial "Memorandum of Understanding", which he wrote himself in spite of being unfamiliar with legal terminology, Canada's government structures or Constitution. The MoU called for the Senate and the Governor General to work with a "citizens' commission" which would take over from the government. 

His proposal would have suspended all Covid-19 mandates and refunded any fines people had paid for breaching the Covid rules. Several other organizers testified that they didn't want anything to do with the memorandum. Mr Bauder said he stood by the document, but ultimately no one was willing to sign on. "It means nothing because nobody signed it. nobody entered into it."

The hearings continue this morning with cross-examination of Tamara Lich. If you want to see the drama [or farce? Ed.] play out, try the National Post website. So far they're the only one of Canuckistan's mainstream media to stream the hearings in real time. But be warned. You may find yourself behind a paywall.

Ed. has found a couple of full-length (hours and hours!) videos of previous sessions, viz.:

Click here to see the testimony of former Canadian Army Captain Tom Marazzo and Pat King. And here to see James Bauder, Tamara Lich,  and Benjamin Dichter testify.

Freedom Convoy: Will Trudeau be held to account?

You remember, eh, the Freedom Convoy, the peaceful -- not mostly peaceful, but totally peaceful, except for the actions of Trudeau's storm troopers -- protest which tied up Canuckistan's capital city in February, giving Prime Minister Blackie McBlackface what he thought was a good excuse to invoke the never-before-used Emergencies Act to crack down on Canadians' civil liberties.

If you've forgotten, or just weren't paying much attention at the time, check out these WWW reports. "True Facts about Canada's Freedom Convoy" (includes video with John-Henry Westen), 9/2/22

"Matt Taibbi on 'Justin Trudeau's Ceauşescu Moment'", 11/2/22

"'The Catastrophe of Canada': Jordan Peterson & Rex Murphy" (video) 21/2/22

"Kelly McParland: The world thinks Justin Trudeau blew it", 23/2/22.

The Emergencies Act includes a provision that requires a public inquiry, after the Act is used, to determine whether its use was justified. Sort of like: verdict first, trial later. Anyhoo, the inquiry finally got underway in Ennui-on-the-Rideau this week. It is to be known as the "Rouleau Commission" because the presiding judge, appointed by Mr Sock, is Paul Rouleau, a justice of the Ontario Court of Appeal for Ontario. 

Mr Justice Rouleau is a graduate of University of Ottawa Faculty of Law, and has previously served on the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, the Supreme Court of Yukon, the Nunavut Court of Justice, and the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories in 2017. 

Before getting these nice jobs, Mr Rouleau worked for the Liberal Party of Canada. In 1983, he was part of John Turner's campaign to take over the Liberal leadership (and thus become prime minister) when Emperor Trudeau I announced his retirement. Later, he had a hand in helping pick Mr Turner's cabinet, and is described as either his executive assistant or appointments secretary in various media reports from that era. Can you say "whitewash", boys and girls? I knew you could.

Now that he's a judge, Mr Rouleau is supposed to be apolitical, non-partisan, and open-minded. He accepted without hesitation the terms of reference for the mission: not merely to look into the government's actions and whether they were justified, but to investigate the behaviour and financing of the protesters. (Junior claimed that they were directed and financed by foreign extremists.) In his opening statement, Mr Justice Rouleau said, "Uncovering the truth is an important goal."

What is the truth? Depends on whether you're on the side of the self-righteous, liberal police state... or of freedom. The Freedom Convoy was appropriately named, standing up for freedom from oppression by the nanny state. The invocation of the Emergencies Act severely restricted the rights to freedom of expression, assembly and association.

In opening statements on Thursday, civil liberties groups, including the Canadian Constitution Foundation and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, noted the sweeping rights implications of the act.  The Emergency Economic Measures Order, made in pursuance of the act, chilled freedom of expression, by mandating banks to freeze bank accounts of those connected to the protests, without any warrant or notice to the account-holders.

Counsel for the Liberal government argued its view that Canada faced an "unprecedented and critical" situation in the face of ongoing protests and blockades, including threats of "ideologically motivated violence" and impact on Canada’s trade, international relationships, and reputation. Even as opening statements were being read, the Emperor [Prime Minister, shurely! Ed.], rather than saying that since the matter was before the court, or that he would be testifying later, was making his argument publicly in every "media availability".

"We knew from the very beginning," he told the CBC and the rest of the lickspittle media, "that invoking the Emergencies Act is a big step that had never been done before. But given these unprecedented illegal protests, we needed to take action. We took it in a way that was measured, that was responsible that was time limited."

Lawyers for the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan, begged to differ, expressing disapproval of the federal government's failure to consult them before invoking the act. Yes, they were called, according to counsel for Saskatchewan, but "the call was not so much about consulting as it was about telling." Saskatchewan also opposed the financial measures, which required banks and other institutions to take significant steps with little guidance from the government.

Several provinces requested that the act's application be geographically limited, which it was not. Counsel for Alberta noted that the province was able to deal with the Coutts AB border blockades under existing laws, and that none of the powers under the Emergencies Act were necessary, or indeed invoked, in that province.

Counsel for the various police forces involved, and residents of Ottawa who say they were affected by the protest, backed up Mr Socks. The residents' lawyer called the protests "highly disruptive, even traumatizing", what with continual honk-honking throughout the night, loose jerry cans lying the streets, and "general disorder."

On Friday, the commission began hearing evidence from witnesses, starting with the Parade of the Snowflakes -- Ottawa residents whining about the supposed disruption of their lives. At the head of tyhe parade was a "legally blind" lady who entered the hall wearing sunglasses (and a mask, of course) and tapping her white cane. She said her condition had been worsened by the protest because she was afraid to go out, even to shop, for fear of being lost in the crowd.

A Chinese-Canadian lady said the noise of the air- and truck horns was so loud that she and her husband had to sleep in their car, in the basement of their condo. Even worse, she says she was bullied when she went into the street, and was told that she wasn't smiling under her mask!

Another Karen, a well-fed businesswoman, said she was afraid... very afraid. Why? "Because when I heard that the Ottawa police chief [Peter "Moves" Sloly] said he was afraid, I felt I should be afraid too." Seriously. 

Mr Sloly, a diversity hire, was a "victim" of the protest, losing his job a couple of weeks in, for failing to get tough with the freedom fighters. [Your bias is showing. Ed.] The new acting chief called in the Toronto Police "Service" mounted unit, who got the job done without trampling on more than one little old lady.

The Rouleau Commission is expected to hear fro as many of 65 potential witnesses, including Prime Minister McBlackface, as time will allow. Given that 20 different organizations have standing and will be allowed to cross-examine witnesses, the hearings could take more than a little while. 

However, the Commission's final report must, by law, be laid before Parliament by 20 February 2023. That wouldn't be a problem, though, for Mr Justice Rouleau if, as Walt suspects, his exoneration of Chief Walking Goose (Mr Trudeau's honorary Indian name) and all his minions has already been written by... ohhh... let's say Gerald Butts.

The peaceful protest the liberals don't want you to know about

Ed. here. It's been hot here. Walt has been sleeping it off asleep in the shade of the old apple tree, and I hesitated to rouse him from his torpor, but this space must be filled, so I locked him in the shed until he produced... this....

I am a country boy at heart. I grew up in a farming community, and after decades of wandering am now settled in a region which still has many working farms. The mayor of the city and county of Fort Mudge seems determined to see all the farmland paved over, but hey, that's progress... right?! I don't know where they think our food will come from, but I do know I'm not the first to say that.

I have great sympathy, then, for the 1000s of Dutch farmers who for the last couple of weeks have been mounting a peacful protest -- really, not being sarcastic -- at the plans of the oh-so-green Dutch government to fight the climate change "crisis" by reducing the country's agricultural output by a third. This will mean slaughtering large numbers of dairy cattle, since, besides milk, they produce enormous quantities of methane, nitrous oxide, ammonia and other greenhouse gases.

So,  inspired perhaps by this spring's Freedom Convoy in Canada, the good boers of Holland are clogging up the roads and highways with their tractors, and occasionally dumping the contents of their manure spreaders in front of public buildings.

"How dairy you!" Geddit? Right back at ya, Greta Thunberg, the patron saint of eco-alarmism, whose apocalyptic rantings and warped ideology have caused the Netherlands parliament to adopt a Green New Deal even more destructive and insane than those being inflicted on North Americans by Crazy Joe and Blackie McBlackface.

You probably haven't heard or read much about the Dutch farmers' protests, because the lickspittle media doesn't like to give any publicity to any pushback agsinst the ideologies of the liberal elites. I'm talking about the kind of sentiment encapsulated in a recent statement by Just In Trudeau's acolyte, Chrystia Freeland, that the spike in gas prices is good because it makes us focus on the need to switch to electric vehicles!

In "These farmers are fighting for us all", posted on Spiked Online yesterday, Brendan O'Neill wrote that although the Dutch farmers' protest had received some coverage outside of the Netherlands, the reports are running "below the fold" (as editors say), because "This is a people’s revolt against eco-tyranny, against the modern elite’s determination to slash 'harmful' emissions with little regard for the consequences such action will have for working people and poor people. 

"To the formers of elite consensus opinion, for whom environmentalism is tantamount to a religion, the sight of pesky little people rebelling against green diktats is too much to bear. So they either demonize these dissenters, as is happening in the Netherlands, or they ignore them in the hope they will go away, as is happening outside the Netherlands."

The slogan pictured, translated, reads: Out farmers, our future. Walt sez, three cheers and a tiger for the good boers of the Netherlands. Honk honk!

VIDEO: Pierre Poilievre talks about old wood (???) - a message for freedom-loving conservatives everywhere

For those readers, especially Americans, who don't follow Canadian politics [Why would they? Ed.], let me bring you up to speed. By comparison with the Excited States, Canada is a pretty laid-back... or just plain dull... country. And Canucks like it that way. They generally elect governments which are either slightly to the left or (occasionally) slightly to the right of centre. There hasn't been a really conservative Conservative federal government since Adam was a little boy.

It has therefore come as a shock to the liberal Laurentian establishment that someone who sounds like a conservaative-cum-populist, in the mould of Donald Trump, looks like becoming the next leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, and, quite possibly, the next prime minister of Canuckistan.

That someone is Pierre Poilievre, about whom I've written before. Mr Poilievre is not truly a social conservative like Leslyn Lewis, the dark horse on the right. He has refused to grasp the nettles of the abortion, gay "marriage" and critical race theory issues. See "More on Poilievre and Lewis + Brown", WWW 2/5/22.

He has, however, championed the cause of freedom from Big Government, associating himself with the leaders of last winter's Freedom Convoy, and condemning Emperor Justin's use of emergency powers to impose vaccine and other mandates on the Canadian sheeple.

In so doing, he distances himself from Jean Charest -- the last of the Red Tories -- and Patrick Brown, the puppet of the World Sikh Organization of Canada. [The link is for those who think Walt is making this up. Ed.] This week the CPC disqualified Mr Brown for violating was campaign rules and (possibly) the Elections Act. 

That leaves John James Charest (his real name) as the only serious (?) candidate of the old "Conservative" establishment, with the likely outcome of September's vote being the coronation of Lucky Pierre. But M Poilievre isn't taking a landslide win for granted. His team has just released a clever and skillfully made video, in which he waxes poetic over some old planks. What does this have to do with conservative values? Check it out.  

 

For those who didn't or couldn't watch the video, here's a synopsis. Mr Poilievre at home in Ottawa admiring a wooden post he recovered from an old barn and used in a DIY project. Early lumberjacks hewed it from logs, he says, leaving the scars of their axes as evidence of their labour. Then he turns to the planks on the wall. He bought them from a farmer, and spent hours cleaning and restoring them. 

Why? Because they tell a story about the people who fashioned them and the elements that weathered them. All he did, he says, was to reclaim what was already there in the wood. And reclaiming Canadians' lost freedom is what his campaign is about. That's his message.

Liberals, he explains, have been trying to build a kind of utopia, knocking down statues, sweeping away history and banning words as they go. This is nothing but a pretext to give themselves "vast new powers," which they've been trying to do all through the past seven years of Liberal government.

"Reclaim your life," he concludes. "Reclaim your freedom!" That's a powerful message -- a challenge which ought to resonate with not just the sheeplike Canucks, but with Americans, Britons and lovers of freedom throughout the western world. Walt says, "Right on!"

UPDATED: Canada Day has been cancelled

In place of our customary Canada Day greeting to our many Canadian friends and readers, Walt, Poor Len [and Ed.! Ed.] send condolences. We know that, thanks to Just In Trudeau, Emperor of All Canuckistan, this is how most of you feel about the country you used to call "yours".

Here, courtesy of the CBC ("The Voice of the Liberals"), is the news of Canada Day.

Item: The Forks is a historic site and green space located at the confluence of the Red River and Assiniboine Rivers in downtown Winnipeg MB, the city with the largest Indigenous population in Canada. 

This year, in recognition of the "fact" that the land was "stolen" from the First Nations, The Forks recast its Canada Day festivities into "an inclusive celebration of multiculturalism" it's calling "A New Day". Canada Day is cancelled.

Item: Tamara Lich, winner of the George Jonas Freedom Award for 2022, will spend Canada Day in Jail. On Monday, she was arrested in Medicine Hat AB for allegedly breaching bail conditions imposed by a judge (a Liberal appointee) related to charges for her role in the Freedom Convoy.

Ms Lich is charged with one count of failing to comply with her release order in a warrant issued by Ontario authorities, which means she is alleged to have breached her condition in that province. She must appear in court in Ontario within six days, with that time limit conveniently extending just past Canada Day.

Tamara Lich is a political prisoner in Blackie McBlackface's Liberal democracy, which every day looks more and more like the Communist China which Junior so admires.

Item: Even though Ms Lich is being returned (against her will) to Ontario, you can bet she won't be taken to the second-coldest capital city in the world. Ottawa authorities [word carefully chosen. Ed.] are shit-scared that her appearance, even behind bars of an Ottawa gaol, would add fuel to the flames of freedom protests planned for July 1st.

City officials say they are prepared for a "unique" Canada Day, with plans to keep anti-government protests from turning into another occupation. This year the nationally broadcast TV propaganda-fest will originate  from the plaza in front of the Canadian War Museum, because Parliament Hill is closed to Canadians due to "ongoing construction". 

Well, that's the party line. Fact is, Ottawa police are bracing themselves for more protests and larger crowds than usual, as groups "related to the Freedom Convoy" are planning demonstrations. They have called in reinforcements from the Mounties -- look out for those horses! -- and the Ontario Provincial Police.

On Tuesday morning, the cops published a stern warning that they will be on the lookout for "racist, homophobic, misogynistic signs or speech during this year’s Canada Day celebrations." A spokesperson with the force [another carefully chosen word. Ed.] said that "communicating any such messaging either verbally or in another fashion could lead to criminal charges."

Such is that state of Canada on this Day Formerly Known As Canada Day. There is no more pride in Canada. Pride in homosexuality, fine. Ethnic pride within immigrant communities, perfectly acceptable. Even pride in French-Canadian culture, as shown on Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day is permitted. But pride in Canada's Anglophone heritage? Unacceptable!

Under the Trudeaus, father and son, Canadians are encouraged to disremember that it was largely  "old stock Canadians" from the so-called British Isles who were responsible for the things Canadians take for granted: parliamentary democracy, freedom of expression, freedom of the press, common law jurisprudence, habeas corpus, the court system, Charter rights, personal freedoms and many more foundational aspects of Canadian society. 

If the police and their political masters are worried -- and well they might be -- about the possibility of angry demonstrations in Canada's capital... if they wonder why ordinary Canadians are so incensed, and what's causing the protests... they should look in the mirror.

The protesters would not be gathering in Ottawa or anywhere else in the Not-so-great Not-so-white North if not for the policies and actions of M Trudeau and the liberal elites. Millions of Canadians want a return of the personal freedoms taken away by the Liberal nanny state. In spite of all that "true North, strong and free" bullshit, Canadian society is divided, make that fragmented, as never before. And Just In Trudeau is to blame. Never forget.

UPDATE ADDED 1/7/22: Homosexuality is filthy, and homosexual acts warrant the death penalty. Christian Arabs who protect Jews from murderers are traitors. A man should be permitted to beat his wife. 

These are among the ideas promoted by several of the individuals who will be featured speakers at a national three-day conference of the Muslim Association of Canada, beginning today in Toronto. Good thing they're not meeting in Ottawa where (see above) the cops are on the lookout for hate speech, homophobia, etc etc. 

The Liberal government of Canuck Prime Minister Blackie McBlackface has provided the MAC with more than $3 million in federal "anti-hate", youth engagement and security funding over the past three years. Never forget.

VIDEO: Must-read books for freedom-loving Canucks (and Americans)

Back in February [How quickly we forget! Ed.], as he scurried to hide, Biden-like, in a cottage in the Laurentians, Just In Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canuckistan, said that the 1000s of people heading in convoy for the World's Second-Coldest Capital City, represented only a "fringe minority" or Canadians with "unacceptable views".

All the same, Mr Socks mobilized all the forces his nanny state could muster -- including weaponizing Canada's banks to seize the accounts of the protesters -- to silence the voices of dissent. Now the lickspittle media (Hello, CBC*!) are crowing that last week's re-election of Doug Ford, the cuckservative premier of Ontario, proves there's no room for "extremism" in Canada. The truckers have gone home, they say, and all is well in the Not-so-great No-longer-white North. 

Is the Canadian fight for freedom from the dictates of the woke Liberals over? Apparently not, as witness stats released by Amazon Canada yesterday showing that the best-selling book on their charts is  How the Prime Minister Stole Freedom.

Written by Derek Smith and illustrated by Kaede Knipe, the book is a parody, in the style of the Dr Seuss classic How the Grinch Stole Christmas. It tells the tale of a prime minister, with a strong resemblance to Blackie McBlackface -- "his brain was three sizes too small" -- who is must deal with a convoy of freedom-loving truckers invading his capital city. 

Emperor Trudeau is never mentioned by name, probably for legal reasons, and a disclaimer makes it clear that there's no connection with Dr Seuss, but a litany of Trudeau references is presented in the good doctor's unmistakable style, and the illustrations are right on target.

The title character can be seen sipping from a "drink-box, water-bottle sorta thing." He uses the neologism "peoplekind". He is briefly pictured in blackface. And on one page, he gazes lovingly at a framed portrait of Winnie the Pooh -- a poke at Chinese President Xi Jinping, and a reference to Trudeau’s infamous 2013 remark that he admires China’s "basic dictatorship".

Here's a short review, just posted by YouTuber "Clyde Do Something".:

 

How the Prime Minister Stole Freedom is the latest addition to a rapidly expanding line of anti-Trudeau merch, represented by the dozens of hats, flags, bumper stickers and shirts bearing the ubiquitous "Fuck Trudeau" slogan, with the "u" artfully replaced with a maple leaf.

But wait (as Vince Offer used to say), there's more... The Canadian cottage industry in anti-Trudeau stuff is a mere drop in the bucket compared to the tsunami of products make fun of Sleepy Joe Biden, the suspiciously elected President of the US of A. 

In fact, Derek Smith started on President Brandon first! In October, he published Let's Go Brandon, a faux children's book also illustrated by Kaede Knipe.

It follows the travails of a hapless child named Brandon who some may think represents Crazy Joe. (Any resemblance is just coincidental, of course.) Brandon tried so hard to hold down a job. No matter how hard he tried, things would always go wrong. One fateful day after making a wish, Brandon believes he finds an answer to his problems. Could this be the answer he has been searching for? Has destiny finally come calling for Brandon? 

Let's Go Brandon is a satirical book based on the viral "Let's Go Brandon" jokes. Both it and How the Prime Minister Stole Freedom are available from Amazon and the other usual sources, and would make perfect gifts for that special someone or just for a laugh for yourself. 

* Footnote: In The Platinum Age of B.S., Fred C. Dobbs refers to the CBC as "Not much Canadian Broadcasting, lots of Corporation".

The problem with Poilievre

 As I was saying... The front-runner in the race to become the third leader of the Conservative Party of Canada since the defeat of Steve Harpoon in 2015 is Pierre Poilievre, who says that he is running not for the Tory leadership, but to become Prime Minister of Canada. 

The Canadian parliamentary system [Is dis a system? Mr Natural] doesn't work quite that way, since Canucks don't elect their prime minister directly, as Americans do their president. But no matter. M Poilievre promises to make Canada "the freest nation on earth" and urges Canucks to "take back control of your life!"

M Poilievre (the one on the left) chooses freedom from the overarching command and control of Emperor Trudeau's nanny state as the hill on which he will die. Or so he says. That's why he supported the Freedom Convoy. But for doing so he has been attacked by the leader wannabe, currently a distant second in the race, the once-and-future liberal Jean Charest.

John James "Jean" Charest is Yesterday's Man. He was elected to the House of Commons in 1984 as a Progressive Conservative, and served in several federal cabinet positions between 1986 and 1993. He became the leader of the PC Party in 1993 and remained in the role until he saw a better opportunity, and jumped into provincial (Québec) politics in 1998, as leader of the Québec Liberal Party. The Liberals formed the government in 2003, and M Charest held the office of Premier until 2012.

Now Jean Charest, or "JC" as his supporters call him, has risen from the political dead, and stalks the land, zombie-like, urging Conservatives to put "Progressive" back in the party's name, and save Canada from the evil conservative PP.

In fact, M Poilievre is no conservative, at least when it comes to social issues. He is pro-choice (read: pro-abortion). He does not propose to close Canada's porous border, or reduce immigration levels to a number which would be acceptable to most Canadians [like zero? Ed.] He does not promise to cut taxes and/or reduce out-of-control government spending. His pitch is "to make Canada the freest nation* on earth" -- sufficiently vague that it can be embraced by everyone from "moderate conservatives" to the rightist hard core.

And that's the problem with Pierre Poilievre. At the end of the day, he's still a professional politician, more interested in power than principle. After graduating from the University of Calgary, he founded (with a partner)  a company called 3D Contact Inc., which focused on providing political communications, polling and research services. He worked on Stockwell "Doris" Day's campaign for the leadership of the Canadian Alliance, a short-lived successor to the PC Party, and after Mr Day's tenure as Leader of the Official Opposition, worked for him as an advisor.

In 2004, at the tender age of 24, Pierre Poilievre was elected as Conservative Member of Parliament for the Ottawa-area riding of Carleton, and  he's been there ever since. He served in Steve Harpoon's cabinet from 2013 until the Tories got the boot in 2015, and now sits on the other side of the House as Bad Cop to the Good Cop of the two Fredos who've held the title of Leader of the Opposition.

One more thing. M Poilievre is not as French-Canadian as his name suggests. In fact he's not French-Canadian at all. The little bastard's biological mother was 16 years old when she gave birth to him, and is of Irish descent. Her father, whom  wee Pierre first met as an adult, was Irish-Canadian. [Sure and what's wrong with that?! Ed.]  

M Poilievre was born in Calgary, and adopted at birth by schoolteachers Marlene and Donald Poilievre. He was raised in Calgary and has never been heard to speak a word of French. *If he were even somewhat bilingual, he'd know better than to use the word "nation" in his campaign slogan, because in French, "nation" means a people, not a nation-state as is the meaning in English. So in multi-cultural Canada, particularly in la Belle Province, "nation" is a loaded word.

A good politician -- a professional politician -- is like a good defenceman in hockey. He'll go hard into the corner and do What Must Be Done, and emerge smiling, and occasionally licking drops of blood off his teeth. Winning is the name of the game for Pierre Poilievre. He talks the conservative talk right now, because he wants to win the Conservative leadership. But winning the party is not the same as winning the country, and if M Poilievre has to ditch conservative principles and policies for the sake of appealing to the moderate majority of Canadians, that's what he'll do.

Coming soon-ish: The other contenders for the Conservative leadership, and how I'd play it if I were [Sorry. You're out of space again. Ed.]

Angry Canucks hit the streets again; cowardly Conservatives MIA

Ed. tells me that at least one reader has demanded to know where I've been since Tuesday. He (the reader) accuses Ed. of having me drawn and quartered, then burying me in the backyard, under the blanket of creeping charlie. Terrible stuff that. If you stand still for more than five seconds it'll curl around your shoes and pull you down.

The accusation is baseless, of course. Ed. doesn't have a horse, let alone the four required for a proper quartering. In fact Ed. hates horses, because they're smarter than he is. Smarter, in fact, than most humans and all animals except maybe pigs. And there's some debate about that.

Pigs are very smart. Did you know that pigs can be trained to shit in one corner of their pen and to push, with their snouts, a button which flushes the excreta into a trough? I have seen it with mine own eyes, at the Central Experimental in Ottawa, Canada.

Which brings me to the reason for my absence. I was preparing to be part of the latest iteration of February's Freedom Convoy, which saw 100s of truckers and other fed-up Canadians take to the streets of the world's second-coldest capital to protest against vaccine mandates, Just In Trudeau, censorship, Trudeau, the lickspittle media, Trudeau, Covid lockdowns, Trudeau, inflation, and... You get the picture.

The new rally for freedom, unfolding right now, has been dubbed "Rolling Thunder", and I thought I would fit right in, since Mrs Walt says rolling thunder is the noise I make when we play "Dutch Oven" in bed on cold winter nights. Turns out the new protest is being led, not by truckers but by bikers! So it seemed you needed a motorcycle to participate, and I won't get on one of those things since Dave (an old buddy of Agent 6 and my goodself) got seriously injured when his bike jumped on top of him.

So I didn't go, and spent last night in the company of Poor Len Canayen, watching the final game of the Montréal Canadiens' season, about which he will write later this weekend. While we were crying in our beer (Molson, of curse), Rolling Thunder started rolling. Many of the demonstrators were also part of the Freedom Convoy. 

The protest started relatively calmly on Parliament Hill, but as night fell a line of big rigs, campers and other trucks made their way into the city core. Protesters gathered around the trucks, and police in tactical gear formed a line and faced them down. Police said in a release that seven people were arrested on various charges, including assaulting police, and 24 vehicles were towed. At least one truck also had its windows broken.

Rolling Thunder protest is expected to continue today Saturday) with the convoy of hundreds of motorcycles moves through downtown Ottawa, with a stop at the National War Memorial, before moving to Parliament Hill for another rally.

I'll be waiting to see whether any of the candidates for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada (yes, the "help wanted" sign is in the window again) shows up to support or at least talk with the protesters. When the Freedom Convoy hit Ottawa in February, Prime Minister Blackie McBlackface went to ground at a cottage somewhere in the Laurentians. Then Tory leader Erin O'Tool was said to have met with some of truckers at an undisclosed location out of sight of cameras.

"Mad Max" Bernier, leader of the People's Party of Canada, mingled with the truckers and made supportive noises, but he's just a conservative with a small C. The only big-C Conservative who did likewas was Pierre Poilievre, now the front-runner in the race to succeed Mr O'Tool. [You're out of space. Come back later. Ed.]

VIDEO: Europeans see through Justin Trudeau

A couple of days ago, the Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau, by the Grace of Singh, Prime Minister of All Canuckistan, descended from the heavens [from an aging RCAF B767 actually. Ed.] to cast before the European parliament a few pearls anent the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In a particularly fulsome pastiche of pusillanimous platitudes, Mr Socks called on the Euroweenies to stand together, stay strong, and fight valiantly to preserve liberal democracy... just as he had done the previous month when he bravely stood up to the truckers and other harborers of "unacceptable views" who besieged the world's second-coldest capital in the Freedom Convoy.

The European Union Parliament comprises 705 elected members (MEPs) from the 27 EU member states. About 1/10th of them were on hand to hear M Trudeau congratulate himself. When he finished, a number of MEPs gave him what the Brits call a bollocking for violating the truckers' civil rights -- particularly freedom of speech -- when his Liberal government invoked the Emergencies Act for the first time in history.

The gist of their remarks is that, in giving police and other authorities extraordinary powers to disrupt the  peoples' protest, Prime Minister McBlackface behaved like a dictator. Here are some choice clips.

   

The CBC, Canada's state-owned broadcaster, had to report the story, since some of those video clips went viral in seconds, but they made sure to bury it "below the fold", as we say in the noozbiz. And they were careful to label the MEPs who dared to vilify Himself as far-right extremists, populists, and other pejoratives up to and including "neo-Nazi".

Croatian MEP Mislav Kolakušić described the Canuck PM as someone who "tramples" on fundamental human rights and freedoms. Canada once stood for civil rights, he said, but now seems more like a "dictatorship of the worst kind."

"Under your quasi-liberal boot in recent months," he went on, "we watched how you trample women with horses, how you block the bank accounts of single parents so that they can't even pay their children's education and medicine, that they can't pay utilities, mortgages for their homes." 

The CBC devoted more space to demonizing Mr Kolakušić than to his speech. "He has aligned himself with anti-vaccine voices inside and outside of the assembly," said the propagandists. And can you imagine, "Kolakušić had accused French President Emmanuel Macron of 'murdering citizens' though vaccine mandates and...claimed 'tens of thousands of' Europeans had died from vaccine side effects during the pandemic." As if we should believe such claims are ridiculous!

German MEP Christine Anderson, speaking for the Identity and Democracy parliamentary group (see below) through her party Alternativ für Deutschland (AfD), accused M Trudeau of civil rights violations during the Freedom Convoy protest, saying, "you are a disgrace for any democracy!" 

She minced no words, calling Mr Socks a dictator who treats citizens as "terrorists." Another AfD MEP, Bernhard Zimniok, accused Trudeau of "trampling on democratic rights" by cracking down on people for protesting "disproportionate" public health measures.  

The CBC's "report" says Alternativ für Deutschland has been "described by the BBC as a far-right political party that employs rhetoric 'tinged with Nazi overtones'." Aha, there's the "neo-Nazi" smear, but it the BBC that said it, so it must be true! 

But the CBC can't resist adding a bit more salt: "A German court ruled recently that the party is 'a suspected threat to democracy' after an administrative court in Cologne found that there are 'sufficient indications of anti-constitutional goals within the AfD.'" Sounds like M Trudeau's claim that the Freedom Convoy supporters were intent on overthrowing his government, doesn't it?

The CBC then makes sure we know what kind of evil populists the members of the ID (Identity and Democracy) group are. "With 63 members from 10 countries, it is the fifth-largest group in the assembly. Identity and Democracy is made up of domestic political parties opposed to the EU. They hold far-right positions on issues like immigration, EU membership and social welfare."

Convinced now? If not, just wait, there's more liberal labelling! "The ID group includes France's Rassemblement National party, which was founded by Jean-Marie Le Pen." How about that?!

I confess that until today I hadn't heard of the ID group. It seems there are more truly conservative, truly populist politicians in the European parliament than in that of Canada, or the American Congress. But just wait. The tide is turning. Mr Socks knows it. So does President Brandon. Stay tuned!