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.
A little help?
Regular readers of WWW will know [we certainly hope! Ed.] that we stood with the truckers, just as we stand with all those who espouse the Spirit of `37 depicted above, even though doing so was never popular nor profitable.
Speaking of profitability... since July 0f 2009 Walt has been trying to present a libertarian view of politics, religion and the sorry state of the world. We have never made Dollar One from this blog. For a brief period we allowed interstitial ads, but stopped when we learned we had no control over the type of products and service being touted. We didn't want to give the impression that Walt endorsed something which he wouldn't personally recommend.
So... as I said, we're not making any money out of WWW. We do have some expenses though, and there are people and organizations whose ideals we share that we would like to support. We would appreciate your help! If you like what we're doing and want to show your support, please click here for details of a little token which we'll send you as a reward. Thank you.
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