>”While these events are all concerning, the record does not support a conclusion that the convoy had created a critical, urgent and temporary situation that was national in scope and could not effectively be dealt with under any other law of Canada,” he wrote.
I think this is the crux of the argument that was originally made during the original ruling against the use of the act. Basically, the city of Ottawa and the province of Ontario had laws and capabilities that they *could* have used to end the convoy. That they didn’t actually use them is a whole other matter that I don’t think has adequately been addressed.
As an Ottawa resident, it’s a weird conundrum. If there are protests against the federal government that are causing issues/broken laws that should be dealt with by municipal and provincial government, but aren’t (either because the governments are inept, disinterested or are supportive of said protests) what exactly is the recourse by the people that are being directly impacted?
Great. If protestors shutting down border crossings and a chunk of a city aren’t grounds for violating Charter Rights, then there is no way government is allowed to force strikers back to work just because some financial pain.
 I applaud this decision.
Forward-Count-5230 on
Its funny because a lot of reddit supported this clearly now illegal and authoritarian action by the state but would scream and yell if Trump did the equivalent in the US by invoking the Insurrection Act.
lifeisarichcarpet on
The *legality* of using the EA has always seemed like a total red herring to me. By the time any legal body can weigh in on it, it’s already over. The only real test is the political one and we’ve had an election come and go with the Liberals receiving no penalty for having used it.
perciva on
[The ruling](https://decisions.fca-caf.gc.ca/fca-caf/decisions/en/item/521758/index.do) is pretty damning: There was no Emergency, Cabinet had no grounds on which to believe there was an Emergency, and even if there had been an Emergency there was no reason to think it couldn’t be dealt with using existing laws.
Other highlights include “For the time being, we must take the Act as it reads, and not as the AGC [Attorney General of Canada] would like it to read.”
grathontolarsdatarod on
I wonder if they’ll get around, then, to investigating that “eco-terror attack” of the gas property that absolutely didn’t look like an RCMP operation in BC during extremely short “emergency”.
phoenix25 on
Next time just use the Nothwithstanding Act, all the cool kids are doing it (seemingly without any actual consequence)
sokos on
So what’s the punishment? Like its 1 thing for the courts to say you shouldn’t have done it, but what’s the stick to make sure future governments don’t do the same and just role the dice? Otherwise, it doesn’t matter what the courts said.
Jaereon on
Is this a fucking joke? There were ways to handle it without the emergencies act. Ok then why the fuck wasn’t Ontario acting? This was a complete failure on Doug Ford’s part that required the federal government to step in.
This will just encourage more of the same Bullshit
taco_helmet on
This is the correct decision, but lprovinces and municipalities are mostly being let off the hook. I support all protests to a point, but the train horns at all hours of the night and closures of businesses for several weeks were pretty bad for people’s mental health and financial stability. It had immense but localized impacts, and on people who had nothing to do with COVID policies. The Emergencies Act was only invoked when residents mobilized and started confronting Convoyers directly. It was going to escalate one way or the other because police had no answers.
I will say, it’s not great for public order, but there is something fundamentally democratic about the face-to-face confrontations. No intermediaries, no use of force, just actual confrontations between citizens. Far too many people are complacent and comfortable with authoritarianism when it suits them. Mobilization and collective action is essential to the health of our democracy. We just need to figure out where are the reasonable limits, where people’s well being and safety are at serious risk, and law enforcement needs to step in.
Standard_Program7042 on
Its interesting that people think that the Premier should be ordering the police in a particular criminal matter… Are these people also trump supporters?
Musicferret on
I blame Ottawa police for refusing to do anything. Maybe this didn’t meet the official definition required for the emergencies act, but given that the police appeared to support the convoy lunatics, there really wasn’t any other option.
PutToLetters on
EA was used in response to protestors that were protesting the illegality of the Covid mandates. Were any of the mandates struck down in court for breaching Charter rights? I know of Taylor vs Newfoundland were the court sided with the government over mandates.
MTL_Dude666 on
Which is weird because in other news, a judge was showing that a neonazi group was affiliated to the Freedom Convoy. If that’s not worth to be called a national security emergency than what the f*ck is? We should wait until there’s an assassination?
Aquarius_JTD on
Can someone explain to me what happens now that the liberals lost the court appeal and are guilty of infringing on constitutional rights?
Macqt on
In Canada we have the right to protest, apparently unless the federal government doesn’t agree with your message.
17 Comments
>”While these events are all concerning, the record does not support a conclusion that the convoy had created a critical, urgent and temporary situation that was national in scope and could not effectively be dealt with under any other law of Canada,” he wrote.
I think this is the crux of the argument that was originally made during the original ruling against the use of the act. Basically, the city of Ottawa and the province of Ontario had laws and capabilities that they *could* have used to end the convoy. That they didn’t actually use them is a whole other matter that I don’t think has adequately been addressed.
As an Ottawa resident, it’s a weird conundrum. If there are protests against the federal government that are causing issues/broken laws that should be dealt with by municipal and provincial government, but aren’t (either because the governments are inept, disinterested or are supportive of said protests) what exactly is the recourse by the people that are being directly impacted?
[My appraisal](https://old.reddit.com/r/CanadaPolitics/comments/19elqnw/a_verdict_on_trudeaus_biggest_call_and_a/kjdmfxv/?context=3) of Justice Mosley’s original decision hasn’t changed, and I think the court of appeal was right to uphold it.
Great. If protestors shutting down border crossings and a chunk of a city aren’t grounds for violating Charter Rights, then there is no way government is allowed to force strikers back to work just because some financial pain.
 I applaud this decision.
Its funny because a lot of reddit supported this clearly now illegal and authoritarian action by the state but would scream and yell if Trump did the equivalent in the US by invoking the Insurrection Act.
The *legality* of using the EA has always seemed like a total red herring to me. By the time any legal body can weigh in on it, it’s already over. The only real test is the political one and we’ve had an election come and go with the Liberals receiving no penalty for having used it.
[The ruling](https://decisions.fca-caf.gc.ca/fca-caf/decisions/en/item/521758/index.do) is pretty damning: There was no Emergency, Cabinet had no grounds on which to believe there was an Emergency, and even if there had been an Emergency there was no reason to think it couldn’t be dealt with using existing laws.
Other highlights include “For the time being, we must take the Act as it reads, and not as the AGC [Attorney General of Canada] would like it to read.”
I wonder if they’ll get around, then, to investigating that “eco-terror attack” of the gas property that absolutely didn’t look like an RCMP operation in BC during extremely short “emergency”.
Next time just use the Nothwithstanding Act, all the cool kids are doing it (seemingly without any actual consequence)
So what’s the punishment? Like its 1 thing for the courts to say you shouldn’t have done it, but what’s the stick to make sure future governments don’t do the same and just role the dice? Otherwise, it doesn’t matter what the courts said.
Is this a fucking joke? There were ways to handle it without the emergencies act. Ok then why the fuck wasn’t Ontario acting? This was a complete failure on Doug Ford’s part that required the federal government to step in.
This will just encourage more of the same Bullshit
This is the correct decision, but lprovinces and municipalities are mostly being let off the hook. I support all protests to a point, but the train horns at all hours of the night and closures of businesses for several weeks were pretty bad for people’s mental health and financial stability. It had immense but localized impacts, and on people who had nothing to do with COVID policies. The Emergencies Act was only invoked when residents mobilized and started confronting Convoyers directly. It was going to escalate one way or the other because police had no answers.
I will say, it’s not great for public order, but there is something fundamentally democratic about the face-to-face confrontations. No intermediaries, no use of force, just actual confrontations between citizens. Far too many people are complacent and comfortable with authoritarianism when it suits them. Mobilization and collective action is essential to the health of our democracy. We just need to figure out where are the reasonable limits, where people’s well being and safety are at serious risk, and law enforcement needs to step in.
Its interesting that people think that the Premier should be ordering the police in a particular criminal matter… Are these people also trump supporters?
I blame Ottawa police for refusing to do anything. Maybe this didn’t meet the official definition required for the emergencies act, but given that the police appeared to support the convoy lunatics, there really wasn’t any other option.
EA was used in response to protestors that were protesting the illegality of the Covid mandates. Were any of the mandates struck down in court for breaching Charter rights? I know of Taylor vs Newfoundland were the court sided with the government over mandates.
Which is weird because in other news, a judge was showing that a neonazi group was affiliated to the Freedom Convoy. If that’s not worth to be called a national security emergency than what the f*ck is? We should wait until there’s an assassination?
Can someone explain to me what happens now that the liberals lost the court appeal and are guilty of infringing on constitutional rights?
In Canada we have the right to protest, apparently unless the federal government doesn’t agree with your message.