Emergencies Act Rescinded in Canada

[s1artibartfast]

I still don't understand why the police didn't do their job and the emergency powers were used in the first place

The correct solution to illegal behavior in a healthy democracy is to arrest someone and try them in court. We shouldn't be denying that to to anybody no matter how wrong they are.

There should be proportionate responses to illegal behavior. Not even attempting to address to illegal behavior with the appropriate government response should not be a justification for more severe government response.

Simply not wanting to go through the process of arresting people shouldn't be sufficient cause for emergency powers.

[lovich]

The federal Canadian government could not direct the police without using the emergency powers and the original police chief seemed to favor the protestors. The police in Canada, just like America, have had no issue cracking down on other protests, and started doing so after Sloly was replaced

[klyrs]

Welcome to highly polarized politics. The police have a hard lean to the right, and they can exercise discretion with regards to what laws they enforce and when. Folks on the right want to abolish the mainstream media because of a perception of bias. Folks on the left want to abolish the police because of a perception of bias. Will anything change, or will we get further entrenched until there's a civil war?

[mmastrac]

Previous thread - interesting to see which comments there didn't age well over 24 hrs.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30431820

[jquery]

Thanks. This should be pinned to the top.

[frabbit]

Is there any move towards an investigation of some sort into whether Trudeau will face penalties of some sort for invoking these extreme measures without the justification of there being no other law to address the issues?

Specifically I am thinking about this interesting interview with Dr. Leah West onthe Michael Geist LawBytes podcast. From about 8 minutes onwards they discuss whether the terrorist justification or the foreign influence justification existed: https://www.michaelgeist.ca/2022/02/law-bytes-podcast-episod...

It is interesting to see some commentators in this HN thread trying to suggest Russian influence. (And also IMO not very convincing).

In any case, whatever opinion you have on this, it's a good podcast.

[definitelyhuman]

Given all the excitement about this topic, I thought it was important to share that the emergency is over.

[rbanffy]

I look forward towards the investigations about foreign interference. Should be enlightening for other countries as well.

[fgahll]

There was no emergency, just a huge annoyance that could have been cleared without dictatorial powers.

[kragen]

Another reminder of what Bitcoin is good for. The article currently links to another one that says they froze 200 bank accounts and are now unfreezing most of them: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/emergency-bank-measures-fin... https://archive.fo/lAT62

It's a terrifying reminder of how vulnerable we've become to arbitrary and lawless government actions in our near-cashless society.

Previously: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30446703

[mmastrac]

Bitcoin won't help you here: you still need to convert things to fiat to get anything done. And if shops start taking Bitcoin, the government will simply regulate those payments as well.

Crypto doesn't exist in a vacuum.

[jquery]

Bitcoin doesn’t “solve” what is essentially a human problem. No amount of encryption and obfuscation will stop a $5 wrench.

[mardifoufs]

Apparently the senate was set on voting against the act, which is very uncommon considering that they usually rubber stamp whatever the MPs voted for. That's not the official reason but it's the only one that makes sense considering the timing.

I guess the senate reforms to make it more independent actually yielded some results (one of the good things trudeau did, back when he was a lot less politically hawkish). The lawsuits were also piling up but those will continue I think. In any case this has been a disaster for the liberals and for Canada's reputation and I'm pleasantly surprised by the senate. I can see why it's not necessarily an uncessary, antiquated institution now. Checks and balances!