The Judgment On Trudeau

The Globe and Mail newspaper reported on Friday that Canada’s Federal Court of Appeal reached a unanimous decision. The three-judge panel ruled: The Federal Court correctly determined that the declaration of a public order emergency was unreasonable.

At issue was the Trudeau government's appeal after a lower court had already concluded that the 2022 invocation of the Emergencies Act in response to the weeks-long trucker protests in Ottawa and elsewhere was not legally justified.

The Federal Court of Appeal's ruling delivers the final, resounding verdict on one of the most controversial chapters of Justin Trudeau's tenure. It minced no words. The protests, while "disturbing and disruptive," with blaring horns, diesel fumes, and economic headaches from blocked borders, fell well short of a genuine threat to national security. No evidence showed lives, health, or safety in Ottawa were endangered in the way the Emergencies Act demands.

The Court held that the Trudeau government bypassed assessments from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS). CSIS is Canada's primary national security and intelligence agency, which was established in 1984. CSIS is the equivalent of America's CIA and NSA combined, responsible for security intelligence duties previously handled by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), America's FBI equivalent. This separation was intended to keep intelligence gathering distinct from law enforcement.

The Court said that Trudeau relied on incomplete intelligence and showed a "lack of rigor" in freezing accounts, with banks acting on flimsy media or social media tips that ensnared peaceful participants. Regulations criminalized mere attendance at protests nationwide, even if no violence occurred, turning placard-waving citizens into ‘potential criminals.’ Trudeau's actions constituted a sweeping overreach that chilled dissent across the country.

In effect, the Court found that no national emergency existed, no genuine threat was posed to Canada's security, and that ordinary laws would have sufficed.

We said in our editorial a year ago that Trudeau's decision was authoritarian overreach born of political desperation. The decision froze bank accounts without due process and imposed de facto bans on funding or traveling to protests nationwide. The actions swept up peaceful demonstrators alongside any perceived threats.

Thrust into power in 2015 as a youthful, charismatic heir to his father's progressive legacy, he governed with an ultra-left zeal that increasingly clashed with Canadian realities. His father's "Trudeaumania" had modernized social norms; the son's version morphed into mandates, moral lectures, and vilification of dissenters.

During the pandemic, Trudeau positioned himself as the nation's vigilant guardian, much like his neighbor down south, Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York, who last November lost a disastrous effort at making a political comeback when New York Mayor Mamdani trounced him in the polls. Trudeau held daily briefings and spent billions, even as deficits exploded and debt mounted.

Skeptics were smeared as fringe elements, even Nazis, alienating swaths of the electorate. In responding this way, Trudeau was borrowing from the Biden administration's playbook of silencing anyone whose voice differed from his own.

The dynamic was not unique to Canada. In the United States, the Biden years revealed a similar impulse, as shown by the release of the Twitter Files in December 2022. Biden will be forever remembered for interfering in Big Tech companies through frequent government contacts (FBI, DHS, others), flagging content, requesting removals, and sharing user data. Companies resorted to "de-amplification" or visibility limits on certain conservative accounts and topics (e.g., "shadow banning" via blacklists or reduced reach), without user notification to toe Washington’s line. The Biden administration defended these actions as necessary in a modern democracy, when millions of Americans vehemently disagreed.

In Canada, the Freedom Convoy crystallized this divide. Sparked by vaccine mandates for cross-border truckers, it swelled into a nationwide expression of frustration over eroded freedoms, diminished trust in government, and economic pain. Truckers and supporters paralyzed Ottawa's streets and key border points like the Ambassador Bridge, halting trade and exposing vulnerabilities.

Rather than negotiate or rely on provincial policing, Trudeau reached for the Emergencies Act, which had not been used since the War Measures Act in 1988. Police gained sweeping powers; accounts were frozen based on flimsy evidence from media or social media reports; hundreds were arrested.

The convoy was a referendum on trust in elites who lecture but don't listen. The protests ended, but the damage to public faith was irreparable. By mid-2022, Trudeau's popularity had cratered. Inflation raged, interest rates climbed, housing became unaffordable, and immigration strains overwhelmed services. Polls mirrored Biden's collapse south of the border: approval dipping below 30%, disapproval ratings nearing 65%.

Trudeau’s personal life mirrored the isolation—separation from Sophie Grégoire Trudeau in 2023 stripped away the once-iconic couple's gloss. Diplomatic missteps followed. He accused India of assassinating a Khalistani figure on Canadian soil, and immediately, relations with New Delhi plunged to rock bottom.

The appeals court ruling now etches this overreach into legal history. It affirms that emergency powers are not a "blank check" for political expediency. Future governments face a higher bar: strict adherence to thresholds, evidence-based decisions, and respect for Charter rights.

Trudeau, who resigned amid party revolt and dismal prospects. His legacy is defined by this moment. His administration championed the elitist, rules-based order of unwavering Ukraine support and globalist alliances even as domestic fissures widened. His fall reminds us that charisma without restraint invites reckoning.

The ruling is poetic justice for the millions who believe in freedom and the expression: Overreach begets downfall.

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