shockedcanadian
Diamond Member
- Aug 6, 2012
- 43,946
- 42,976
- 3,605
This is not a good look. Any government who lost multiple court issues on this with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms at the centre is looking to shed supporters. I did not support the protest but I also understood their position. Forcing people to take a vaccine was always going to lead to a backlash. The border blockage was not wise but the courts have ruled and dealt with an appeal.
I honestly do not understand why they would push this to the S.C. It is very China-like...
OTTAWA — The Liberal government is honking its final horn in its legal battle to validate its use of the Emergencies Act to deal with the 2022 Freedom Convoy protests.
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government filed its application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) on Tuesday in the hopes that the highest court in the land will overturn two earlier decisions that ruled the use of the draconian act was unjustified as a way to stop the protests .
In its filing, the federal government argued that the Federal Court and Federal Court of Appeal applied the “wrong principles” and a “flawed approach” when they ruled that the government’s unprecedented decision to invoke the Emergencies Act on Feb. 12, 2022 was unconstitutional.
The government is also arguing that the SCC needs to make a final decision after the courts came to a different conclusion than the government-convened Public Order Emergency Commission (POEC), which found in 2023 that the invocation was reasonable.
“While the nature and purpose of the POEC differed from those of the court proceedings … their opposite conclusions create inconsistency and underscore the need for this Court’s intervention and guidance,” reads the application.
In January, the Federal Court of Appeal upheld a lower court decision that the Liberal government’s invocation of the Act to deal with lingering Freedom Convoy protests was unreasonable, unjustified and violated the Charter.
The challenge to the use of the act was brought forward by civil liberties groups such as the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) and the Canadian Constitutional Foundation (CCF) as well as the provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta.
The protest had lasted for weeks in Ottawa, with many large trucks parked on streets to protest the government’s pandemic lockdowns and vaccine mandates. At the time, the government argued it needed the exceptional powers granted by the act to freeze some convoy participants’ bank accounts, compel tow truck companies to co-operate with local police clearing out the trucks, and mark parts of downtown Ottawa as a no-go zone.
Within one week of the act’s invocation, police forces from across Canada had assembled in Ottawa to push out protesters..
But in 2024, the Federal Court ruled that the powers were unnecessary to deal with the Ottawa protest as well as sympathetic blockades at two border crossings in Coutts, Alta. and the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, Ont.
In fact, Federal Court Justice Richard Mosley determined that existing provincial and municipal powers were sufficient to address the disruptive protests.
In his decision, Mosley agreed with the government that the pan-Canadian protests in early 2022 were causing harm to Canada’s economy, trade and commerce. But he concluded that the damages did not rise to the level of a threat to national security as defined by the law to invoke the exceptional and heavy-handed powers of the Emergencies Act.
“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.
“The harm being caused to Canada’s economy, trade and commerce, was very real and concerning but it did not constitute threats or the use of serious violence to persons or property,” he added.
I honestly do not understand why they would push this to the S.C. It is very China-like...
OTTAWA — The Liberal government is honking its final horn in its legal battle to validate its use of the Emergencies Act to deal with the 2022 Freedom Convoy protests.
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government filed its application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) on Tuesday in the hopes that the highest court in the land will overturn two earlier decisions that ruled the use of the draconian act was unjustified as a way to stop the protests .
In its filing, the federal government argued that the Federal Court and Federal Court of Appeal applied the “wrong principles” and a “flawed approach” when they ruled that the government’s unprecedented decision to invoke the Emergencies Act on Feb. 12, 2022 was unconstitutional.
The government is also arguing that the SCC needs to make a final decision after the courts came to a different conclusion than the government-convened Public Order Emergency Commission (POEC), which found in 2023 that the invocation was reasonable.
“While the nature and purpose of the POEC differed from those of the court proceedings … their opposite conclusions create inconsistency and underscore the need for this Court’s intervention and guidance,” reads the application.
In January, the Federal Court of Appeal upheld a lower court decision that the Liberal government’s invocation of the Act to deal with lingering Freedom Convoy protests was unreasonable, unjustified and violated the Charter.
The challenge to the use of the act was brought forward by civil liberties groups such as the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) and the Canadian Constitutional Foundation (CCF) as well as the provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta.
The protest had lasted for weeks in Ottawa, with many large trucks parked on streets to protest the government’s pandemic lockdowns and vaccine mandates. At the time, the government argued it needed the exceptional powers granted by the act to freeze some convoy participants’ bank accounts, compel tow truck companies to co-operate with local police clearing out the trucks, and mark parts of downtown Ottawa as a no-go zone.
Within one week of the act’s invocation, police forces from across Canada had assembled in Ottawa to push out protesters..
But in 2024, the Federal Court ruled that the powers were unnecessary to deal with the Ottawa protest as well as sympathetic blockades at two border crossings in Coutts, Alta. and the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, Ont.
In fact, Federal Court Justice Richard Mosley determined that existing provincial and municipal powers were sufficient to address the disruptive protests.
In his decision, Mosley agreed with the government that the pan-Canadian protests in early 2022 were causing harm to Canada’s economy, trade and commerce. But he concluded that the damages did not rise to the level of a threat to national security as defined by the law to invoke the exceptional and heavy-handed powers of the Emergencies Act.
“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.
“The harm being caused to Canada’s economy, trade and commerce, was very real and concerning but it did not constitute threats or the use of serious violence to persons or property,” he added.
