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Shop NowThe response of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to the trucker protests in his country shows just how shockingly incapable his liberal government is in holding on through even the most minor of crises. The protests which have continued through the last month have been relatively small and entirely nonviolent, but Trudeau’s response has been panicked and confused every step of the way, culminating in a desperate use of emergency powers.
Trudeau is flailing
Anyone curious about just how fragile Western democratic governments might be in the face of real challenges is paying close attention to Canada right now.
The truck drivers protesting in Ottawa and at Canada’s southern border are doing what our society tells disaffected people they’re supposed to do when they think their voices aren’t being heard.
When that actually materialized into a protest which opposed Trudeau’s government, the Liberal Party failed spectacularly to make up its mind about what to do.
Conservatives have despised Trudeau’s demonization of the protesters and obvious efforts to crush them, while leftists have become irritated with the repeated failure of those efforts.
In fact, the prime minister initially fled the capital to shelter in an undisclosed location when the truckers first arrived in Ottawa.
Leading a country ought to require some mettle and willingness to face challenges head on. Running away from a few honking trucks is not what most people expect from their head of government.
What happens when there’s a real crisis?
The Emergencies Act, being employed for the first time in Canadian history, is intended to for use in a serious national crisis like war or large-scale terrorism.
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association joined a number of prominent voices in questioning Trudeau’s justification for giving himself emergency powers.
The prime minister might have hoped that employing the act would show strength, but the move looks much more like desperation and an admission of incompetence.
Rather than use his position to lead the country through the situation and deal with the protests in a reasonable manner, Trudeau has panicked and effectively admitted that he doesn’t know what to do.
By going straight to the Emergencies Act, the prime minister looks disastrously weak. If a peaceful protest requires this kind of response, what could the Canadian government do against a real armed insurrection?
Canadians aren’t going to be resorting to guerilla warfare any time soon, but what can Trudeau and leaders like him hope to do if a crisis ever does go that far?
