OTTAWA (LifeSiteNews) — Justice Paul Rouleau, who ruled in favor of the Liberal Party of Canada’s unprecedented invocation of the Emergencies Act in response to the peaceful Freedom Convoy in 2022, has recommended in his official report that the government look into monitoring citizens’ use of “social media.”
Liberal-friendly Rouleau wrote in Volume 3 of the Report of the Public Inquiry into the 2022 Public Order Emergency: “The federal government, while mindful of concerns related to privacy and government intrusiveness, should examine the question of whether a department or agency of government should have the authority and responsibility to monitor and report on information contained in social media for appropriate purposes and with appropriate safeguards.”
It was not stipulated in his recommendation what “appropriate purposes” and “appropriate safeguards” would mean.
While not directly comparing the Freedom Convoy to the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York in 2001, Rouleau wrote immediately after his recommendation: “Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Canada initiated changes designed to better coordinate and share the results of its security intelligence collection.”
He went on to say that in the aftermath of 9/11, various intelligence-gathering entities were mobilized to better profile potential terrorists.
Rouleau’s recommendations are not legally binding on the government, however, as the Public Order Emergency Commission (POEC) has no power or authority to call for action to be taken.
When Rouleau issued his opinion in favor of the invocation of the Emergencies Act, he did so “with reluctance” and admitted that some applications of the emergency powers “fell short.”
His admitted “reluctance” however did not include the act’s most controversial measure – the freezing of protester assets without a court order – and thus did not stop critics from blasting the decision, with many top Canadian voices, including politicians, insinuating Rouleau’s exoneration of the Trudeau government is proof of Liberal Party “corruption.”
Rouleau’s suggestion that the government take to the monitoring of social media is also not new to the Liberal Party platform of Trudeau.
Since taking office in 2015, Trudeau’s Liberals have introduced a number of pieces of legislation seeking to expand the government’s control over online content.
One such bill, C-11, was recently sent back to the House of Commons for review after the Senate passed the bill on the condition certain amendments were made.