TORONTO (LifeSiteNews) – A Conservative leadership candidate says Canada is currently undergoing an “erosion” of its democracy under the Trudeau government.
In an interview last week with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Conservative Party of Canada leadership candidate and current independent member of provincial parliament in Ontario, Roman Baber, hammered Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Liberal government over its approach to the so-called pandemic and its treatment of the anti-COVID mandate Freedom Convoy protesters.
“We saw the federal government using the Emergencies Act for the first time in its existence to crackdown on what was largely a peaceful protest,” stated Baber after mentioning the Trudeau government’s consistent efforts to censor speech and political dissent through internet regulation bills such as C-11.
“I think we should encourage opinion and dissent not discourage it,” added the politician.
Continuing, Baber stated that “of course police should enforce existing by-laws,” but “here [there] was absolutely no necessity in the declaration of an emergency or riot police against bystanders on the Hill. That was unacceptable.”
“No one, regretfully, actually discussed the issue at dispute which are the mandates. You shouldn’t force someone to choose between their ability to put food on the table and potentially making a healthcare choice that they didn’t want to make,” said Baber.
“The prime minister did not have courage to even meet with them, and on February 18, when the government cracked down on protesters, we did not see any rioting, any guns, or any resistance. The government tried to demonize the protesters, but on February 18, I think Canadians saw this was a truly peaceful movement,” concluded the MPP.
As stated by Barber, despite the non-violent nature of the Freedom Convoy movement, Trudeau invoked the never-before-used Emergencies Act, allowing the deployment of the national police force to physically put an end to the protest, as well as allowing the government to compel financial institutions to freeze the private bank accounts of those involved in the demonstration without a court order.
During the crackdown, video emerged of an elderly woman on a mobility scooter being trampled by a police horse, as well as two separate allegations of police assaulting journalists, once with pepper spray and once with a tear-gas gun.
While the Trudeau government ultimately revoked the Emergencies Act after reported pressure from the Senate, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association is still moving forward with their lawsuit against the federal government, and a special parliamentary committee has been assembled to investigate the constitutionality and legality of Trudeau’s unprecedented actions.