New reporting indicates far-left Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was considering the use of military power against truckers during this year’s peaceful Freedom Convoy protests. He did all but deploy tanks and war-making equipment against the protesters, declaring the functional equivalent of martial law under Canada’s Emergencies Act.
The Freedom Convoy protests were organized to speak against the draconian COVID-19 vaccine mandates Canada’s federal government imposed on virtually every domestic industry.
A new report by Politico shows that federal ministers discussed whether to use armored vehicles and tanks to stop the protests using military force.
Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino and Justice Minister David Lametti exchanged text messages in February discussing “how many tanks are you asking for?” and asking how many tanks were available. Lametti ominously said in one message: “I reckon one will do!”
Justin Trudeau's Justice Minister and Public Safety Minister discuss deploying tanks against the peaceful truckers convoy.
It's Trudeau and the Liberal Party who are the violent threat to peace and democracy, not the truckers. pic.twitter.com/CJCeYc2NNf
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) November 23, 2022
Another message said, “You need to get the police to move, and the CAF if necessary. Too many people are being seriously adversely impacted by what is an occupation.”
The ministers responded to a later inquiry by saying their conversation was “mere banter.” Lametti testified that he was only “being prudent” by suggesting the use of the Emergencies Act to deploy military forces. He said, “I knew that we had to begin thinking about it, whether or not it was going to be an option.”
Canada’s Public Order Emergency Commission considered the legal justification for using the military against its own citizens in April.
The government at that time was considering the use of military equipment against Canadian civilians as legally justified because the “social cohesion, national unity and international reputation” of Canada were in danger of “irremediable harm” because of the truckers’ peaceful assembly.
Trudeau claimed without a factual basis that the Freedom Convoy was not peaceful. He also compared the truckers to Nazis.
Several of the convoy’s organizers were rounded up, arrested, and charged with serious federal crimes in Canadian courts in response to releasing a list of demands to Trudeau’s government regarding the oppressive vaccine mandates. The government did not ultimately send in its tanks but did use riot police to disperse the protests through violent repression of speech and assembly rights.
