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Tell that to the inmates at the Shanghai Disneyland. Society is a balance between freedom and survival. In China and Russia, that balance is way out of whack. In Canada, we have a pretty good balance. The EMA was a response to the violation of the constitutional rights of thousands of residents in Ottawa. The sanctions against the convoy participants did not violate their rights. The right to protest was affirmed. The right to break the law was not. Freezing of money in the commission of a crime is not a violation of constitutional rights. Using reasonable force to effect an arrest is not a violation of constitutional rights. Towing vehicles that are illegally parked is not a violation of constitutional rights. (At least I hope not. I have seized and towed enough vehicles in my career.) When a Peace Officer tells you to move, you move. What is irrational is, when offered a vaccine that can save your life, or the lives of others, why would anyone not choose self preservation?

Not true at all that there was a reaching out of government to protesters and their organizers. There was no violence among protesters, the honking and blockade had mostly ended, and agreements were being settled to shrink and move the protest footprint before the EA was invoked.

No that’s not the issue. China had far fewer deaths but most Canadians don’t want to emigrate to China. The issue is that because our healthcare system is weak and our governments decided that individual medical discretion and constitutional rights are less important than protecting a failed system and pretending it isn’t failed, government essentially lapsed into totalitarianism. Individual rights such as freedom of movement and medical discretion were overridden. I’d say that for much of the pandemic the public understood that sacrifices were necessary, but by the time vaccines became available to anyone who wanted them and the dominant Covid strains weakened, the mandates came to look unnecessarily harsh and arbitrary. People had vaccines, masks, and treatments to protect themselves irrespective of what other people did. For government not even to talk to the opposition and instead to vilify them, was pretty awful. The EA, bank account freezes, etc. added insult to injury. You don’t get to impose drastic rules on people without damn good reasons or to treat them harshly without damn good reasons. There simply weren’t good reasons for any of this. It looked like a fearful and cowardly government killed a fly with a sledgehammer.

I agree... Trudeau stacked the deck. Worked to his advantage to grab more and more power. The next fake crisis is the environment. WEF is already going after the auto industry and you'll see further attacks on mining. All the good paying jobs.. more reliance on government. Easier to control

Not if you people put your conclusions up for peer review and it's determined you demonstrably know better than the experts what if anything needs to be done. What is it about this simple fact that you don't get?

You clearly didn’t see the thousands of regular citizens lining highways and showing up in Ottawa to oppose mandates. You’re using the same degrading language to paint everyone with the extremist brush. “Tiny minority” sounds just like “fringe minority” (Trudeau).

Couldn't be said any better. Since when arbitrary counts on an arbitrarily selected issues became more important than constitutional rights, checks and accountability? Who said and decided that number = X allows me to cancel your rights and begin martial law? Can't you see that this kind and style of governance is way into another territory - and right on the way to totalitarianism. Seriously movies were made exactly about this theme way before this pandemic.

That's what you want to have happen, as you've said in your own words. The idea that Europe will freeze and starve through the winter is comical. The EU economy is an order of magnitude larger than Russia's and therefore far better equipped to transition through the an east/west decoupling. You really don't seem to understand the numbers or the economics of scale at work here. Russia is a pretender. ? Who are we sacrificing, exactly? If you're worried about sacrificing, ask how the Russian army feels about being grinded down to pulp to achieve near-nothing. A referendum under armed occupation is not a referendum. It's pageantry. That you think it's anything but is comical. I actually believed you were smarter than that. Thanks for clarifying! ?

The Star has become radical left in the last decade. It used to be a great paper. The Globe is now firmly Liberal. It used to be Conservative. The National Post is pretty centrist. There are no mainstream conservative papers. The CBC and CTV are Liberal. I get my news online now, mostly through Substack.

but there's the shoddy logic that underlines the whole conspiracy theory. The MSM is fake news...until it says something you agree with and then it's...not fake?

Wrong. The Conservatives don’t constantly express how shameful Canada is. The Liberals of the Chrétien era were fiscally prudent. That party is gone. The current Liberals stole the 2015 election platform of the NDP and continue to overspend, over-tax, and wonder why inflation climbs and living standards drop.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/20/world/hunter-biden-china-cobalt.html How is this even a thing?

What a joke. It would be a lot more fitting to say that you ignore the scientific consensus and then elevate the small handful of dissenters (1% maybe? I don't know) as the highest authorities on the topic. You don't care about 99% of the science. You only care about the doctors making the noises you want to hear.

Bottom line: The 'enquiry' will come to the conclusion that Trudeau did the 'right' thing but, there were a few little glitches along the way. Precedent is set for future EMA to be unleashed for . . . . . contempt for Bill C-11, contempt for Liberal funding of media, contempt for Federal Liberals and their lunge into Marxism, contempt for Trudeau and his band of brain-dead penguins . . . . . the list is long.

robosmith was very specific in that he stated "The EC representatives are required by law to be assigned according to the popular vote in ALL states. Required by law. I don't know if it is required by law or not. And there were those celebrities urging the EC representatives to ignore the popular vote in those states Trump won. They are mostly the same bunch that shout about the importance of winning the popular vote.

Well if I dared to sit down at a table to enjoy a Tim's donut they'd call the police and have me escorted out as one of the undesirable class.. But nah that doesn't resemble any other time in history lol

Yes you do. There is no such crime. Show me the official statute that makes a medical choice a crime.

So do you think these celebrities asking that the Electoral College not certify the election for Trump some years ago were encouraging them to do something illegal? Trump did win those states after all. Ok I'll concede that these are not A list celebrities.? Has-been Martin Sheen is the only one that I recognize. I highly recommend Mark Dice!

No I don't. The government was changing their mind every five minutes and slapped on a bunch of restrictions for the crime of making a medical choice. It's obvious "the experts" had no clue.. the only folks I see who advocate for that much government intrusion into your lives are the ones making fat OT cheques and government pensioners.

The facts are that the vast majority of people that were hospitalized had multiple comorbidities.. I do not. Why would I have to lose income etc etc when I'm not at risk? I'm the one listening to science here. You are not

No problem. You've still got all that btw. And when government ever threatens to tie you down to a gurney against your wishes and force a needle into your arm I'll be there doing my best to stop them.

I know, I know... That's an easy one A Doctor.

Please expand on that "linear thinking" hypothesis.

You have the avantage of me. I don't know what you mean.

Lets examine the qualifications of the people on each side. One the one side we have Ms. Lich, a fitness instructor and musician. Pat King has no known training or experience in medicine. Chris Barber, truck driver (likely an excellent driver) also has no known medical credentials. Chris Sky works for a construction company and has no known medical expertise. On the other side, we have Dr. Theresa Tam, Chief Public Health Officer of Canada with 25 years of experience in the fields of infectious disease prevention and control. We have Dr. Saqib Shah, Chief Medical Officer for the Province of Saskatchewan, one of Canada's longest serving Provincial Chief Medical Officers. Dr. Bonnie Henry, retired RCN Medical Officer, Associate Professor at UBC in preventative medicine, and Provincial Health Officer for the Province of British Columbia. I could go on but you get the picture. Wait. I can add one more. Donald Trump, forme President of the United States of America who appeared with Bill O'Reilly to advocate, not just to get fully vaccianted, but to follow his example and take the booster shots as well. So, lets choose which side is best qualified to advise us whether or not to follow public health measures. People with expertise in music and fitness, operating heavy transports, and an activist employed but not actually working for his dad's construction company... or medical health professionals with years of experience in preventative medicine and infectious disease control.

Obama implemented SANCTIONS against Russia for invading Crimea. You want to send TROOPS? How about Canadian troops?

Charlie Kirk Says a ‘Patriot’ Should Bail Out Alleged Paul Pelosi Attacker

Meanwhile Trump has been in bed with the top Kremlin banks for decades and I've yet to see YOU complain about that. ? Total hypocrisy on your part.

I missed the whole "gazing deeply" part. What did Trump and Putin do together? Where are they signatories on the bottom line of a contract which reads "shaft America for generations to come"? There's no room for the Trumps on such a contract. The Biden family monopolized that market. I do seem to recall Biden shutting off the oil taps over here though, and then getting bent over one of Mohamed bin Salman's oil barrels.

Yes but, a GOP president himself gazed deeply into Putin's eyes and saw a man American could do business with. What are we missing here?

Joe's pickup line is: *sniff sniff* "Hey baby, do you have a granddaughter?"

Do you mean: "Why shouldn't the VPOTUS's son be in business with the Chinese gov't?" I'll leave you to guess.

1) I posted an article from your own leftist rag, the NYT, about Biden's own crime syndicate. You're posting small-time crap from small-time sites. Can you not speak to Biden selling out your vaunted green energy to China? 2) Are you seriously trying to implicate Trump because "people with ties to China poured hundreds of thousands into his re-election bid"? -He has no control who gives him money -hundreds of thousands of dollars from China is literally nothing. Hunter made over $11M from the Chinese gov't and his scams in other countries while his dad was VPOTUS. Hunter made more money from them than 50 US Congressmen make in a whole year from the US gov't. Do you have anything to say about that?

Luckily there are no Republicans investing in China. except the fit 500 hits on Google: Political Donors Linked to China Won Access to Trump, GOP Hundreds of thousands of dollars in political donations opened doors in Washington for Chinese nationals with high-level ties Soon after Donald Trump took office, people with ties to the Chinese state poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into his re-election bid to get close to and potentially influence the new president. The effort had early success in gaining access for those involved, helping them meet the president or top Republicans at fundraisers or at an internal GOP leadership meeting. It reveals how China seeks to build inroads into U.S. politics, gather information on U.S. leaders and if possible affect policy-making. https://www.wsj.com/articles/political-donors-linked-to-china-won-access-to-trump-gop-11592925569 Republican’s wealth boosted by stake in company whose growth linked to China The Wisconsin Republican senator Ron Johnson, a vocal critic of Beijing who has vowed to launch investigations into the Biden family’s alleged relationships with Chinese businesses, declared $57m in income in his first 10 years in office in connection to his ownership stake in a company whose growth has closely been linked to China. A close examination of Johnson’s financial disclosures and other public filings to the Securities and Exchange Commission, legal filings and other public records reveal that Johnson’s wealth was boosted by his company’s ties to another company that was owned and managed by his family, which in turn grew its business in China, acquired businesses in China, and reported having a loan worth tens of millions of dollars from the Bank of China. In one case, the company run by Johnson’s family sued the US government to try to press for softer trade relations with Beijing, a position that Johnson himself adopted in a rare break with Trump administration policies. https://amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/sep/13/ron-johnson-income-china-links-pacur How a Tycoon Linked to Chinese Intelligence Became a Darling of Trump Republicans Guo Wengui has been trailed by scandals involving corruption and espionage. What is he really after? Donald Trump became the Republican Presidential front-runner that summer, and Guo’s instincts proved well suited to the emerging era; he had already joined Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s club in Palm Beach, and he wasn’t shy about praising his own business acumen (“I’m a genius at making money!”). He boasted of expensive tastes: handmade Louis Vuitton shoes, a rare variety of tea that he reportedly declared was worth a million dollars a kilo. Even before he was introduced to Steve Bannon, Trump’s chief strategist, Bannon had heard enough about Guo to pronounce him “the Donald Trump of Beijing.” (Years later, when federal agents went looking for Bannon in connection with an allegedly fraudulent scheme to raise money for a wall on the Mexican border, they found him aboard Guo’s yacht, in Long Island Sound.) …For nearly a decade, he had maintained a secret partnership with one of China’s most powerful spymasters, an intelligence officer named Ma Jian, who had recently been arrested by his own government. Caixin, a Chinese investigative news organization, reported that Ma and Guo had used surveillance, blackmail, and political influence to amass fortunes and evade scrutiny. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/10/24/how-a-tycoon-linked-to-chinese-intelligence-became-a-darling-of-trump-republicans/amp Republicans blasting China forget that the GOP enabled Beijing’s rise … Beginning in 2000, China’s economic growth began to skyrocket. Beyond its entryinto the World Trade Organization, much of China’s rapid expansion over the last two decades can be traced to a single act of Congress. In a seminal vote, the United States normalized trade with Beijing, opening the floodgates to the mass outsourcing of well-paying American manufacturing jobs to China. Indeed, the astounding, post-2000 decline in U.S. manufacturing employmentfits neatly with a surge in cheap Chinese imports around the same time. A whopping 75 percent of House Republicans voted in favor of shippingAmerican jobs to China. Democrats, wary of the myriad economic, environmental and labor repercussions of normalizing trade with China, rebuked a “centrist” presidentand voted against the measure by a two-to-three margin. A year later, George W. Bush formalized Congress’s vote, granting preferential trade status to China. Republicans, in short, enabled Beijing’s astounding economic and military rise by swapping millions of good-paying American jobs for cheap Chinese imports. But the GOP’s overwhelming vote in favor of unfettered trade with China came at a staggering cost…. https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/497093-republicans-blasting-china-forget-that-the-gop-enabled-beijings/amp/ Texas leaders criticize China, but state continues to invest billions Texas has adopted an anti-China approach from its state leaders, at least the Lone Star State argues that is has done so. The state, however, has at least $9 billion invested in China. This investment exists in the face of Gov. Greg Abbott and other state leaders repeatedly speaking out against the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the nation's human rights abuses. The $9.1 billion only includes state-level funds, and not the 92 local funds across the state. In 2021, Abbott signed a law designating China as a “hostile nation” and Attorney General Ken Paxton compared the country to “1930s Germany.” But seven of Texas’ pension funds totaling $9.12 billion are invested in Chinese companies, the majority of that share with large companies like Tencent and Alibaba…. https://austinjournal.com/stories/620998087-it-doesn-t-really-make-sense-texas-leaders-criticize-china-but-state-continues-to-invest-billions Trump clothing also made in China

Really? Tested you say eh? Hey aren't military personnel government employees?

Yes he did. All federal workers. Those who refused, lost their jobs.

True. Most MSM in Canada sounds like government press releases.

It makes sense both ways.

I read this article and agreed with most of it, but it's interesting you're quoting the evil MSM here because they never say anything anti-Trudeau and always rush to his defense...rrrr right?

No I don't believe an election staged by an autocrat in a territory he illegally annexed is legit. I'm not a gullible useful idiot like you are.

That's also true of the US.

or become president of the United States!

Exactly. It shows that the emperor wears no clothes. His failure is written all over the events. He insulted thousands (millions really) of Canadians who had legitimate concerns about vaccine mandates and restrictions after two years of deprivations and serious damage to mental health and businesses. Rather than reaching out and working with people he insulted them, hid, and imposed the harshest measures available, the “nuclear option”. This wasn’t an FLQ terrorist action resulting in kidnapping and murder. Fair minded people who see how our constitutional rights were disregarded and the failure in government leadership are made to feel like their concerns are illegitimate. It’s called gaslighting.

You’re such a sycophant of the Trudeau regime. You think it’s fine to declare martial law (that’s what it is under a euphemistic name) to put down a non-violent legal protest that was in the midst of having its sharpest edges dulled (removal of blockades, ending of honking, shrinkage of protest footprint), and that Trudeau’s disparaging of a large segment of Canadian society that opposed mandates was fine. You know about the freezing of bank accounts, seizure of assets, etc. For you to think this wasn’t a big deal and that it won’t be remembered in our history books is pure denial of the obvious. The Freedom Convoy and the “democratic slippage” of our Canadian government’s overreach won’t be forgotten. In fact it was an international symbol of a modern liberal democracy under threat of lapsing into totalitarianism. People couldn’t believe what was unfolding in Canada. It was highly significant.

Putin doesn't have much choice in the matter. He's trying to play superpower with an economy smaller than Canada's and an army that isn't interested in fighting. The way his critics tend to disappear, fall out of balconies, get poisoned or shot is the first indication. The next is how badly he miscalculated on the invasion. I think even he believed that the Ukrainians would welcome the Russian army, but the shitty decision making process of this regime were outlined in the OP. Of course you'd use this limp noodle of a coping device. No matter the subject, no matter the debate, "REEee the MSM!" is your fallback for everything. ?

but if you actually meant that, you'd have to explain why you said this: ? From everything you've said, all you seem to care about is that Putin gets what he wants. Russians leaving Ukraine would be the best way for the war to end, after all.

You mean: Losing at war ?

Not Fox: Creepy kid-sniffer extraordinaire, and the best candidate that the Dems have to offer.

I'm wrong that dumb posts don't need counterpoints? ? Your reply serves as an example of exactly what I was talking about - an unfocused and hyperbole-filled rant that wasted everyone's time reading. It's certainly not worth much of a response. Yet here you are, still furiously pounding on your keyboard after more than 11,000 posts worth of overly emotional hyperbole. ?

Hear hear