Don Martin: Trudeau's besieged leadership cried out for an Emergencies Act
So many emergency powers, so few police willing to use them.
That’s the rub as Canada moves into uncharted territory with the federal Emergencies Act being invoked alongside provincial orders and court injunctions aimed at pushing the Freedom Convoy out of Ottawa’s core and away from border crossings.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has an odd sense of timing for his heavy-handed stand against what was a “fringe” movement just 18 days ago.
His unprecedented leap into legislation of last resort was announced just as trucks started rolling out of residential streets in Ottawa or crossed the unblocked Ambassador Bridge into Detroit while RCMP diffused armed protesters in Coutts to the soundtrack of provinces rolling back vaccine restrictions.
Besides, if this was such a vital and magnanimous offer of emergency federal assistance, it’s strange how only two premiers gave it their enthusiastic support.
But the big question is whether new political powers will actually trigger police action because, as we’ve seen with disquieting frequency, political resolve is not the same as a police resolution to these occupations and blockades.
Sending in more RCMP won’t end the Ottawa paralysis if they merely join invisible or stand-around local forces in doing nothing to squeeze out the protest.
Even doing what protesters demand doesn’t seem to soften their intransigence. Their determination to party on appears to harden with every restriction repealed by the provinces.
But still, it’s something from Trudeau after three weeks of phone calls, committees and say-nothing news conferences by many furrow-browed ministers.
And there was a welcome sleeper in the announcement as the government moved to track and block the flow of crowd-funding to convoy leaders and crack down truckers using their vehicles for the protests.
Starving the ringleaders of funds, suspending their insurance and hitting drivers in their big-rig paycheques will do more to end this showdown than bylaw-breaking tickets and handcuffs.
But these moves aren’t just about boosting police numbers, thinning trucker wallets and ordering reluctant tow trucks to perform haul-away service on the brotherhood. Most of these moves could be done under provincial emergency orders.
It’s another emergency that’s demanding all-in action by Trudeau – salvaging his leadership.
Faced with plunging approval numbers and internal pushback to his leadership style and substance, Trudeau needs a fast and big win over the protests or his leadership is cooked.
The Emergencies Act will probably help polish his tarnished image, but only if the blockades come down and Ottawa’s core clears out soon without the sort of violence and bloodshed that puts Canada at the top of global newscasts.
Even then, there’s lingering fury in the land aimed at Trudeau for giving this mess the traction it needed to become a convoy by imposing a medically-unnecessary vaccine requirement for crossing borders on the economy’s most solitary occupation.
So it’s still very possible, if not probable, Trudeau will face an ongoing state of personal emergency from this fringe festival.
He’s not alone in being collateral damage though.
Convoy-cuddling Pierre Poilievre’s prime ministerial ambitions, if he wins the Conservative leadership, are now about as likely to be realized as the renewal of the Ottawa police chief’s contract.
And Ontario Premier Doug Ford could have a much harder time winning re-election in the spring after his action-adverse behavior early in the protest.
But Justin Trudeau will suffer the most because responsibility rises to the top and the prime minister has done nothing to accept or even acknowledge his key role in creating this mess.
And as his just-watch-me moment, invoking the Emergencies Act was late out of the gate and mostly mimics powers which already exist in provincial orders or court injunctions.
This leaves Justin Trudeau’s reign as prime minister facing its own mandate restriction – specifically this being his last term as Liberal leader.
Whipping out the Emergencies Act was a desperate attempt to vaccinate his Liberal leadership from the rebellion even as internal caucus concerns about his performance went public.
So will the fringe fallout send a besieged and belittled leader walking in the snow toward retirement?
Well, I guess there’s only one answer for that: Just watch him.
That’s the bottom line...
IN DEPTH
Budget 2024 prioritizes housing while taxing highest earners, deficit projected at $39.8B
In an effort to level the playing field for young people, in the 2024 federal budget, the government is targeting Canada's highest earners with new taxes in order to help offset billions in new spending to enhance the country's housing supply and social supports.
'One of the greatest': Former prime minister Brian Mulroney commemorated at state funeral
Prominent Canadians, political leaders, and family members remembered former prime minister and Progressive Conservative titan Brian Mulroney as an ambitious and compassionate nation-builder at his state funeral on Saturday.
'Democracy requires constant vigilance' Trudeau testifies at inquiry into foreign election interference in Canada
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau testified Wednesday before the national public inquiry into foreign interference in Canada's electoral processes, following a day of testimony from top cabinet ministers about allegations of meddling in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections. Recap all the prime minister had to say.
As Poilievre sides with Smith on trans restrictions, former Conservative candidate says he's 'playing with fire'
Siding with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith on her proposed restrictions on transgender youth, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre confirmed Wednesday that he is against trans and non-binary minors using puberty blockers.
Supports for passengers, farmers, artists: 7 bills from MPs and Senators to watch in 2024
When parliamentarians return to Ottawa in a few weeks to kick off the 2024 sitting, there are a few bills from MPs and senators that will be worth keeping an eye on, from a 'gutted' proposal to offer a carbon tax break to farmers, to an initiative aimed at improving Canada's DNA data bank.
Opinion
opinion Don Martin: Gusher of Liberal spending won't put out the fire in this dumpster
A Hail Mary rehash of the greatest hits from the Trudeau government’s three-week travelling pony-show, the 2024 federal budget takes aim at reversing the party’s popularity plunge in the under-40 set, writes political columnist Don Martin. But will it work before the next election?
opinion Don Martin: The doctor Trudeau dumped has a prescription for better health care
Political columnist Don Martin sat down with former federal health minister Jane Philpott, who's on a crusade to help fix Canada's broken health care system, and who declined to take any shots at the prime minister who dumped her from caucus.
opinion Don Martin: Trudeau's seeking shelter from the housing storm he helped create
While Justin Trudeau's recent housing announcements are generally drawing praise from experts, political columnist Don Martin argues there shouldn’t be any standing ovations for a prime minister who helped caused the problem in the first place.
opinion Don Martin: Poilievre has the field to himself as he races across the country to big crowds
It came to pass on Thursday evening that the confidentially predictable failure of the Official Opposition non-confidence motion went down with 204 Liberal, BQ and NDP nays to 116 Conservative yeas. But forcing Canada into a federal election campaign was never the point.
opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike
When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Grandparents killed in wrong-way crash on Hwy. 401 identified
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
Police arrest 3 Indian nationals in killing of B.C. Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar
Three people have been arrested and charged in the killing of B.C. Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar – as authorities continue investigating potential connections to the Indian government.
Suter scores late goal, clinches series for Canucks
Pius Suter scored with 1:39 left and the Vancouver Canucks advanced to the second round of the NHL playoffs with a 1-0 victory over the Nashville Predators on Friday night in Game 6.
TD worst-case scenario more likely after drug money laundering allegations: analyst
TD Bank Group could be hit with more severe penalties than previously expected, says a banking analyst after a report that the investigation it faces in the U.S. is tied to laundering illicit fentanyl profits.
Quebec man who threatened Trudeau, Legault online sentenced to 20 months in jail
A Quebec man who pleaded guilty to threatening Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier François Legault has been sentenced to 20 months in jail.
Human remains found in rural Sask. possibly a decade old, RCMP say
RCMP say human remains found in a rural area in central Saskatchewan may have been there for a decade or more.
Britney Spears 'home and safe' after paramedics responded to an incident at the Chateau Marmont, source tells CNN
A source close to singer Britney Spears tells CNN that the pop star is 'home and safe' after she had a 'major fight' with her boyfriend on Wednesday night at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood.
Canadian doctor concerned new weight-loss drug Wegovy may be used inappropriately
As Wegovy becomes available to Canadians starting Monday, a medical expert is cautioning patients wanting to use the drug to lose weight that no medication is a ''magic bullet,' and the new medication is meant particularly for people who meet certain criteria related to obesity and weight.
Drew Carey is never quitting 'The Price Is Right'
Drew Carey took over as host of 'The Price Is Right' and hopes he’s there for life. 'I'm not going anywhere,' he told 'Entertainment Tonight' of the job he took over from longtime host Bob Barker in 2007.
Local Spotlight
Twin Alberta Ballet dancers retire after 15 years with company
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
B.C. mayor stripped of budget, barred from committees over Indigenous residential schools book
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three Quebec men from same family father hundreds of children
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
Here's how one of Sask.'s largest power plants was knocked out for 73 days, and what it took to fix it
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
Quebec police officer anonymously donates kidney, changes schoolteacher's life
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Canada's oldest hat store still going strong after 90 years
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Road closed in Oak Bay, B.C., so elephant seal can cross
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
B.C. breweries take home awards at World Beer Cup
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Kitchener family says their 10-year-old needs life-saving drug that cost $600,000
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.