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 Their determination to party on appears to harden with every restriction repealed by the provinces.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
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.
Local Spotlight
Fergus, Ont. man feels nickel-and-dimed for $0.05 property tax bill
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
Twins from Toronto were Canada's top two female finishers at this year's Boston Marathon
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
Mystery surrounds giant custom Canucks jerseys worn by Lions Gate Bridge statues
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
'I'm committed': Oilers fan won't cut hair until Stanley Cup comes to Edmonton
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
'It's not my father's body!' Wrong man sent home after death on family vacation in Cuba
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
'Once is too many times': Education assistants facing rising violence in classrooms
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
What is capital gains tax? How is it going to affect the economy and the younger generations?
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
UBC football star turning heads in lead up to NFL draft
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Cat found at Pearson airport 3 days after going missing
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.