‘If anyone doubts that emergency powers can be abused, just look to Canada,’ Rand Paul said about Justin Trudeau’s ‘abuse’ of power against the Freedom Convoy and people who donated to it.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) -- Kentucky Senator Rand Paul warned against giving governments emergency powers, citing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's "abuse" of power against the Freedom Convoy.
During a December 17 session of the U.S. Senate, Paul, who is about to take over as chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, referenced Trudeau's use of the Emergencies Act (EA) to shut down the 2022 Freedom Convoy to warn of the dangers of unchecked power.
“If anyone doubts that emergency powers can be abused, just look to Canada," he declared.
Paul recalled February 14, 2022, when Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act to clear out the Freedom Convoy in Ottawa, which protested COVID mandates.
At the time, truckers and other Canadians from across the country were camped out in front of Parliament to demand an end to the COVID restrictions and shot mandates that effectively made unvaxxed Canadians second class citizens, unable to travel or work in most jobs.
Trudeau had disparaged unjabbed Canadians, saying that those opposing his measures were of a “small, fringe minority” who hold “unacceptable views” and do not “represent the views of Canadians who have been there for each other.”
"Instead of simply clearing out protesters and punishing them via conventional legal means, Trudeau invoked emergency powers broad enough to permit the financial un-pursing of anyone participating in the protest," Paul said.
“He went to their bank accounts and took their money," Paul continued. "When people raised money voluntarily through crowd financing to help these truckers, he stole that money as well through martial rule, without any rule of law.”
Under the EA, the Trudeau government froze the bank accounts of Canadians who donated to the protest, leaving many Canadians struggling to buy necessities. Trudeau finally revoked the EA on February 23 after the protesters had been cleared out. At the time, seven of Canada’s 10 provinces opposed Trudeau’s use of the EA.
Last January, Federal Court Justice Richard Mosley ruled that Trudeau was “not justified” in invoking the Emergencies Act. Furthermore, Trudeau’s former public safety minister is currently facing censure for "deliberately lying" about EA invocation.
Paul used Canada's story as a "cautionary tale" against expanding any emergency powers for the federal government through the Department of Homeland Security. He warned that if either the Republican or Democratic Party is given emergency powers, it “could be turned inward against political dissent.”
“Men and women will succumb to the desire for power," he explained. "It's inherent in all. That's why we must have checks and balances.”
“Trudeau could freeze a bank account without a court order, without due process," Paul warned. "And while native-born Americans may think that emergency powers are to be used to target others, I would venture to guess that the Canadian truckers protesting COVID era mandates didn't expect that their government would treat them as foreign adversaries and freeze their accounts."
"If it can happen in Canada, it can happen in the U.S.,” he declared.
