Copies of an order from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) began circulating yesterday morning after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's took the dramatic step of giving himself new, and far reaching powers over his citizens.
He's held these new powers since Monday when he invoked the 'Emergencies Act' in response to truckers protesting vaccine mandates, and a wide range of restricted rights depending on where in Canada they are from. The truckers say it's time to end every restriction that was put in place and justified by citing Covid19 prevention.
Ironically, Last Year He Held the SAME VIEW As The Protest He Now Wants To "Crush"...
A quote you couldn't imagine hearing him say today “There are medical reasons, there are a broad range of reasons why someone might not get vaccinated and I’m worried about creating knock-on, undesirable effects in our community.” he was telling Reuters a little over a year ago.
What 'undesirable effects' was he referring to? He said it would end up a 'divisive' issue for Canadians - looks like a perfectly predicted the problem. Then at some point he decided it's a problem with having.
Now he's on TV calling people who hold the same view he did last year 'racist' and 'bigots', which was confusing since approximately 30 minutes prior to seeing this I was watching a reporter live at the protest and noticed how the truckers seemed to include a bit of every ethnic group, and they had just interviewed a black Canadian trucker.
Yesterday he accused politicians of supporting neo-Nazis by supporting the trucker's 'freedom convoy', saying these politicians are "Standing with Swastikas'" - unaware that the politician he was responding to at the time was Jewish, whos family was put in concentration camps during the holocaust.
Regardless of this confusing backstory, Trudeau demands nothing but full compliance, saying the protestors must be "crushed". But as the insults and orders to crush them flow from the Prime Minister's mouth for the last week, he hasn't mentioned Covid even once - with all the arguing I forgot that 'Covid prevention' was supposedly the entire point.
"Crushing" The Protest...
Beginning yesterday "police liaisons" in yellow vests are going from truck to truck knocking on the doors and handing leaflets informing them they could be prosecuted, lose their licenses and see their vehicles seized under Canada’s Emergencies Act.
Also included in a ban on crowdfunding sites transferring raised funds to the protestors, freezing protesting trucker's personal bank accounts, and the thing that caught my eye - announcing a list of banned Bitcoin addresses.
“Pursuant to the Emergency Economic Measures Order, under subsection 19(1) of the Emergencies Act, there is a duty to cease facilitating any transactions pertaining to the following cryptocurrency addresses” the order stated.
It Looks Like The Protestors Made A Huge Mistake - "Not Your Wallet..."
...not your coins.
It appears the protestors used wallet addresses provided to them by Canadian based exchanges - while not fully confirmed the language used by Canadian officials describes 'freezing' accounts, sounding like the accounts were within their legal reach.
The terrifying part for many Canadians is how the government was able to use laws clearly intended for other purposes in an alarming power-grab.
No "money laundering" or "terrorism" has been observed, and officials have not even accused the protestors of either - yet laws meant to specifically address these crimes are what is being used to seize their assets.
Parking, and honking horns, causing traffic - I understand people frustrated or annoyed, but to say this qualifies as 'terrorism' would be ridiculous.
So - it looks like a hard lesson was learned here - had the protesters created their own Bitcoin wallets, with the keys saved somewhere only they knew, this is the stage the government would have failed.
Trudeau Says Not All Protesting It Bad, In fact There's Some He Supported Himself...
As he announced his goal of 'crushing' the trucker's protest, he pointed out that he's not "anti-protest" in general, saying "I have attended protests and rallies in the past when I agreed with the goals, when I supported the people expressing their concerns and their issues, Black Lives Matter is an excellent example of that."
While no deaths or damage to city property have occurred during the trucker's protest - he will never support protests such as the 'freedom convoy' - traffic jams cross a line he cannot accept.
He does however support protests such as BLM - no mention of the 25 people lost their lives during rioting, fires, and violence in city streets, with damages totaled over $1 billion.
I've honestly heard rational views from both sides, and I'm not ready to say I'm for or against the trucker's protest - I am however disappointed that the rational arguments are not coming from my Prime Minister.
Maybe if he explained how a year ago he held the same viewpoint as the protestors on vaccine mandates (and wasn't racist for doing so), then shared the things that made him change his mind, we would at least have a starting point to further the conversation.
Instead, we have both sides insisting that the other is evil, and will understand nothing but a show of force.
Want to be in charge of the storage of your coins? Create a Bitcoin Wallet or Ethereum Wallet that ONLY YOU can access!
---------
By: Michael Cobb
Toronto Newsroom
Global Crypto Press Association
