O, Canada - Whatever Have You Done?
The government can now freeze your bank account, eh?
Let me first say that this isn’t intended as a hit on Canada.
The country has a fond place in my heart, not least because I’m a passport-carrying Canadian and many dear members of my family live there.
I’m also determined it won’t become a dissection of the rights and wrongs of vaccinations, Covid-19 restrictions or anything of that nature. Writers and broadcasters of far greater significance than me, have been cancelled for far less.
In fact, I’ll be devastated if I lose so-much as an email subscriber as a result of this story, but I’ve got something that needs to be said.
The end of Freedom (Convoy)
On February 15th the Canadian Government enacted its latest round of measures to try and break up the ‘Freedom Convoy’.
The blockade included around 8,000 trucks at its peak, and brought the capital city of Ottawa and the national economy of Canada to a grinding halt. Truckers were protesting against vaccine-mandates being imposed upon them, but their protest broadened to include all Covid-19 related restrictions too, and attracted many others to join their cause.
On February 14th the Deputy Prime Minister of Canada, Chrystia Freeland invoked the ‘Emergencies Act’ which has existed in Canadian Law since 1988. It hadn’t been used before now. The criteria for invoking the law include that it is only warranted in an "urgent and critical situation" that "seriously endangers the lives, health or safety of Canadians". Lawful protests do not qualify.
The law was used as justification to freeze the bank accounts of those who are taking part in the truckers’ blockade, presumably as a means of forcing their compliance in withdrawing from the Ottawa area.
By invoking the law for that purpose, Freeland sent a clear and damning message on behalf of the government - it will do whatever is necessary to force its will upon the citizens of Canada.
The actions seems more akin to what might be expected within a dictatorship where citizens’ refusal to comply results in punishment for those who refuse to toe the line.
I’m not usually prone to hyperbole, but that’s how it seems to me at least.
Follow the money
In her speech, the ironically-named Freeland stated that the Canadian federal government will “follow the money” as a means of breaking up the convoy.
They’ve attempted to negotiate over several days but found no middle-ground (as none exists between two groups who fundamentally disagree on matters of principle). The next best thing then, would appear to be hitting the dissenters where it hurts?
The federal government’s response goes further, too. As Freeland put it:
“We are broadening the scope of Canada's anti-money laundering and terrorist financing rules so that they cover Crowd Funding Platforms and the payment service providers they use.”
They’ve expanded the definition of money laundering and terrorist financing to include the use of fundraising platforms like GoFundMe in aid of causes that don’t meet the Canadian government’s definition of what’s right and what’s wrong.
By extension it may not just be the truckers whose bank accounts could be frozen by the federal government under the premise of preventing terrorism, but also the accounts of those who donated to campaigns that were started to support them.
Only last week it came to light that the GoFundMe platform closed down a fundraising campaign launched on behalf of the truckers. It had raised over $9 million in donations. Worse still, GoFundMe proposed that donations wouldn’t automatically be returned to donors, but rather redistributed to worthy charities of its own choosing.
Various politicians in the US were quick to leap on this as an opportunity to take up the cause, citing allegations of “deceptive practices” on the behalf of GoFundMe as they acted on behalf of their citizens, many of whom had donated to the truckers cause.
In response, the platform quickly back-tracked and stated that it would refund donations to donors instead.
Cryptocurrency received the same treatment
The government announcements further included that donations to such causes made using cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin would also be viewed in the same way - as donations to terrorist causes.
This may be where Trudeau’s government struggles to enforce the Emergencies Act.
At least one fundraising campaign invited donations in support of the truckers to be made in Bitcoin, and nearly $1 million in BTC had been raised as at 15th February. These funds could yet reach those who need the support, particularly if their accounts containing Canadian Dollars are inaccessible thanks to the actions of the government.
It’s virtually impossible for governments to seize or freeze these funds since the decentralized and anonymized architecture of Bitcoin prevents outside interference in the transacting or custody of it. This is one of many facets of Bitcoin that appeals to its holders who believe in libertarian ideals.
As I pointed out in a recent post, the blockchain affords a great deal of transparency regarding the movement of funds around the Bitcoin network, but it’s impossible for governments to intervene or interfere with if holders observe basic practices.
A loss of credibility
Nayib Bukele, President of El Salvador felt compelled to comment on the situation. He appears to have been outraged by the violation of basic freedoms imposed upon a segment of Canada’s citizens.
Under his leadership, the country last-year started accepting Bitcoin as a legal tender, and he’s clearly got a few thoughts on what Canada has achieved through the recent actions of its government:
Bukele isn’t necessarily squeaky clean as a humanitarian either. Many of his critics have accused him of acting in authoritarian ways in regard to Bitcoin, and in other matters too during his leadership of the country. But it’s hard to disagree with his analysis of the situation.
What credibility does the Canadian government now have as a champion of freedom and democracy if it’s willing to freeze the bank accounts of those who disagree with its policies?
Isn’t the Freedom Convoy to blame?
The Freedom Convoy began as a rally against a new rule proposed by the government that all truckers must be vaccinated to cross the US-Canada border, or quarantine upon return. In essence it was a protest against vaccine mandates.
Truckers objected to the restrictions and the enforcement of mandatory vaccines, arguing that for much of their working life they are isolated and alone in the cabs of their trucks anyway. If there’s a profession that’s more isolating and notionally ‘quarantined’ from human contact, then I’m not sure what that is.
Whether you agree with their cause, or how they’ve gone about it is kind of beside the point. What’s at stake here, given how the protest has played out, is freedom.
Freedom of citizens to choose whether to get vaccinated or not
Freedom of citizens to protest (peacefully) for causes they believe in
Freedom for citizens not to feel like the government can intervene in their lives and seize their money or property
The truckers’ blockade has had wide-reaching consequences for sure. Global supply chains were already under pressure, before thousands of trucks descended upon Ottawa, blocking the Ambassador Bridge - a critical trade route between Canada and the US.
Estimates put the financial impact of the blockade at as much as $988 million for the auto industry alone. Added to this are daily policing costs of around $800k and as much as $1 million in additional civic services needed during the protest.
It’s clear that this couldn’t last forever and in the absence of compromise a solution had to be found. But it seems shameful for democracy and freedom that the only solution was considered to be the invocation of a law intended for use only in ‘Doomsday’ scenarios.
Was this such a scenario? Was there no compromise position to be found? Was the implementation of vaccine mandates for truck drivers really the key to beating Covid, or did Trudeau’s government just pick the wrong hill to die upon?
What about Covid-19?
At this point I shift nervously in my seat and remember my earlier promise not to stray into the rights and wrongs of vaccine mandates. I also remind myself that as well as my Canadian Passport I hold a British one too.
Here in Great Britain, we seem to have reached an awkward but accepting peace with Covid. A great many are fully vaccinated - probably enough to prevent our health service from becoming overwhelmed. The number of cases are skyrocketing, but we seem to acknowledge now that most will recover without long-term consequences.
But, like Canada and the rest of the world there are still enclaves of those who passionately object to vaccines.
Here’s how I see it - I believe it’s everyone’s freedom to choose what they do. I chose to get vaccinated and virtually everyone I know has done too. I’m glad of that fact.
I may be slightly judgemental of those who’ve chosen not to, but what they do is up to them.
We’ve all lived with this thing for long enough to know what the potential consequences are of getting sick from Covid-19, both for the unvaccinated and for the vaccinated.
We’ve all read of the cases where vocal anti-vaxxers succumbed, and their dying wish, gasped from a hospital bed, was that they should have got their jab.
We’re all smart enough to know that the vaccine isn’t 100% effective at protecting us from the virus (and no vaccine is). Neither is the immunity gained from having had the disease already.
We all know of friends and family members who’ve had the virus (or in the case of at least 4 of my close family, have had it twice) both before and after vaccination. I know of people who suffered (or died) from it, and others who compared it to a hangover or a common cold.
We all know enough by now to have made our choices.
Those who intended on getting vaccinated were probably there with their sleeves rolled up as soon as it was available.
Those who've resisted, are only going to become more resistant the more others try and force them to get their shot.
People will still get sick even after getting vaccinated, whether they’re truckers sat alone in the cabs of their vehicles for 23 hours each day, or sales assistants in bustling malls. At least all of those with first world privilege have by now had the choice to get vaccinated.
So vaccine mandates seem pointless (to me at least). The writing was on the wall when Canada tried to force this upon truckers. Was this really make-or-break in getting the country back to normal?
Freedom
When the Canadian government decided to invoke the Emergency Act, it overstepped the mark.
Trudeau, Freeland and the federal government forgot about freedom. They thought only of how they could enforce compliance with their latest policy. They concluded that the best way of doing this was to “follow the money” and to hit Canadians where it hurt most - financially. In doing so, they proved how easily manipulated our current financial system really is.
The only possible upside to have come out of the situation is that it proved yet again why the world (and right now, Canada) needs Bitcoin.
If you’re passionate about Freedom too, you might enjoy the book ‘Freedom’ by Sebastian Junger - it was one of my favorite reads of 2021.
Alternatively if you want to buy your first Bitcoin and protect at least some of your wealth from future seizing by your government, you might be interested in my guide to buying and storing it safely and securely:
This was a refreshing point of view - too many people are deciding they somehow have the right to judge, shame, coerce, bribe or humiliate other human beings just because they have differing opinions about a personal medical choice.
In regards to the protests, the government overreach is very clear. The one part in your article that is not accurate is this: "They’ve attempted to negotiate over several days but found no middle-ground" - the government refused to negotiate. There was no mediation, no negotiation, no listening to the concerns. They went from doing absolutely nothing, to turning the country into a police state. They found one guy holding a swastika, labeled the entire movement as racist and unacceptable, and refused to meet with them or negotiate in anyway on those grounds. Meanwhile, in Toronto, anti-Israel protests occur every Friday outside the Palestinian Embassy and there are always swastikas present, but that is conveniently overlooked and ignored. The counter protesters waved hammer and sickle flags, but that, too, was ignored. This government wrote the book on cherry picking injustice.
I think the Super Bowl will be the catalyst for mask mandates ending here in the states. Millions of people watched a stadium full of maskless people enjoy the game in a state where mandates are very much still in effect.