HANNAFORD: Keep up the fight against Trudeau Liberals but savour small wins

For the last eight years, a small cadre of engaged citizens has contended with a federal Liberal government intent on doing "good" to people against their will. It is a government that, right or wrong, is nevertheless confident in the impregnable logic of its fancies. And, it is evidently appalled by the ingratitude and ignorance of those who don't agree or just don't trust Liberal wisdom, generosity and good intentions. Thus, this government has reacted instinctively to any sign of public disagreement with a heavy-handed authoritarianism.And never was this more so than during the three years when the COVID-19 pandemic dominated the news. People lost jobs, dissenting doctors were labelled quacks and barred from practice and a generation of children lost years of education.If you happen to also be an energy worker in Western Canada, you have other issues too, such as a federal government that wishes you to become a janitor.Resistance then, has been David-and-Goliath work.It will continue to be so.However, the odd sling shot has hit the mark. And as we gather more pebbles, we should take encouragement.First, any attempt by the Trudeau Liberals to portray themselves as a 'good' government has been scuppered by their own scant regard for the law and the constitution.In the last six months alone, in four separate matters, the Trudeau Liberal government has been revealed by courts and judicial bodies as lawless, and given to unreasonable and unjustified breaches of legality and the Constitution.A little harsh, you say? Well, I say once is forgivable, two’s a coincidence, three’s a pattern and four’s just habitual behaviour. Don't forget, this is just since July. But, you be the judge.Just a week ago the Federal Court ruled the use of the War Measures (Emergencies) Act by the Government of Canada to shut down the Freedom Convoy had been “unjustified.” (And "unreasonable.")However, in November the Federal Court had also ruled that the Liberals “overstepped” in categorizing all "plastic manufactured items" as toxic, and rejected the federal ban. "Overstepping" is another way of saying "ignored the Constitution."And last October, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled the Trudeau Liberals were offside with Bill C-69, officially the Impact Assessment Act but informally known as the ‘no-pipelines bill.’ Chief Justice Richard Wagner wrote that the federal impact assessment scheme is unconstitutional in part. That is a final decision, and therefore a substantial win.Meanwhile, in July last year, the Military Grievances External Review Committee ruled that members of the Canadian Armed Forces fired for refusing the COVID-19 vaccines, had had their Charter rights violated. More than 400 men and women were either fired or quit.These are small victories. And they may be temporary; both the Federal Court decisions are sure to be appealed. And for the dishonoured veterans, there is no recompense.But they are victories anyway, in that they show embattled Westerners are not alone in their belief that Ottawa has become arbitrary and overbearing. It is amazing for example, that the judiciary — in which Laurentian prejudices and perspectives are foundational — is deciding the Trudeau Liberals are playing fast and loose with the Constitution.It is also unusual in the extreme for a Bank of Canada Governor to criticize government policy, as did Tiff Macklem in October when he said fiscal and monetary policy were rowing in opposite directions, making it harder to bring down inflation. Top bank economists do not customarily go public relating sensitive issues such as unrestrained immigration to adverse economic outcomes, either.And nor is governmental self-satisfaction allowed to go unchallenged. It's only Alberta in scope, but Preston Manning's report on the provincial treatment of the COVID-19 pandemic concluded — among much else — that the courts were too quick to accept governmental claims that quite substantial limits on freedoms were "demonstrably justifiable." He also demanded economic impact assessments for any health protections.These are good conclusions.The problem with wins such as these is that even when a government is judged to have acted like a constitutional bully, the damage has already been done: Bill C-69 has been ruled unconstitutional for example, but any interest in Alberta energy investment has been much diminished. Likewise, if you accepted a career setback instead of a vaccination, you have retroactive affirmation but not necessarily reinstatement.However, it's still better to have these wins. And it's worth taking note of how they came about.Both the Bill C-69 judgment and the plastics decision were the result of action by the Government of Alberta. The others came as a result of interested Canadians who had the courage and determination to go to court and see it through.Bottom line: We have in Ottawa a government that is overly fond of compulsion and overly certain that it has a monopoly of wisdom. This is unlikely to change before an election. But Canadians who don't like it should understand that it is worth fighting. The Trudeau Liberals are not invulnerable to citizen challenge. You can win. Ordinary people have. Principled conservative governments have.Indeed, maybe they should start a new front in this struggle by asking a friendly government to review and report on what harm we really did to our children, when we followed "expert" advice during COVID-19. Even as you read this, the Trudeau Liberals are negotiating the surrender of Canadian sovereignty to the World Health Organization in a treaty that if ratified, will hand control in a future pandemic to the UN.So we fight. Lawfare is not only the province of the other side. The smug Trudeau Liberal narrative is their rationale for their assumed right to govern, and their right to interfere in the most basic details of your life... not merely whether the unvaccinated have a right to work, or people to go to church but into the relationship you have with your children, and what you will one day drive — or even whether you will be able to.But, it is not bullet-proof. It needs to be challenged, repeatedly and thoroughly, again and again. These are winnable wars. But somebody has to fight them. Stay tuned.

HANNAFORD: Keep up the fight against Trudeau Liberals but savour small wins

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