SLOBODIAN: King gets a verdict, but whether it's justice is another matter

So, probably to absolutely no one’s surprise, Pat King was found guilty of five charges levied against him for his role as a co-organizer of Freedom Convoy 2022.Canada’s courts tend to lean heavily in one direction when it comes to the Convoy and related COVID-19 Charter rights cases.Alberta’s King, 47, was declared guilty of one count of mischief, one count of counselling others to commit mischief, one count of counselling others to obstruct police, and two counts of disobeying a court order.The decision handed down by Superior Court Justice Charles Hackland in Ottawa Friday found King not guilty of three counts of intimidation and one count of obstructing police. Has justice been served?Opinions will depend on which side one takes regarding the Freedom Convoy movement — that captured international attention and support during the ‘pandemic’ — as it honked and rolled up to Parliament Hill from all over Canada. Protesters camped there three weeks feeding the homeless, praying, and playing on bouncy castles.Or, on whether one does or doesn’t like the exceedingly controversial King, from whom even some Convoy folks distanced themselves.Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabal must be high-fiving one another with euphoric glee. Another one of those pesky, defiant Canadians crushed.King’s followers — there were 340,000 on Facebook at one point — get another slap in the face.Regardless of where one stands, it’s a sad day for Canada because it’s a sickening reminder of what didn’t have to be.Trudeau shunned and hid from peaceful Convoy protesters fighting for their Charter rights and livelihoods. They were deemed unworthy of his personal attention.Trudeau and his obedient lapdogs in the Liberal/NDP party, health, media, justice, and law enforcement took something magnificent — a proud Canadian spirit championing freedom and the right to oppose vaccine mandates and public health restrictions — and twisted it into something ugly.King’s verdict is another reminder that citizens had to rise in protest because Trudeau’s tyrannical government imposed COVID-19 mandates that infringed on Charter rights, destroyed careers, impoverished many, divided Canadians, and according to mounting evidence caused injury and death for some who opted to, or were forced to, take the jab.Then there was the declared War Measures [Emergencies] Act, a crackdown that sent shockwaves throughout Canada and the world.Although federal Justice Richard Mosley ruled there was no legal justification to use this harsh measure that breached Charter rights to quash a protest — that was already winding down — Trudeau was not held accountable.Trudeau will no doubt get the boot for that and myriad of other enormous failings when the federal election rolls around.And King will no doubt spend more time in jail. (A date for sentencing has yet to be set.)King is rough around the edges, has shadows in his past. And he’s an activist! We must understand that the only activists who go unpunished in Canada are BLM, Antifa, pro-Hamas protesters who burn our flag and whoever has set more than 100 churches ablaze.All that’s nothing in comparison to Freedom Convoy protesters causing discomfort in downtown Ottawa, blocking streets and honking horns.Hackland’s decision found King guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.King had pleaded not guilty to all counts.Weeks of testimony earlier this year examined his role in the protests. Was he a leader in the legal protest, or wasn’t he? That was the heart of the matter.The Crown relied on social media posts arguing he was a disrupter and leader. Videos included King helping trucks block busy Wellington Street and organizing a slow roll near the Ottawa International Airport.His defence lawyer Natasha Calvinho argued that he wasn’t in control of the convoy, he protested peacefully and that at times King urged others to peacefully co-operate with the law.But what about those people who were hurt? Oh wait, they were protesters, including an elderly woman using a walker, who was trampled by police Trudeau sent to push through the crowd on horseback.King has been in and out of jail since his arrest on February 18, 2022, that went live on social media causing both reactions of delight and fury. Depending which side one stood on.He was kept in jail on the grounds that he might re-offend or violate his conditions until that July. He was banned from using social media, contacting protest organizers, and organizing protests.In August 2023 he was briefly jailed again for violating conditions, then released with tougher conditions.King has on one hand championed noble causes. On the other hand, he has pushed disturbing theories.He's been labelled far-right. He led the Wexit movement pushing secession of western provinces from Ottawa. He was involved in the 2019 United We Roll yellow vest pro-oil-and-gas protest movement. He opposed the carbon tax. He led counter protests against anti-racist protesters he called Antifa. He said the Holocaust was overstated. He promotes a white genocide conspiracy theory. And he accused Trudeau of stealing the 2021 federal election.But because he was part of a “mischief group” as prosecutors described the Freedom Convoy, who significantly impacted the lawful use and enjoyment of property by Ottawa citizens, the hammer could come down hard on King.He faces severe penalties and up to 10 years in prison. Only in Canada... and a host of other unfortunate oppressed countries around the world run by spineless, incompetent leaders who grab power by crushing rights and freedoms.

SLOBODIAN: King gets a verdict, but whether it's justice is another matter

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