Roundup: A promise of extra-illegality

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On a day of more organized protests outside of hospitals around the country, prime minister Justin Trudeau has decided the way to deal with this is…more criminal sanctions. Which is ridiculous, because there are already criminal sanctions around nuisance, harassment, and intimidation, and creating a law specifically for healthcare workers is kind of ridiculous and merely clogs up the criminal code – and I don’t care that they think they’re sending some kind of message. There are existing laws and police should enforce them. Of course, the NDP are saying that this was their idea first, while in more technical terms, Singh says that the victims being healthcare workers should be considered an aggravating factor during sentencing, but the effect is largely the same – this is virtue signalling using the Criminal Code rather than a useful exercise in enforcing existing laws.

https://twitter.com/dgardner/status/1437477651225133056

In Alberta, however, premier Jason Kenney has been warning that he can use the province’s recent law about critical infrastructure – designed to criminalise Indigenous protesters who blockade railways or pipelines – and how they can apply to this situation because the law is so broadly worded. That alone should be concerning about how this law was intended to be applied, but nevertheless, this does appear to be an unforeseen use for this particular piece of legislation.

Meanwhile, Althia Raj worries about Trudeau inflaming “divisions” in the country as the PPC gains more followers among these protesters and the anti-vaxx crowd, but this is a  credulous take if I ever heard one. These are not rational actors we are dealing with. They are part of an embrace of conspiracy theory that is happening across the Western world, for whatever the reason, and this is a very big problem. I’m not sure I see the utility in appealing for Trudeau to be soft-peddling to these conspiracy theorists, but I will note that there has been one party who has been winking and nodding to these conspiracy theories, and even going to far as to promulgating them in the House of Commons, and that party is not the one that Trudeau leads. There are consequences for O’Toole and company for doing so, and we are reaping what they’ve sown. It’s too bad that people in the media are not calling it out.

https://twitter.com/MikePMoffatt/status/1437467693934854149

On the campaign trail:

  • Justin Trudeau was in Vancouver to promise (useless) tougher penalties for anti-vaxx protesters, and taking a few jabs at Trudeau.
  • Erin O’Toole was in Carp, Ontario, to promise more benefits for parents, and gave an 18-minute personal tirade about Trudeau. It’s a “positive campaign,” guys!
  • Here’s the recap of CBC’s “Face to Face” with O’Toole.
  • Jagmeet Singh was in Sioux Lookout, Ontario, to claim Trudeau had done nothing about First Nations under boil water advisories (after having lifted 109 of them).
  • The Star fact-checked Trudeau for a week and while he was on the whole more truthful than the other leaders, said fact-checker still has a problem with context.
  • An NDP candidate in Toronto invented and spread an antisemitic conspiracy theory about the vaccine supply, and has apologised but the party hasn’t dropped her.
  • Susan Delacourt delves into how this election has up-ended the usual change/status quo narratives that dominate other election cycles.

Good reads:

  • A blind lawyer is challenging Elections Canada for not offering an option to being able to vote independently in an accessible way (which they should be).
  • Some former Afghan air force pilots have made it to the United Arab Emirate and are seeking asylum in Canada.

Odds and ends:

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2 thoughts on “Roundup: A promise of extra-illegality”

  1. There are thousands of laws encompassing those in every jurisdiction in Canada. The vast majority of Canadians are ignorant about them couldn’t for the life of them tell anyone specifics. Therefore it is completely necessary from time to time to bring the public’s attention to the law pertaining to a current issue. This is one of those times for the government to make clear that behaviors we have recently seen are addressed. This will bring acutely to the minds of our citizens the illegality of harassment.

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