BREAKING: War Measures Act not reasonable to deal with dancers, bouncy castles & hot tubs

Today, the Federal Court of Canada has ruled that the invocation of the Emergencies Act (formerly known as the War Measures Act) was “unreasonable and unjustified”.

Justin Trudeau famously invoked the Act in 2022 in order to freeze bank accounts and arrest peaceful demonstrators. With the support of the NDP, he passed the Emergencies Act that was meant to deal with terrorist threats.

At the time Trudeau told the media that:

We have people doing “the Loco-Motion” in the streets… This is clear proof that this movement is funded by Russian locomotive tycoons and is meant to undermine Canadian democracy.

When invoking this unprecedented legislation, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland told Canadians that:

This morning I saw bouncy castles depicting the far-right American made characters, the “Minions”. We can not take any chances with American far-right extremism creeping into Canada!

Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino told the House of Commons at the time:

Yesterday I saw multiple people use a hot tub and there were no indication that the chlorine level was ever checked. This movement is putting everyones’ health at risk!

But the courts have now spoken and have ruled that the “loco-motion” and the Minions in fact did not pose a danger to Canadians. Judge Richard Mosley wrote in his decision:

“I have concluded that the decision to issue the Proclamation (of the Emergencies Act) based on inadequate chlorine levels in a hot tub or the dancing of the famously catchy Loco-motion is not reasonable.”

Rejean Venne is a regular newsletter providing insight and analysis on Canadian issues. Please consider becoming a subscriber.