International
US Senator Rand Paul warns against government emergency powers, cites Trudeau’s crackdown on Freedom Convoy
From LifeSiteNews
‘If anyone doubts that emergency powers can be abused, just look to Canada,’ Rand Paul said about Justin Trudeau’s ‘abuse’ of power against the Freedom Convoy and people who donated to it.
Kentucky Senator Rand Paul warned against giving governments emergency powers, citing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s “abuse” of power against the Freedom Convoy.
During a December 17 session of the U.S. Senate, Paul, who is about to take over as chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, referenced Trudeau’s use of the Emergencies Act (EA) to shut down the 2022 Freedom Convoy to warn of the dangers of unchecked power.
“If anyone doubts that emergency powers can be abused, just look to Canada,” he declared.
Paul recalled February 14, 2022, when Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act to clear out the Freedom Convoy in Ottawa, which protested COVID mandates.
At the time, truckers and other Canadians from across the country were camped out in front of Parliament to demand an end to the COVID restrictions and shot mandates that effectively made unvaxxed Canadians second class citizens, unable to travel or work in most jobs.
Trudeau had disparaged unjabbed Canadians, saying that those opposing his measures were of a “small, fringe minority” who hold “unacceptable views” and do not “represent the views of Canadians who have been there for each other.”
“Instead of simply clearing out protesters and punishing them via conventional legal means, Trudeau invoked emergency powers broad enough to permit the financial un-pursing of anyone participating in the protest,” Paul said.
“He went to their bank accounts and took their money,” Paul continued. “When people raised money voluntarily through crowd financing to help these truckers, he stole that money as well through martial rule, without any rule of law.”
Under the EA, the Trudeau government froze the bank accounts of Canadians who donated to the protest, leaving many Canadians struggling to buy necessities. Trudeau finally revoked the EA on February 23 after the protesters had been cleared out. At the time, seven of Canada’s 10 provinces opposed Trudeau’s use of the EA.
Last January, Federal Court Justice Richard Mosley ruled that Trudeau was “not justified” in invoking the Emergencies Act. Furthermore, Trudeau’s former public safety minister is currently facing censure for “deliberately lying” about EA invocation.
Paul used Canada’s story as a “cautionary tale” against expanding any emergency powers for the federal government through the Department of Homeland Security. He warned that if either the Republican or Democratic Party is given emergency powers, it “could be turned inward against political dissent.”
“Men and women will succumb to the desire for power,” he explained. “It’s inherent in all. That’s why we must have checks and balances.”
“Trudeau could freeze a bank account without a court order, without due process,” Paul warned. “And while native-born Americans may think that emergency powers are to be used to target others, I would venture to guess that the Canadian truckers protesting COVID era mandates didn’t expect that their government would treat them as foreign adversaries and freeze their accounts.”
“If it can happen in Canada, it can happen in the U.S.,” he declared.
Censorship Industrial Complex
Move over Soviet Russia: UK Police Make 10,000 Arrests Over “Offensive” Online Speech
In a nation where 90 percent of crimes go unsolved, the real emergency seems to be someone being offensive online.
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Energy
Expanding Canadian energy production could help lower global emissions
From the Fraser Institute
By Annika Segelhorst and Elmira Aliakbari
Canada’s most timely opportunity to lower overall global emissions is through expanded exports to regions that rely on higher-emitting fuel sources.
The COP30 climate conference in Brazil is winding down, after more than a week of discussions about environmental policy and climate change. Domestic oil and natural gas production is frequently seen as a fundamental obstacle to Canada’s climate goals. Yet the data shows that Canadian energy production is already among the world’s cleanest, generating lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per barrel-of-oil-equivalent produced, among major producing countries. Expanding the role of Canadian oil and gas in global markets can replace higher GHG-emitting alternatives around the world, driving down global GHG emissions.
Prime Minister Carney’s first budget highlights Canada’s “emissions advantage” in a chart on page 105 that compares the amount of GHG emissions released from producing oil and natural gas across 20 major producing countries. Compared to many other top-producing countries, Canada releases fewer GHG emissions per barrel of oil and gas produced when considering all phases of production (extraction, processing, transport, venting and flaring).
For oil production, Canada has an advantage over most major producers such as Venezuela, Libya, Iran, Algeria, Nigeria, China, Russia and Qatar. Canada’s emissions per barrel of oil produced are below the global average, making Canada among the lower emitting producers worldwide.
Similarly, Canada’s natural gas production has an emissions per barrel equivalent that is lower than the global average and is below major producers such as Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Nigeria, Indonesia, China, Argentina, Malaysia, Australia, Algeria, Iran, Russia, India and the United States. The chart below reveals countrywide average GHG emissions per barrel of oil or natural gas produced in 2022.
Source: International Energy Agency (2023), The Oil and Gas Industry in Net Zero Transitions 2023, IEA, Paris, p. 69
Canada’s emissions advantage stems from years of technological innovations that require less energy to produce each barrel of oil along with improvements in detecting leaks. From 1990 to 2023, Canada’s total production of crude oil rose by 199 per cent, while emissions per barrel of oil produced declined by 8 per cent, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC). In the oilsands, since 1990 emissions per barrel have fallen by nearly 40 per cent while emissions from natural gas production and processing have decreased by 23 per cent.
Canada has already implemented many of the most practical and straightforward methods for reducing carbon emissions during oil and gas production, like mitigation of methane emissions. These low-hanging fruits, the easiest and most cost-effective ways to reduce emissions, have already been implemented. The remaining strategies to reduce GHG emissions for Canadian oil and gas production will be increasingly expensive and will take longer to implement. One such approach is carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS), a technology which traps and stores carbon dioxide to prevent it from reaching the atmosphere. Major infrastructure projects like this offer potential but will be difficult, costly and resource intensive to implement.
Rather than focusing on increasingly expensive emission reductions at home, Canada’s most timely opportunity to lower overall global emissions is through expanded exports to regions that rely on higher-emitting fuel sources. Under a scenario of expanded Canadian production, countries that presently rely on oil and gas from higher-emitting producers can instead source energy from Canada, resulting in a net reduction in global emissions. Conversely, if Canada were to stagnate or even retreat from the world market for oil and gas, higher-emitting producers would increase exports to accommodate the gap, leading to higher overall emissions.
As Canada’s climate and energy policy continues to evolve, our attention should focus on global impact rather than solely on domestic emissions reductions. The highest environmental impact will come from enabling global consumption to shift towards lower-emitting Canadian sources.
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