Justin Trudeau Criticizes ‘Authoritarian Leaders’ After Being Labeled One

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday there has been a “slippage” in democracies across the globe and says there have been “slightly more authoritarian leaders.”

QUICK FACTS:
  • While speaking about the ongoing situation happening in Ukraine, Trudeau said that nations have been adopting more aggressive leaders in recent years and “allowing increasing misinformation” as well as “disinformation to be shared on social media, turning people against the values and the principles of democracies that are so strong.”
  • According to the Prime Minister, this “slippage” has been what has emboldened Russian President Vladimir Putin in the invasion against Ukraine.
  • “We see a bit of a slippage in our democracies,” Trudeau said. “And that slippage over the years unfortunately emboldened Putin and made him think he could get away with this.”
  • The prime minister’s words come after he himself invoked never-before-used emergency powers to clear “Freedom Convoy” protesters from Ottawa’s Parliament Hill and provincial capitals across the country.
  • Trudeau used those powers, according to a Wahington Post op-ed, “to stifle the free-speech rights of peaceful protesters gathered in front of their country’s elected Parliament.”
  • “This is the stuff of authoritarian regimes,” the WaPo piece says of Trudeau. “In a free society, the government doesn’t get to decide whose views are ‘unacceptable’ or whether it will ‘tolerate’ them. In a democracy, the government does not get to intimidate people who protest policies they consider unjust by threatening to take away their jobs and their ability to feed their families. Those are actions one would expect from totalitarian regimes in China and Russia, not a Western democracy.”
TRUDEAU JUSTIFYING HIS OWN EMERGENCY POWERS IN FEBRUARY:

“Invoking the Emergencies Act has been necessary. Law enforcement agencies relied on it to set up secured areas in downtown Ottawa and at border crossings. It prevented foreign money from continuing to fund illegal blockades, and it’s making sure our borders remain open. It has been the responsible thing to do.”

BACKGROUND:
  • Trudeau’s statement comes just one month after he invoked emergency powers over Canada, threatening to arrest the truckers taking part in the ‘Freedom Convoy.’
  • He also declared he would take away their licenses and livelihoods if they didn’t stop protesting against the COVID mandates he set in place.
  • Trudeau called those who held opposing views “very often misogynistic, racist, women-haters, science-deniers, the fringe.” 

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