Sean Zhang/ Edge columnist

Starting from January 22, a series of protests and blockades called the Freedom Convoy took place in Ontario, aimed to oppose the current COVID-19 vaccine mandates and restrictions. Prime minister Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act on February 14 to deal with these protests which seems usual to Canada.

The Emergencies Act, “authorizes the federal government to take extraordinary temporary measures to respond to public welfare emergencies, public order emergencies, international emergencies and war emergencies,” by definition from the Parliament of Canada in 1988, is called “the most powerful federal law”.

The real purpose of invoking the Emergencies Act is not simply dealing with those protests. It’s trying to restrict the freedoms Canadians have that are growing uncontrollably.

According to the COVID-19 case statistics given by the government on Canada.ca, the amount of daily new cases is decreasing steadily. Alberta premier Jason Kenney claimed it is “unnecessary and disproportionate” to invoke this statute, referring to “Kenney says province will challenge federal Emergencies Act in court” by Kylee Pedersen from CBC News.

During a heated debate in Parliament, Conservatives called invoking Emergencies Act is “an extreme and unnecessary measure”, while the Liberals said “it’s needed to protect public safety”, referring to “Use of Emergencies Act debated in Parliament” from CBC News.

Yet comparing to countries like China, Canada though having a population that’s approximately 37 times smaller than China, the total COVID-19 case in Canada is 3.24 million, which is significantly larger than the number of cases, 108 k, in China.

The excessive freedoms given to people has made them become spoiled. Under the harsh situation with COVID-19 existing, there is still a large quantity of Canadians considering their own freedoms and rights to entertain above the safety of the entire country.

Take an example of the last Christmas. Unrestrained Christmas parties in Canada is the main cause of the wide-spreading of COVID-19, resulted in having 11,861 new cases on January 4 in BC, according to Google statistics.

Freedom is a right people were born with, which is as crucial as our lives. Yet personal freedom should not interfere other people’s benefits, especially safety. Personal freedoms that oppose others’ safety is selfish and should not be allowed.

Sources: