Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took a drastic step Monday to quell truckers’ anti-vaccine-mandate protests: authorizing banks to freeze accounts suspected of funding the “freedom convoy.”
SO WHAT
In lesser form, what’s being done to the Canadian truckers is already happening in America.
WHAT HAPPENED
Citing the harm of economic blockades and concerns over “public safety,” Trudeau invoked the country’s seldom used Emergencies Act in a bid to cut off the protests’ funding and deploy federal police.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said that banks and financial institutions would be able to freeze or suspend accounts without a court order or fear of civil liability.
- Freeland also announced that crowdfunding platforms would come under the umbrella of terror-finance oversight.
- “We are making these changes because we know that these [crowdfunding] platforms are being used to support illegal blockades and illegal activity which is damaging the Canadian economy,” she said.
- Half the funding of the protests has reportedly come from American sources, including donations raised by the U.S.-based GiveSendGo, which stepped in as a funding platform after GoFundMe blocked “freedom convoy” donations.
Last week, Canada’s Toronto-Dominion Bank froze the personal accounts of two individuals who received $1.1 million for the protests.
IT’S HAPPENING HERE, TOO
In the U.S., conservatives have felt under siege from a perceive alliance of Democratic politicians and big business, including the finance industry:
Mike Lindell: The MyPillow CEO and fierce promoter of Donald Trump’s claims of a “rigged” 2020 election was recently dropped by the Minnesota Bank & Trust, who last month labeled him a “reputation risk.”
Donald Trump: Amid multiple criminal investigations into the Trump Organization, the former president’s longtime accounting firm last week cut ties with him and his family business, saying it could not vouch for the accuracy of 10-years-worth of financial statements.
Donald Trump, Jr.: In November, payment processor WePay refused to do business with a group hosting an event that featured the former president’s son, until JP Morgan Chase, who owns WePay, reversed course following widespread backlash from conservatives.
Other Americans: Third-party payment processors, such as PayPal and Stripe, have shut down dissident conservatives’ personal accounts over concerns about “hate speech.”