Kerby Anderson

Jeffrey Tucker reminds us in an essay that talking about economic warfare last year would be quickly labeled a conspiracy theory. Events in Canada changed that. One crowdfunding platform raised $9 million but then was shut down. Another platform also raised millions until it was hit with denial-of-service attacks and hacked. Then the Canadian Broadcasting Service decided to follow up with donors, which became a ploy for critics to doxx and threaten anyone who donated to the cause. The Canadian Minister of Finance threatened participants and donors with freezing their accounts. She also explained that banks could do this “without a court order.” Meanwhile, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police sent letters to crypto exchanges demanding they report any assets that might be flowing to truckers or other protesters. David Sacks argues that a “social credit system” has arrived in Canada. We have seen this in action in China but did not expect to see it in Canada. The prime minister invoked the Emergencies Act giving him virtually unlimited power. Then he used a second law passed during the country’s war on terror to go after Canadian citizens who should never have been designated as terrorists. You might have expected a backlash from Canadian citizens, but most just shrugged at these actions. The prime minister and the government finally did back down for two reasons. The economic reason was a limited bank run. A threat of freezing accounts caused many Canadians to start removing money from banking systems. There were also stories of investment funds from Hong Kong being moved. The political reason was an upcoming vote in the Canadian Senate to rebuke the prime minister. There were also reports of internal documents discovered that caught cabinet officers talking about the political benefit of invoking the Emergencies Act. All of this is but a stark reminder of how quickly our freedoms can be lost.