[young_unixer]

Is there some point at which people will start rejecting this arbitrary and excessive exercise of power?

This sets a dangerous precedent for a country that until now we considered a liberal democracy with freedom and respect for individual rights. I wonder if we're all headed to a point where state control and erosion of freedom are widely accepted by the public in our western democracies.

[failedengineer]

The Ontario government told people in Ontario that they'd need papers and a reason to travel in January 2021.

The police refused to enforce the policy restricting municipal travel. The government walked it back shortly after. That was only at a municipal level. Inter-provincial travel was limited to people with valid reasons at the same time, and that was enforced. If you went from Ontario to Manitoba to check out the moose, you'd get sent home by the police at the border.

I guess "papers, please, and where are you going?" is where the line is currently.

[verisimi]

How do you reject the excessive exercise of power? Its very hard to say. If all it takes is the declaration of an emergency and then people accept that declaration, I don't think you can.

" Is there some point at which people will start rejecting this arbitrary and excessive exercise of power?" Well, the truckers are trying, no?

[Overtonwindow]

For some reason your comment reminded me of the Reichstag fire decree. It’s worth reading on, how the government used an emergency protection order to go full throat to a dictatorship..

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reichstag_fire#:~:text=The%2....

[LudwigNagasena]

The precedents have been set. It is okay if my guys do it, it is not okay if your guys do it. That's all there is to it. Everything else is pure rhetoric that only exists as a symbol of normality and tradition just like powerless monarchs in European countries.

[kkjjkgjjgg]

Yes we are headed to that point. Whether the public will resist at some point is the big question (or if it even still has the power to do so).

[jagger27]

Name a single “liberal democracy” where any group would be permitted to occupy a capital city for three weeks uncontested. People really aren’t grasping how weak it makes Canada look that it allowed its own capital to be held in a chokehold so easily.

There are people on the streets (and in this thread) demanding that elected officials resign while a strong majority of Canadians disagree with the “protest”.

[Overtonwindow]

I think it makes the Canadian government look weak and inept when it can’t come to an agreement with its own people. It does make the Canadian government look weak, but I think they lose face at home more than abroad by not working this out.

[kkjjkgjjgg]

Should governments be concerned about looking "weak"?

[Wolfenstein98k]

States should. A lot of their power rests on their legitimacy. They can collapse fast once that erodes.

If they cannot even keep the centre of the capital moving, seemingly ever again, the value of the currency can plummet quite quickly as people decide to move wealth into less liquid assets (or simply cash from other countries).

This seems far-fetched, but it did in the Weimar Republic too, until it became apparent it was already happening.

Edit: just to be clear I'm not saying Weiner hyperinflation resulted from a collapse in the legitimacy of the state, but moreso that collapse itself is never obvious until it's well underway.

[kkjjkgjjgg]

I think they should be strong in upholding the law, but not in bossing their citizens around.

[Wolfenstein98k]

To those falling foul of the law, they feel like the same thing.

(I agree, just pointing out that the line gets muddy depending on which side you're on. A collapse of the state can be one of the worst things imaginable, in net terms.)

[s1artibartfast]

In a liberal democracy the solution to an illegal protest is to move in and arrest and give citations.

Using anti-terrorist powers to go around the courts and freeze bank accounts, revoke insurance, and do whatever else you want is not the solution.

[jagger27]

Yep, that would have been nice two weeks ago.

[s1artibartfast]

Never to late to actually fix a problem. Not sure how freezing a bank account will make them go anywhere

[Wolfenstein98k]

All that may be true (though some will quibble)...

However, what's the answer without contravening liberal democracy?

There is no principle within liberalism or democracy that says "if the legal protest lasts more than X it stops being legal".