[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".