Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s controversial decision to invoke the Emergencies Act and freeze the bank accounts of Freedom Convoy protesters continues to be an object of criticism in the European Parliament.
On Apr. 19, Dutch MEP Marcel de Graaff compared the Liberal government’s actions to a “social credit system” akin to China’s while debating the introduction of a “Digital Euro” in Brussels.
“Citizens’ greatest concern is that in the future the government will be able to limit what citizens spend their money on, such as meat products and fuels. Or that we get a form of a social credit system like in Canada, where your account is blocked if you are critical of the government,” said de Graaff.
“That is why the digital euro must meet the following requirements: purchases must not be traceable to the product, the balance must also be immediately withdrawable as cash and the balance must not be programmable. This must be laid down in law.”
At the height of the prime minister’s crackdown on the Freedom Convoy last February, the Liberal government received a wave of international condemnation.
Croatian MEP Mislav Koalkusic accused Trudeau of engaging in a “dictatorship of the worst kind” while the prime minister paid a visit to the European Parliament.
“Canada, once a symbol of the modern world, has become a symbol of civil rights violations under your quasi-liberal boot in recent months,” Koalkusic told Trudeau at the time.
He was also joined by Romanian MEP Cristian Terhes, Finnish MEP Laura Huhtasaari and others.
In the UK, Tory MP Marcus Fysh called on his country’s Foreign Secretary to discourage the Canadian government from pursuing “authoritarian measures” against Canadian citizens.
In recent months, the Liberal government’s involvement in the Chinese foreign interference scandal has also brought about further negative international attention.
The Australian Senate raised the issue of how the Canadian Liberals were the “most preferred” election contender for Beijing in past elections.
