Opinion: Canada descending into despotism

The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act was passed by Congress in 1970 to combat organized crime in the U.S.

According to any number of sources the law has been used to prosecute members of the mafia, the Hells Angels motorcycle gang, and Operation Rescue, an anti-abortion group. I suppose that two out of three organized crime groups can be considered close enough for government work.

Among the options that prosecutors have in their pursuit of organized criminals is the freezing of assets provided they obtain a court order. The freezing of financial assets, in general, is almost always open to question or doubtful, and almost always requires a court order. As an example of this concern, when we like the freezer, it’s OK and when we don’t like the freezer it’s criminal.

Russia does it – BAD. Canada does it – GOOD.

All that being said, take a minute to consider what would happen to you if your bank account was frozen. Pay your bills by check? Not now. How about credit cards? Not now. How about cash? Where are you going to get the money?

This may cause you some alarm. But why should you worry? You’re not a member of Operation Rescue or any other organized crime outfit. That’s what the Canadian truckers thought.

If you follow the news at all, you are aware that Canadian truck drivers have staged a protest against various COVID mandates issued by their government. To fund these protests a GoFundMe account was established and then disbanded and replaced by GiveSendGo. Under the guise of an Emergency Act order, the Canadian government has determined that these protests are illegal and have taken steps to make the truckers disband.

Chrystia Freeland is the Canadian Minister of Finance. When she was asked whether the bank accounts of individuals who donated to either fundraiser would have their accounts frozen, she replied that the names of both individuals and entities as well as crypto wallets have been shared by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police with financial institutions and accounts have been frozen and will continue to be frozen. All this without a court order. Freeland wants to make these orders permanent.

The Canadian House of Commons, in a fit of unrivaled insanity, on Monday night approved the extraordinary and temporary measures in the Emergencies Act. Apparently, they heeded the prime minister’s warning that the “state of emergency is not over.” This vote occurred even though police reopened border points to the U.S., thus ending the demonstration in Ottawa. Canada’s slide into despotism continues unabated.

By the way, the governor of New Mexico just rescinded the mask mandate the citizens have been under. She never stipulated, “The state of emergency is over.”

Rube Render is a former Clovis city commissioner and former chair of the Curry County Republican Party. Contact him:

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