BRUSSELS, Belgium (LifeSiteNews) — A Dutch Member of the European Parliament has insisted that laws ensure a digital euro does not lead to Canada’s “social credit system.”
During an April 19 debate in Brussels, Dutch MEP Marcel de Graaff argued that introducing the digital euro must not infringe on citizens’ freedoms or lead to the freezing of bank accounts, as was done in Canada during the 2022 Freedom Convoy.
In Brussels, Dutch MEP @MJRLdeGraaff recently compared PM @JustinTrudeau‘s decision to freeze bank accounts of Freedom Convoy protesters critical of his government last year to a China-style “social credit system.”
What happened to the reputation of this once great country? pic.twitter.com/7t7162h57V
— Cosmin Dzsurdzsa 🇷🇴 (@cosminDZS) May 9, 2023
“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,” de Graaff said.
“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,” he added, referring the Trudeau government’s decision to freeze the bank accounts of Canadians who supported the 2022 Freedom Convoy.
“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,” de Graaff continued. “This must be laid down in law.”
While digital currency has been considered a possibility for some time, both Canada and Europe are now moving to make electronic money a reality.
In March, the E.U. proposed new regulations to force the acceptance of centralized digital euro. However, exactly how the system will work is still unknown.
Additionally, 20 out of 27 E.U. member states have adopted the digital euro, giving it the same value as cash. This decision may force businesses to accept a future European Central Bank (ECB) digital currency.
Similarly, the Bank of Canada, Canada’s central banking organization, has moved forward in implementing digital currency, asking for public feedback on creation of “digital dollar” in a survey this month. It is already aware that some people will not be able to participate in a cashless society.
“People tend to use cash less often these days: Most payments are already digital, such as using debit or credit cards. If this trend continues, there may come a time when cash is not widely accepted in day-to-day transactions, which could exclude many Canadians from the economy,” the Bank said.
According to Senior Deputy Governor Carolyn Rogers, the Bank of Canada is “ready for whatever the future holds,” and that is why it wants to “hear from Canadians about what they value most in the design of a digital dollar.”
The son of pastor Artur Pawlowski could be facing massive fines and jail time after he preached Bible verses outside a drag queen story time held at a public library over the weekend.
Nathaniel Pawlowski was detained and ticketed on Saturday by Calgary Police Service (CPS) because he was preaching too “close” to the drag event, in an apparent violation of a new and oppressive bylaw.
SIGN: Nathaniel Pawlowski MUST NOT be fined or jailed for protecting kids from Drag Queens
Pawlowski said that he was outside the event to “preach, read the Bible and just speak.”
Video of the incident shows Pawlowski along with his friend Deklan Friesen speaking to a crowd outside the library.
Calgary City Council last month passed a new “Safe and Inclusive Access Bylaw” that disallows “specified protests” both inside and outside all city-owned and affiliated public buildings. Mayor Jyoti Gondek put her full support behind the buffer zone bylaw.
Please tell Mayor Gondek that the bylaw violating Charter freedoms is both unjust and absurd
The bylaw means pastors or concerned parents protesting pro-LGBT events at public buildings are barred from getting within 100 meters of any such location.
Top constitutional lawyer John Carpay recently blasted Calgary City Council for going to “war” against Canadians’ freedoms by using bylaws to target people’s ability to protest events at public facilities, including drag queen performance directed at children.
In an opinion piece published on March 17 in the Western Standard, Carpay said “freedom of expression is meaningless if citizens are only allowed to say what’s approved by the government, or if expression is banished from public spaces.”
Pawlowski noted that his ticket has no penalty listed yet, as police must “review the evidence on me and that they will be stopping by my home to issue charges.”
His ticket does have a mandatory court appearance date. Each charge under Calgary’s bylaw carries a maximum fine of up to $10,000 and up to a year in jail.
SIGN: Nathaniel Pawlowski MUST NOT be fined or jailed for protecting kids from Drag Queens
Pawlowski had asked the police officers if they would also be enforcing “the same law on to the other side with the Antifa protesters”, but nobody was served a ticket except for he and Friesen.
In June 2022, Calgary City Council, under its left-leaning Mayor Jyoti Gondek, amended the city’s bylaws to “specifically prohibit insulting or demeaning behavior, including unwanted sexual advances, or harassing anyone on the basis of age, race, sexual orientation, disability, gender, gender identity or gender expression, among others.”
In February, Gondek vowed to use the bylaw to go after drag queen story hour protesters after some of the events were postponed by pro-family objectors.
In early March, fulfilling her promise, Calgary City Council then passed the bylaw that banned protesting against drag queen story hours or any other “LGBTQ” events held at public facilities.
SIGN: Nathaniel Pawlowski MUST NOT be fined or jailed for protecting kids from Drag Queens
Carpay noted that while there are limits to free speech, “Canadians have every right to express their views in public places, regardless of the content of the expression.”
He also wrote how a 1992 Supreme Court of Canada decision in R. v. Zundel “explained all communications which convey or attempt to convey meaning are protected by the Charter [of Rights and Freedoms], unless the physical form by which the communication is made (for example, a violent act) excludes protection.”
“The purpose of the Charter’s free expression guarantee is to promote truth, self-fulfillment, and political and social participation. That purpose extends to the protection of minority beliefs which the majority regards as wrong or false,” wrote Carpay.
According to Carpay, Gondek seems to “believe it is wrong or false to oppose drag queen story readings in public libraries.”
“She is entitled to express her views, but not to impose her views on others by effectively banning peaceful public protests through a so-called ‘Safe and Inclusive Access’ bylaw,” noted Carpay.
There exists a “freedom of expression” which includes the “right” to choose “high-visibility locations to hold up signs or banners, sing or chant, hand out literature, gather signatures on a petition, and have a speaker get up on her soapbox,” continued the lawyer.
“Protests are often held at the locations where injustices (or perceived injustices) are actually occurring,” he added.
Christian pastor Derek Reimer was jailed and charged in early March for protesting a children’s drag queen story hour at a public library in Calgary.
Carpay wrote that the city council’s use of “coercive power to relegate peaceful protesters to obscure locations where they cannot be seen or heard,” amounts to “crushing a fundamental Charter freedom on which our democracy depends.”
“The point of protests is to be seen and heard,” wrote Carpay.
Carpay noted that being forced to stand 100 meters away from high-visibility and high-traffic areas “reduces freedom of expression to near irrelevance.”
“Protecting entrances from obstruction is already taken care of by the Criminal Code, and does not require a bylaw that imposes up to $10,000 in fines and up to a year in jail for peacefully protesting less than the length of four swimming pools away from an entrance,” charged Carpay.
According to Carpay, the Charter’s protection for free speech applies to those at the receiving end of a person speaking out.
“Potential listeners who have the right to hear diverse points of view, and to decide for themselves what is true and false rather than having Mayor Gondek decide on their behalf,” said Carpay.
“Calgary’s ‘Safe and Inclusive Access’ bylaw violates the rights of all Calgarians, speakers and listeners, and attacks diversity of thought and belief.”
Carpay noted that “repressive regimes always take great pains to ensure their subjects are kept ‘safe’ from ideas which the regime believes to be wrong or false.”
“In the past – and still today – those living in communist North Korea, national socialist Germany, theocratic Iran, Putin’s Russia, communist China and many other places have been kept very safe from ideas that the regime dislikes,” wrote Carpay.
Carpay noted that in a “free society,” there is no way everyone can be “safe” from hearing one’s opposing views.
“The ‘safety’ which woke activists on Calgary City Council are promising is attractive to those who support children being exposed to drag queens at public libraries,” wrote Carpay.
“But beware of the erosion of freedom, because the demons of censorship cannot be controlled after their release.”
In addition to Carpay, the Canadian Constitution Foundation (CCF) has also objected to the new bylaw, and has vowed to commence a legal challenge against the “unconstitutional” policy.
SIGN: Nathaniel Pawlowski MUST NOT be fined or jailed for protecting kids from Drag Queens
MORE INFORMATION:
Pastor Artur Pawlowski’s son detained in Calgary for preaching against drag show – LifeSiteNews
Canadian constitutional lawyer rips Calgary law banning drag queen story hour protests – LifeSiteNews
“This will help us make design choices and ensure that it is secure, reliable and meets the needs of Canadians,” she added.
Last week, LifeSiteNews reported that from 2024 the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) will no longer allow citizens to pay tax debts over $10,000 by check, and will mandate payment via electronic means under a new rule that is part of a federal omnibus budget bill likely to become law soon.
While Canadian banks thus far have not been hit with collapse like some banks in the United States in recent months, experts have warned that a financial crisis could spell the acceleration of the introduction of central bank digital currencies.
As noted in recent report from LifeSiteNews, some also believe that central bank digital currencies are a “control tool” by the government.
READ: Canadian trucker facing criminal charges from Freedom Convoy remains ‘confident,’ puts trust in God
De Graaff’s label of Canada’s economic policies as a “social credit system” is not unreasonable, as Canadians witnessed the dangers of an overreach of government power during the 2022 Freedom Convoy when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act, giving federal government the ability to freeze the funds of those suspected of being involved in the protest.
During this time, many Canadians who donated to the Convoy had their bank accounts frozen and were unable to buy necessities, including groceries.
Trudeau’s use of the Emergencies Act was met with widespread disapproval by many public figures and institutions. Immediately after the act was invoked, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) condemned Trudeau for granting himself emergency powers, and shortly thereafter announced they would be taking legal action against the federal government.
In March, LifeSiteNews highlighted a new report revealing that some of the Freedom Convoy supporters who were placed on a federal banking blacklist had their information shared with foreign banks, including some in China, via email with the full blessing of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.