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Comment by rayiner | Hacker News Reader

> Their stated demands are the dissolution of the current democratically elected government

“Dissolution of the government” has innocuous meaning in a parliamentary system, where “the government” refers to the executive authority of the current party or coalition in power in parliament: https://sencanada.ca/en/sencaplus/how-why/what-is-dissolutio.... It’s about as dramatic as a recall election in certain American states. Maybe even less so because dissolution of the government technically happens after every Parliamentary election

You’re deliberately using unfamiliarity with the term to suggest the truckers are calling for overthrow of the governing institutions of the country—what Americans mean when they refer to “the government.”

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I am not deliberately using unfamiliarity with the term to suggest the truckers are calling for overthrow of the governing institutions of the country - they are in fact calling for exactly that, they published an MOU that didn't call for the government to resign but rather called for the Governor General and the Senate to declare the parliament illegitimate.

I was being overly generous in my language by implying that they were just calling for the government to voluntarily resign when in fact they are asking for a non-constitutional coup. I was trying to err on the side of being too fair to their position.

I’ve had family members killed in an attempted coup. Coups involve people with guns. Asking existing government institutions to draw on their reserve powers is not a “coup.”

Both the Canadian Senate and the Governor General are, in principle, there to be a check on the House of Commons. Even if asking them to override the actions of the Trudeau government in this context isn’t legally viable, that doesn’t make it an attempt to “overthrow” the government.

In the US, our Supreme Court exercises sweeping powers to strike down acts of Congress based on perceived individual rights. That’s not an “overthrow” of the government.

I am sorry for your loss and I hope that you and your family received justice and resolution in the end.

I did not call this a coup and I respectfully do not regard the requests outlined as "drawing on reserve powers" in the regular Canadian constitutional order. The appointment of citizens committees to govern would clearly be an illegal act.

I am trying to engage in good faith to the best of my ability on this topic, that's all I can do.

You’re not engaging in good faith. You used the word “coup” in your post above to try and paint non-violent protesters seeking redress from their government as being akin to third world insurgents.

That seems to be the comparison you want to make, not me. Remember, I started with dissolution!

Yes, and then you used the word “coup.”

> I was being overly generous in my language by implying that they were just calling for the government to voluntarily resign when in fact they are asking for a non-constitutional coup.

People use words to invoke the associated connotations. When people accuse truckers of asking for a coup, they are deliberately drawing a comparison to this: https://www-gannett--cdn-com.cdn.ampproject.org/i/s/www.gann.... It’s an attempt to demonize and dehumanize political opposition. By drawing a comparison to armed insurgents, the point is to justify disproportionate government responses. This tactic is common in Bangladesh for that purpose. Sad to see it happening in North America.

You should read and listen to the statements of the leadership of the protest, they have in many instances called for a coup, they largely haven't threatened to do it themselves but they have called for it believing that the military will "side with them".

And again, I am being as generous as I can be, here is a supercut of Pat King again and again saying there needs to be violence to reach his political ends.

https://twitter.com/Peterlad21/status/1489600404681756672?t=...

It is what it is.

> Coups involve people with guns

So you've never heard the term "Bloodless Coup" ?

That’s when the people with the guns don’t have to actually shoot anyone: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Bangladesh_coup_d%27%C3%A...

Petitioning the existing organs of government, even with a shoddy legal theory, isn’t a coup, bloodless or otherwise.

Petitioning them loudly, by disruptive behaviour, to use extraordinary or theoretical powers to attempt to overturn democracy, kinda starts to look that way though. Much like the (pathetic, but still present) coup attempt in the US last year.

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