Trudeau invokes emergency powers to quell protests

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP):

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he has invoked emergency powers to try to quell the protests by truck drivers and others who have paralysed Ottawa and blocked border crossings in anger over the country’s COVID-19 restrictions.

Trudeau ruled out using the military and said Monday that the emergency measures “will be time-limited, geographically targeted, as well as reasonable and proportionate to the threats they are meant to address”.

For the past two weeks, hundreds and sometimes thousands of protesters in trucks and other vehicles have clogged the streets of Ottawa, the capital, railing against vaccine mandates and other virus precautions and condemning Trudeau’s Liberal government.

Members of the self-styled Freedom Convoy have also blockaded various US-Canadian border crossings, though the busiest and most important – the Ambassador Bridge connecting Windsor, Ontario, to Detroit – was reopened over the weekend.

In recent days, Trudeau rejected calls to use the military but otherwise said “all options are on the table” to end the protests, including invoking the Emergencies Act, which gives the government broad powers to restore order.

The government official who confirmed Trudeau’s plans gave no immediate details on precisely how the prime minister intends to use his emergency authority. The official was not authorised to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

For more than two weeks, hundreds and sometimes thousands of protesters in trucks and other vehicles have clogged the streets of Ottawa, the capital, and besieged Parliament Hill, railing against vaccine mandates for truckers and other COVID-19 precautions and condemning Trudeau’s Liberal government.

Members of the self-styled Freedom Convoy have also blockaded various U.S.-Canadian border crossings, though the busiest and most important – the Ambassador Bridge connecting Windsor, Ontario, to Detroit – was reopened on Sunday after police arrested dozens of demonstrators and broke the nearly week-long siege that had disrupted auto production in both countries.

“This is the biggest, greatest, most severe test Trudeau has faced,” said Wesley Wark, a University of Ottawa professor and national security expert.

Invoking the Emergencies Act will allow the federal government to declare the Ottawa protest illegal and clear it out by such means as towing vehicles, Wark said. It will also enable the government to make greater use of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the federal police agency.

One of the protest organisers in Ottawa vowed not to back down in the face of pressure from the government.

“There are no threats that will frighten us. We will hold the line,” Tamara Lich said, though several truckers did agree to move their rigs out of a residential area and consolidate them on Parliament Hill to avoid disturbing people living in the neighborhood.

Cadalin Valcea, a truck driver from Montreal protesting for more than two weeks, said he will move only if forced: “We want only one thing: to finish with this lockdown and these restrictions.”