OTTAWA – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau defended Thursday his use of emergency powers to try to dislodge a trucker-led occupation of the capital in opposition to Covid-19 health rules, saying it was not “peaceful”.
“Illegal blockades and occupations are not peaceful protests,” Trudeau told the House of Commons, adding: “They have to stop.”
The prime minister on Monday invoked emergency powers to end border blockades and remove truckers clogging the streets of Ottawa.
The measures had only been used once before, in 1970 by his father Pierre Trudeau, after militant Quebec separatists kidnapped a Quebec lawmaker and a British trade attache and set off bombs in Montreal.
“The goal of all measures including financial measures in the emergencies act is to deal with the current threat and to get the situation fully under control,” Trudeau said.
“The blockades and occupations are illegal,” he said.
“They’re a threat to our economy and relationship with trading partners. They’re a threat to supply chains and the availability of essential goods like food and medicine.”
In response to critics, he added, “We’re not using the emergencies act to call in the military. We’re not limiting people’s freedom of expression. We’re not limiting freedom of peaceful assembly.”
In a letter addressed to leaders of Canada’s provinces, Trudeau decried the protests as “a threat to our democracy” and to the country’s reputation abroad.
The so-called “Freedom Convoy” started with truckers protesting against mandatory Covid-19 vaccines to cross the US border, but its demands have since grown to include an end to all pandemic health rules and, for many, a wider anti-establishment agenda. – AFP, February 18, 2022
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