The anti-sanitary measures protest in Canada, which has been going on for almost three weeks, is no longer “peaceful”, said the Canadian Prime Minister. Justin Trudeau spoke in the House of Commons on the implementation of the Emergencies Act this Thursday.
“Illegal blockades and occupations are not peaceful protests,” he said, adding that it was time to “restore confidence in (the) institutions.” On Monday, in response to this national crisis, the Prime Minister invoked the use of the Emergencies Act for the second time in Canada’s peacetime history.
“Taking control”
This provision, which allows for the use of “extraordinary measures”, was last used during the 1970 crisis in Quebec when Pierre Elliott Trudeau, the father of the current Prime Minister, led Canada.
“The objective of all measures, including the financial measures provided for in the Emergencies Act, is to meet the current threat and bring the situation under full control,” added Justin Trudeau. “Blockades and occupations pose a threat to our economy and our relations with our trading partners,” he said.
“Threat to democracy”
In response to the opposition which reproaches him for invoking this law, he reiterated that “we do not use the law on emergency situations to call in the army. We do not limit people’s freedom of expression. We do not limit freedom of peaceful assembly,” he said.
In a letter addressed to the Premiers of the provinces on Wednesday evening, Justin Trudeau had considered that the movement “threatened democracy” and undermined “the reputation of Canada abroad”. Initially minimized by the authorities, the Canadian protest movement which began at the end of January started with truckers protesting once morest the obligation to be vaccinated to cross the border between Canada and the United States. But the demands have extended to a refusal of all health measures and, for many demonstrators, to a rejection of the government of Justin Trudeau.
