The Canadian truckers’ “freedom convoy” to Ottawa has the markings of another protest at a nation’s capital. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau labelled the convoy a “small fringe minority of people … holding unacceptable views [that] do not represent the views of Canadians.” For the most part, he remained quiet as the convoy travelled across the country, and was moved to a safety, undisclosed location as the protesters arrived in Ottawa.
Currently making headlines is Justin Trudeau’s hard and dictatorship stance on the truck drivers refusing the Covid jab mandate. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took the rare step of declaring a national public order emergency on Monday in a push to end protests that have paralyzed the center of the Canadian capital for more than two weeks and reverberated across the country.
Mr. Trudeau and several of his cabinet ministers said the move would allow the government to take a variety of steps, including freezing bank accounts of protesters, to clear the blockade of about 400 trucks in Ottawa and smaller protests that have closed border points in Alberta and Manitoba.
These actions by the Canadian Prime Minister have garnered wide criticism all over the world, as Trudeau takes a tyranny stance on the situation. Many say the invocation of the Emergencies Act confers enormous, if temporary, power on the federal government.
It allows the authorities to move aggressively to restore public order, including banning public assembly and restricting travel to and from specific areas. But Mr. Trudeau and members of his cabinet offered repeated assurance that the act would not be used to suspend fundamental rights. It has been half a century since emergency powers were last invoked in Canada.
Mr. Trudeau’s father, Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, imposed them during a terrorism crisis in Quebec. Monday was the first time that the 1988 Emergencies Act has been used. On Monday, Mr. Trudeau said he would not use his authority under the declaration, which will last for 30 days, to bring in the military, reiterating his previous position against intervention by the armed forces. But Canada’s justice minister, David Lametti, outlined a wide array of special powers now at the government’s disposal.