Trudeau to Hand Unprecedented Emergency Powers to Crackdown on Freedom Convoys
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday (Feb. 14) has told his caucus he will invoke the never-before-used Emergencies Act to give the federal government extra powers to handle the anti-mandate protests across the country, according to sources.
The law gives the federal government carte blanche to cope with a crisis.
The legislation, which replaced the War Measures Act, defines a national emergency as a temporary “urgent and critical situation” that “seriously endangers the lives, health or safety of Canadians and is of such proportions or nature as to exceed the capacity or authority of a province to deal with it.”
Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair emphasized it was important to make sure that “the appropriate authorities that are with the provinces are fully utilized,” he said the federal government was “prepared to do everything necessary.”
US-Canada Bridge Reopens after Six-Day Blockade
The Ambassador bridge – a key $360MN/day trade route across the US-Canada border – has finally reopened after the Freedom Convoy protest was ended.
Police made 20-30 arrests and seized some protester vehicles on Sunday to help clear the bridge for traffic, having threatened “zero tolerance for illegal activity” on Twitter.
Lawmakers had considered special emergency powers, which have only been invoked once during peacetime – by PM Trudeau’s father Pierre in 1970.
