The Prime Minister of Canada decided on Monday to declare a state of emergency across the country in a bid to quell protests against restrictions on the fight against the Covit-19 epidemic that has paralyzed the capital, Ottawa. Justin Trudeau almost met with the heads of state of Canada to discuss the issue in the morning before announcing the outcome of the public intervention at 4:30 pm local time (9:30 pm in Lisbon).
After the meeting, a senior official told the AP, anonymously, that Trudeau had decided to implement emergency powers across the country.
For more than two weeks, hundreds and sometimes thousands of protesters have been trapped in trucks and other vehicles on the streets of Ottawa. They challenged truck drivers to compulsory vaccinations and other measures to combat the epidemic approved by Trudeau’s liberal government.
The so-called “Freedom Conway” blocked many border crossings between Canada and the United States, but the most important and exciting – the Ambassador Bridge connecting Windsor, Ontario with the North American city of Detroit – was reopened. On Sunday, after police intervention, the last protesters were arrested and the siege ended almost a week later, halting the auto industry due to a lack of spare parts in both countries.
Despite the end of the siege on this border axis, the crisis in Canada continued on Monday, prompting Ontario to announce the abandonment of the vaccine certification requirement and for Trudeau to consider enacting legislation on emergency measures. This arrangement can be implemented in the event of a “national crisis” and gives the federal government more power to end it by authorizing “temporary extraordinary measures”.
Under pressure, the Canadian prime minister announced on Friday that “all options are on the table” to end the “illegal” occupation. Justin Trudeau’s father, during the October 1970 crisis, the emergency law was used only once during peacetime. At the time it was called the “War Act of Act”.
The government of Pierre Elliott Trudeau called on him to send troops to Quebec and take a series of emergency measures, following the abduction of James Richard Gross, a British trade associate in the Quebec Liberation Front, and Quebec Minister Pierre Laport. Cross was released after negotiations, but the minister was found dead in the trunk of a police car.
“There are really some limits to what the government can do.”
“With this law, the government can demand goods, services, people. The government can tell people where to go and where not to go. There are really some limits to what the government can do,” explained Genevieve Delier, a professor of political studies at the University of Ottawa.
Today, Canadian police seized weapons and ammunition and detained 11 people at the siege of the Gauteng border in Alberta (west), a crossroads for the United States, which has been paralyzed for a week. Officers confiscated 13 guns, several bulletproof vests and a large quantity of ammunition.
The government of the Canadian province of Ontario announced this Monday, March 1, the abolition of the obligation to prove the vaccine against Kovit-19, justifying it as already “safe” and refusing to submit to ongoing struggles.
On March 1, Ontario Prime Minister Doug Ford said the province would drop the requirement to show proof of vaccination to enter restaurants, gyms and sports events. “Let me be very clear: we’re going in this direction because it’s safe to do so. Today’s announcement is not about what’s happening in Ottawa or Windsor,” Ford said.
Canada’s most populous province will raise the capacity limit for restaurants by 50% from Thursday, four days before the schedule.
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