OTTAWA
\nCanadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has invoked an emergency measure for the first time in the country\u2019s history to give his government more power to respond to ongoing anti-government trucker protests.
\nIn a news conference on Monday afternoon, Trudeau said he was invoking the Emergencies Act, which allows the federal government to take \u201cspecial temporary measures\u201d for a period of 30 days during national emergencies.
\n\u201cThe federal government has invoked the Emergencies Act to supplement provincial and territorial capacity to address the blockades and occupations,\u201d Trudeau told reporters.
\n\u201cI want to be very clear: the scope of these measures will be time-limited, geographically-targeted, as well as reasonable and proportionate to the threats they are meant to address. The Emergencies Act will be used to strengthen and support law enforcement agencies at all levels across the country.\u201d
\nThe Emergencies Act defines a national emergency as a situation that \u201cseriously 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\u201d or that \u201cseriously threatens the ability of the Government of Canada to preserve the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of Canada\u201d.
\nAnti-vaccine truckers and their supporters converged on the capital, Ottawa, late last month to demand Canada lift an order requiring truckers to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to cross the land border with the United States.
\nMembers of the so-called \u201cFreedom Convoy\u201d \u2013 organised by far-right activists \u2013 have continued to occupy the city, demanding an end to all coronavirus restrictions in Canada. Other similar protests have sprung up at key border crossings and disrupted major trade routes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
OTTAWA Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has invoked an emergency measure for the first time in the country\u2019s history to give his government more power to respond to ongoing anti-government trucker protests. In a news conference on Monday afternoon, Trudeau said he was invoking the Emergencies Act, which allows the federal government to take \u201cspecial […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-244685","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n