canadian prime minister justin trudeau on Friday he said he is convinced he “made the right decision” in invoking historic emergency powers earlier this year to shut down the Freedom Convoy protests against Canada’s COVID-19 mandates.
Trudeau defended his actions in testimony before a commission charged with investigating his use of the Emergencies Act to end the protest by truckers who paralyzed the capital of Canada Ottawa for weeks in January and February. The prime minister said he was left with no choice but to ask for emergency powers on February 1. 14 after he considered that a plan presented by the police was insufficient to end the week-long demonstration.
“It wasn’t that they just wanted to be heard. They wanted to be obeyed,” Trudeau said of the protesters. according to Reuters. “I am absolutely, absolutely serene and confident that I made the right decision in accepting the summoning.”
trudeau invoked the Emergency Law for the first time in Canadian history during the February Freedom Convoy protest in the capital city of Ottawa. In doing so, he gave the federal government temporary powers to crack down on truckers and others protesting COVID-19 vaccination mandates and other pandemic-related restrictions and freeze the bank accounts of those suspected of supporting the convoy.
The emergency powers were lifted on February 2. 23
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A Freedom Convoy protester holds a “Hold The Line” sign while dancing in Ottawa, Canada.
(Fox News Digital/Lisa Bennathan)
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau testifies before the Emergency Public Order Commission public inquiry on November 21. 25, 2022, in Ottawa. The Commission heard Trudeau speak in defense of little-used wartime measures, which were invoked to evict trucker-led protests in February 2022 after weeks of paralyzing Ottawa and disrupting commerce.
(DAVE CHAN/AFP via Getty Images)
Trudeau’s actions were highly controversial, and civil liberties advocates questioned whether the circumstances of the protest required their extreme response. Lawyers for the convoy and others said Trudeau had ignored a plan prepared by Ottawa police and argued that emergency powers were unnecessary to end the protest, according to Reuters.
As required by law, an independent inquiry has been formed to investigate the prime minister’s actions and submit a report to the canadian government detailing their findings. The report must be submitted before February 2. On February 20, 2023. Trudeau was the last witness to be called to testify.
During his testimony, the prime minister said the protests presented a serious threat of violence, and accused local police of coming up with a plan that was “not even in the most generous of characterizations a plan” to deal with blocked streets, reported Reuters. . .
Additional testimonies and documents obtained by the investigation revealed that US officials had pressured the Canadian government to end protests and remove blockades at US-Canada border crossings.
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White House economic adviser Brian Deese.
(REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque)
“They are very, very, very concerned,” Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland wrote in an email to her staff after a February 1 incident. 10 phone call with the director of the National Economic Council of the White House, Brian Deese, reported politician.
“If this is not fixed within the next 12 hours, all of their northeast auto plants will close,” Freeland added in his email.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg contacted Canadian Transport Minister Omar Alghabra the same day Deese spoke to Freeland, according to the report, and Buttigieg pushed for “a plan to resolve” the border blockades.
Alghabra told the commission that Buttigieg had initiated the “unusual” call.
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White House aides had also reportedly made contact with Trudeau’s staff, ahead of a February 1 event. 11 phone call that took place between the Prime Minister and President Biden.
In that call, Trudeau reportedly informed the president that his government had a plan to end the protests and blockades.
Fox News’ Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.
