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With the unusual step, Justin Trudeau’s government is primarily targeting the financing of the Corona protesters.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau puts special powers in place in the face of the trucker protests that have been going on for weeks. Trudeau announced that he was using the emergency law, including cutting funding, to end the protests. With the step, civil rights can be temporarily overridden.
“Finally, the federal government is taking matters into its own hands, quite a few Canadians will say,” says SRF foreign editor and Canada expert Andrea Christen. After almost three weeks of protests, the Ottawa and Ontario regional authorities could not get the situation under control.
Damage to Canada’s economy
“The blockades damage our economy and endanger public safety,” Trudeau justified the step. “We cannot and will not allow illegal and dangerous activities to continue.” The measures would be “locally limited and only take effect where they are needed”. They are also limited in time.
Treasury Secretary Chrystia Freeland said all crowdfunding programs and the payment providers they use must now register with Canada’s anti-money laundering agency Fintrac and report suspicious activity.
They are making these changes because these platforms are being used to support illegal blockades and illegal activities. “These are hurting the Canadian economy.”
Financing of the protests in sight
Accounts of people suspected of supporting the Freedom Convoy protests could also be temporarily frozen without a court order, Freeland said. In addition, the insurance of the trucks involved in the blockades will be suspended.
Canadian authorities estimate that around half of the funding for the protests came from US supporters.
The 1988 Emergency Law allows the government to override provinces and authorize temporary special measures to ensure national security in the event of national emergencies. Now, for the first time, Trudeau applies this law. It also allows the government to break up the blockades by the police.
Trudeau is also taking a risk
The application of the emergency law announced by Trudeau still has to be confirmed in parliament next week, where the Prime Minister’s Liberal Party does not have a majority. “It will show how great the resistance from the right is,” says Christen.
Legend:
The blocked Ambassador Bridge between the US and Canada was cleared over the weekend without the use of force.
key stone
Trudeau is taking a political risk with this step: “Trudeau is now making the crisis his crisis – while he had previously left the scepter to the provinces and the city of Ottawa, who, however, found no remedy for the protests,” Christians continued. The prime minister will have to be judged by how successful his fight against the blockades will be.
Fundamental protest against Trudeau’s politics
The demonstrations, sparked weeks ago by the government’s corona measures and vaccination regulations, are now directed against Trudeau’s policies in general, from pandemic restrictions to the carbon tax.
Among other things, the most important trade bridge between Canada and the USA, the Ambassador Bridge, was blocked as part of the protests. Canadian police cleared the blockade on Sunday. Ottawa city center, on the other hand, has been blocked for about three weeks.