Trudeau makes history, invokes Emergencies Act to deal with trucker protests

For the first time in Canadian history, the federal government is enacting the Emergencies Act to deal with the ongoing trucker convoy protests and blockades.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the major announcement on Monday alongside several key ministers including Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, Justice Minister and Attorney General David Lametti, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino, and Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair.

The invocation of the act will be a “measured” application that is “proportional” to the crisis, sources have told CTV News. The coming unprecedented powers will be time-limited, focused in terms of geography to specific places of concern, and will be rolled out to prop up outstanding authorities who still have a responsibility to act and enforce the law, the sources said

Moving ahead with the Emergencies Act comes after Trudeau consulted premiers and the Liberal caucus on Monday morning and spent part of his weekend in high-level federal meetings about next steps.

Provincial leaders’ opinions are mixed on whether this extraordinary move is necessary to quell the demonstrations that are now stretching into their third week in the nation’s capital and impacting key Canada-U.S. border crossings.