The federal government has enacted the Emergencies Act in response to the ongoing convoy protests and the border blockades. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the illegal blockades and protests have disrupted the lives of too many Canadians, affecting families and small businesses in Ottawa and affecting the country’s economy and supply chains at the border blockades.

He emphasizes that the Emergencies Act will strengthen the ability to impose fines or imprisonment, and adds that the government is not using the Emergencies Act to call in the military, and it will not override the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Canadians still have the right to express their frustrations with the pandemic and even their anger directed at the government. “It’s something we will always defend in this free and democratic country, but blockading streets and critical infrastructure and depriving your neighbours of their freedoms is a totally different thing.”

Deputy Minister Chrystia Freeland says, “If your truck is a part of these illegal blockades, your corporate accounts will be frozen. The insurance on your vehicle will be suspended. Send your semi-trailers home.”

Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre suggests there is an easier solution. He says all the federal government has to do is eliminate the mandates and restrictions to let the protesters go back to their jobs and their lives.

Not all the Premiers agree with the move. The Premiers of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Quebec have all said they don’t need it in their provinces. Premier Scott Moe posted on social media earlier today (Mon) that the illegal blockades must end, but adds that police already have sufficient tools to enforce the law and clear the blockades, as they did over the weekend in Windsor.

The Emergencies Act has never been used before.  It replaced the War Measures Act in the late 1980s, and would allow temporary measures which must comply with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, to protect national security, public order and public welfare.