Canada News: Trudeau Declares National Emergency, Expanding Measures to End Protests

  Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took the rare step of declaring a national public order emergency on Monday, ending the protests that have crippled the center of Canada's capital for more than two weeks and resonated across the country.

The global news is, the first time the Canadian government has taken such action in half a century, is Trudeau's most aggressive response since the crisis began. It would allow the federal government to expand measures to reopen obstructed border crossings and clear a blockade of nearly 400 trucks in the nation's capital, Ottawa, which is overwhelming police, disrupting traffic, local Undermining the economy, and troubling normally quiet residents. Faridabad.

 Here's what you need to know:

• Canadians are responsible for nearly half of the money raised online for truckloads, leaked data shows.
• Alberta police arrested 11 protesters and confiscated a cache of weapons near the border.
• An important moment for Canada as the government invokes the Emergencies Act.
• Ontario will no longer require people to show proof of vaccination to enter any indoor space.
• Auto production resumes once Ambassador Bridge is cleared.
• Meet some of the truck drivers who brought Ottawa to a standstill.
• The Barry Manilow music failed to dissuade anti-vaccine protesters in New Zealand.
• This is what the recent protests in the city of Ottawa look like.

Mr. Trudeau said the protests are illegally disrupting neighborhoods and harassing residents, while the blockades have damaged the economy. “This is not a peaceful protest.

"We will not allow illegal and dangerous activities to continue." He said invoking the act was a "last resort" and stressed that he was not limiting rights to peaceful assembly or freedom of expression.

"The time to go home is now," he said.

The Invoke of Emergencies Act confers enormous temporary powers on the federal government, which allows it to override civil rights, restore public order, for example, by banning public gatherings or prohibition from specific areas. Including restricting travel. But Mr. Trudeau repeatedly insisted that the act would not be used to suspend fundamental rights.

"We are not limiting people's freedom of expression," Trudeau said. “We are not limiting the freedom of peaceful assembly. We are not stopping people from exercising their right to protest legally."

While the Prime Minister and Cabinet can invoke the Act if Canada's security is considered to be at risk, the decision must be approved by Parliament within a week, if Canada's security is deemed to be at risk.

Protests have multiplied across the country, including a nearly week-long blockade of a bridge vital to the supply chains of the global automobile industry. The response of police and all levels of government to the crisis has been widely criticized as inadequate.

The Emergency Act has not been used since it was written in 1988. The government will now have seven days to bring it before parliament where it will face a vote of lawmakers and then senators who can vote to repeal it. The government consulted with provincial chiefs on Monday, as required by the Act, but several premiers expressed opposition to using it in their provinces.

In Ottawa over the weekend, Mayor Jim Watson negotiated a deal with protest organizers to move heavy trucks from residential areas of the city to Wellington Street just across from Parliament Hill. Online protest organizers said there was no "deal" and they would not leave until the government gave up all mandates.

Before Trudeau spoke on Monday, several large trucks, accompanied by police escorts, were driven from other roads into Wellington as the convoy was moving south of Parliament Hill. Watson said on Twitter that it could take several days to clear the truck from residential areas.

“Convoy leaders have begun to act on their commitment to move a number of trucks out of the residential district south of Wellington. This is a complex multi-day operation to support our residents."

Trudeau said the protests were ruining lives in Ottawa and causing serious economic damage across the country.

“Here in our capital, families, small businesses are illegally obstructing their neighborhoods, taking over the streets, harassing people and breaking the law. This is not a peaceful protest,” Trudeau said.

The Emergency Act was created in 1988 as a modern-day replacement for the War Measures Act. This allows the federal government to force companies to provide essential services, which in this case could mean tow-truck drivers who are reluctant to join the Ottawa protest.

The act may limit public protests, especially those who block roads. The Act also allows the military to be used as police, but Trudeau insisted that the military would not be called in and that the use of the Act would be limited.