Ontario, February 13: The federal government is prepared to invoke the Emergencies Act to see the trucker convoy protests and blockades end, says Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair, calling it a “critical situation,” while also saying that police need to “do their job.”
“We have an emergency act that I will tell you, there has been a near-constant and vigorous examination of those authorities and what’s required,” Blair said.
But first, the government says it is working with the provinces, particularly Ontario, given the ongoing crisis in the nation’s capital, to ensure that level of government has exhausted its options.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford declared a state of emergency in the province on Friday, invoking new emergency measures to levy stiffer fines and penalties on protesters, including a maximum penalty of $100,000 and up to a year imprisonment for non-compliance.
“When circumstances exceed the capacity of the provinces to manage it under their authorities, we’re quite prepared to use additional authorities that are available to the federal government,” said Blair, adding that the federal government is in “constant contact” with Ontario.
“We are prepared to use every tool available to us, including emergency powers and to make sure that we bring every resource of the federal government to bare. This is a critical situation for the country,” Blair said.
“The closing of our borders, the targeting on critical infrastructure, particularly our points of entry by the people behind these protests, is a significant national security threat to this country, and we have to do what is necessary to end it.”
The current iteration of the Emergencies Act passed in 1988 and has never been used. The last time these federal emergency powers were invoked was during the 1970 FLQ October Crisis, when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s father was the prime minister.
The Act allows for actions to combat urgent and critical but temporary situations that seriously threaten some aspect of Canadians’ lives, and that cannot be effectively dealt with under any other law of Canada.
Should the federal government go this route, in addition to consulting premiers, an explanation of the reasoning for declaring an emergency has to be presented within seven days to both the House and Senate.
This prospect of enacting federal emergency powers comes after weeks of calls from all levels of government to have the convoy protesters end their demonstrations, warning as Trudeau did on Friday, that the consequences for breaking the law “will be increasingly severe.”
However, these words have so far not appeared to faze most protesters, with this weekend’s demonstrations in Ottawa bringing thousands of emboldened participants into the downtown core carrying on in the face of minimal police enforcement of the layers of laws, injunctions, and emergency orders already in effect.
While police appear to have made gains at the Ambassador Bridge blockade in Windsor, Ont. on Sunday morning, there are continuing police efforts to remove trucker convoy blockades at other major border crossings, including in Coutts, Alta., and Emerson, Man.
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