Trudeau ends emergency powers used against trucker convoys

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday ended the emergency police powers he had invoked to stop the three-weeks long trucker protest that shut down parts of the U.S.-Canadian border.

Trudeau declared the situation no longer an emergency, saying he believed the powers of the legislature and police are sufficient to deal with the protests without the act.

The act allowed police to implement no-go zones and freeze the bank accounts of private citizens. 

The Canadian government on Tuesday began lifting a freeze on more than 200 bank accounts and a combined $8 million linked to recent protests around the country.

“The situation is no longer an emergency, therefore the federal government will be ending the use of the emergencies act,” Trudeau said. 

The emergencies act was implemented last week amid truckers occupying downtown Ottawa and several ports of entry between the U.S. and Canada. 

Although lawmakers approved of Trudeau implementing the act on Monday, some criticized the move by the prime minister.

The director of the criminal justice program at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association told Hill.TV that Trudeau’s implementation of the act was an overreach of his power. 

The convoys began as a protest against COVID-19 measures implemented in Canada such as vaccine mandates that required them to cross the border to make deliveries to the U.S.

The potential for such a convoy appears in the works for Washington, D.C., ahead of President Biden’s State of the Union address next week.