Video: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Feb. 14, 2022 declared a public order emergency to support provinces in ending the ongoing blockades caused by truck convoy protests. (Xinhua)
As the truck convoy organizers have secured millions of U.S. dollars from crowdfunding sites, the government will give banks the power to suspend or freeze accounts of blockade supporters without a court order, and urge crowdfunding platforms and cryptocurrencies to follow anti-money laundering and terrorist financing laws.
OTTAWA, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday declared a public order emergency to support provinces in ending the ongoing blockades caused by truck convoy protests.
Trudeau said at a press conference that he invoked the Emergencies Act for the first time in Canada's history to give the federal government extra and "temporary" powers to handle the issue, adding the move targets those areas in need, not the whole country.
"It is now clear that there are serious challenges to law enforcement's ability to effectively enforce the law," Trudeau said. "This is about keeping Canadians safe, protecting people's jobs and restoring confidence in our institutions."
The act will ensure that essential services, such as towing services to remove trucks, are rendered, said Trudeau.
Police block a street with a truck in front of the Ontario Legislative Building in Toronto, Canada, Feb. 11, 2022. (Photo by Zou Zheng/Xinhua)
It will also be used to protect critical infrastructure such as borders and airports from the blockades and the government will give the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) more power to arrest people gathering at illegal assemblies, and allow the RCMP to assist provincial and municipal police officers to enforce their own laws.
He dismissed the involvement of military forces. "We're not using the emergency act to call in the military," he said.
This came just three days after a state of emergency was declared by the provincial government in Ontario, where the turmoil caused by protesting truck drivers has had a huge impact on residents of Ottawa and on traffic at the Windsor, Ontario-Detroit, Michigan border.
As the truck convoy organizers have secured millions of U.S. dollars from crowdfunding sites, the government will give banks the power to suspend or freeze accounts of blockade supporters without a court order, and urge crowdfunding platforms and cryptocurrencies to follow anti-money laundering and terrorist financing laws.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said at the same press conference that companies with trucks involved in the illegal blockades will have their corporate bank accounts frozen, and their insurance suspended.
She stressed that crowdfunding platforms and payment service providers must report large and suspicious transactions to the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada, the national financial intelligence agency.
Mounted police officers are seen on duty on a closed street during an anti-mandate demonstration in Toronto, Canada, on Feb. 12, 2022. (Photo by Zou Zheng/Xinhua)
Canada's official opposition Conservatives in the House of Commons expressed reservations about the liberal government's invocation of the Emergencies Act, saying in a statement issued on Monday that they hoped the government could outline "a specific plan and timeline to end federal mandates and restrictions" during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Conservatives want to see a peaceful resolution to these blockades, and my concern is that the prime minister's actions are going to have the opposite effect," said the federal party's interim leader Candice Bergen.
The Emergencies Act, which replaced the War Measures Act in the 1980s, provides special powers to respond to emergency scenarios such as natural disasters and disease outbreaks, civil unrest, as well as international emergencies or war emergencies.
Under the law, the declaration of a public order emergency only lasts for 30 days unless renewed. ■
