Trudeau says emergency powers needed to disperse convoy blockades - Al Jazeera English

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has defended his decision to invoke emergency powers to disperse anti-vaccine protesters who blocked Canadian border crossings with the United States and occupied the capital earlier this year.

The head of Canada’s spy agency, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, told the commission that he backed the use of the Emergencies Act and advised Trudeau to invoke it, Canadian media reported this week.

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland also testified on Thursday that the Canadian government was concerned about the economic effects of the convoy movement.

She said US President Joe Biden’s economic adviser requested a call with her just days before the Emergencies Act was invoked to talk about the US-Canada border blockades, Canadian media reported.

But the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, which has raised concerns since the emergency measure was first invoked, said on Thursday that “‘economic harm’ is not grounds for the invocation of the Emergencies Act”.