Canadian police lose extra powers as blockades end

CANADIAN PRIME minister Justin Trudeau announced he is removing emergency powers police can use after authorities ended the blockades at the borders and the occupation in Ottawa by hauliers and others opposed to Covid-19 restrictions.

Mr Trudeau, inset, said the “threat continues” but the acute emergency that included entrenched occupations has ended.

His government invoked the powers last week and politicians affirmed the powers late Monday.

“The situation is no longer an emergency, therefore the federal government will be ending the use of the emergencies act,” Mr Trudeau said. “We are confident that existing laws and bylaws are sufficient.”

The emergencies act allows authorities to declare certain areas as no-go zones. It also allows police to freeze hauliers’ personal and corporate bank accounts and compel tow truck companies to haul away vehicles.

The haulier protest grew until it closed a handful of Canada-US border posts and shut down key parts of the capital for more than three weeks.

But all border blockades have now ended and the streets around the Canadian Parliament are quiet. “We were very clear that the use of the emergencies act would be limited in time,” Mr Trudeau said.

Mr Trudeau had warned earlier this week there were some hauliers just outside Ottawa who might be planning further blockades or occupations. His public safety minister also said there was an attempt to block a border crossing in British Columbia over the weekend.

The protests were first aimed at a Covid-19 vaccine mandate for cross-border hauliers but also encompassed fury over Covid-19 restrictions and hatred of Mr Trudeau.

The self-styled Freedom Convoy shook Canada’s reputation for civility, inspired convoys in France, New Zealand and the Netherlands and interrupted trade, causing economic damage on both sides of the border.

Hundreds of trucks eventually occupied the streets around Parliament, a display that was part protest and part carnival.

For almost a week the busiest US-Canada border crossing, the Ambassador Bridge between Windsor, Ontario and Detroit, was blocked.

The crossing sees more than 25 per cent of the trade between the two countries.