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‘Not Over’: Trudeau Won’t Relinquish Emergency Powers Despite Disbanded Convoy

   DailyWire.com
Justin Trudeau, Canada's prime minister, listens during a news conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, on Friday, Feb. 11, 2022. Trudeau warned that demonstrators will face "real consequences" if they continue blockades in Ottawa and at the U.S. border, while using more conciliatory language in an attempt to help defuse the situation. Photographer: David Kawai/Bloomberg via Getty Images
David Kawai/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is not quite ready to loosen his grip on the emergency powers his government invoked to shut down the recent trucker protests that brought Ottawa to a standstill.

Trudeau said in a public statement that even though the protests had been disbanded and the truckers had been either arrested and detained or sent home — some with their financial accounts frozen as well — the state of emergency was not yet over.

WATCH:

“As I said, the Emergencies Act is not something to undertake lightly, and it’s something that needs to be momentary, temporary, and proportional. That’s why every single day, I am receiving briefings and we are reflecting on how much longer the Emergencies Act needs to be in place,” Trudeau explained. “We don’t want to keep it in place a single day longer than necessary.”

“But even though the blockades are lifted across border openings right now, even though things seem to be resolving very well in Ottawa, this state of emergency is not over,” Trudeau continued. “There continue to be real concerns about the coming days, but we will continue to evaluate every single day whether or not it is time and we are able to lift this state of emergency.”

Trudeau’s government invoked the Emergencies Act after truckers, protesting COVID-19 vaccine mandates and quarantine requirements, formed a convoy blockading much of Ottawa and border crossings for several weeks.

Under that state of emergency, Canadian officials arrested and detained protesters, froze financial accounts belonging to those involved, and even threatened to take physical custody of pets that were left uncared for if their owners were detained.

As The Daily Wire reported:

The Canadian government is issuing warnings to anyone involved in the massive anti-mandate protests, saying that in addition to freezing bank accounts and towing their trucks, they can confiscate pets as well.

A tweet from the official account for Ottawa’s by-law and regulatory services read, “Attention animal owners at demonstration: If you are unable to care for your animal as a result of enforcement actions, your animal will placed into protective care for 8 days, at your cost. After 8 days, if arrangements are not made, your animal will be considered relinquished.”

According to tweet, the law applied to animals that were left without anyone to care for them due to any law enforcement action resulting from their owners’ participation in the protests — and that could open the door for the government to remove pets from homes where they would have been well cared for if it were not for the government’s response to the protests.

Critics called Trudeau’s response to the truckers an overreach, with some even comparing him to Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. Some, referencing Trudeau’s history of blackface, caused #BlackfaceHitler to trend on Twitter over the weekend.

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