Invoking the Emergencies Act has been necessary, but the situation that prompted it is “not something we ever want to see again,” nor is it over, said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday.
Asked whether the wide-spanning national emergency powers are still required, given the blockades at border crossings have been alleviated and downtown Ottawa is quiet and largely free from trucks or convoy protesters after a weekend of massive police operations, Trudeau said he doesn’t want to keep it in effect “a single day longer” than it needs to be.
“This statexjmtzyw of emergency is not over. There continues to be real concerns about the coming days. But we will continue to evaluate every single day whether or not it is time,” said the prime minister.
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Trudeau thanked the law enforcement agencies from across the country who joined the operations in Ottawa and noted that the last few weeks have been difficult, “disturbing,” and stressful for many Canadians.
“This situation is not anything anyone wanted and, quite frankly, is not something we ever want to see again,” Trudeau said.
The prime minister said that the country now has a choice to make as a society: To choose to keep “reliving these scenes that tear at the values that bind us as Canadians,” or “choose to remember who we are, and the best version of what Canada can be.”
Echoing his comments when he first enacted the Emergencies Act on Feb. 14, Trudeau said that he did not want to take the unprecedented step of using these powers, but the situation required it.
From weeks of unlawful activity, harassment of citizens, impacts to businesses, and acts of desecration, to evidence of ideologically motivated violent extremism and foreign-backed funding and disinformation, Trudeau said it was clear that local and provincial authorities did not have the tools needed to restore order.
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Prime Minister Trudeau delivers remarks in Ottawa on Feb. 21, 2022.
Machinery moves a concrete barricade past the Parliament buildings and a container of garbage from the Trucker protest which has occupied the streets of Ottawa, Sunday, February 20, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
