Canadian “Emergencies Act” only used once outside wartime.
QUICK FACTS:
- Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will inform provincial premiers of his intention to invoke special measures to give the federal government extraordinary powers to deal with protests that have shut some border crossings with the United States and paralyzed parts of Canada’s capital, Reuters reports.
- The “Freedom Convoy” protests are so effective that, according to unnamed sources, Trudeau has planned to invoke the ‘Emergencies Act.’
- The act is a rarely used provision that allows the federal government to override the provinces and authorize special temporary measures to ensure security during national emergencies anywhere in the country, Reuters explains.
CANADA’S ‘EMERGENCIES ACT’ ONLY USED ONCE IN PEACETIME:
- The act has only been used once in peacetime.
- It was used by Trudeau’s father, former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau during the so-called “October Crisis” in 1970.
- But it was invoked twice during the two world wars, when it was known as the War Measures Act.
BACKGROUND:
- The CBC said Ottawa had no plans to send in the military.
- The “Freedom Convoy” protests were started by Canadian truckers opposing the country’s vaccinate-or-quarantine mandate for cross-border drivers.
- The protests have turned into a rallying point for people opposing the policies of Trudeau’s government, covering everything from pandemic restrictions to a carbon tax, Reuters notes.
