(Munich) Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly said she was “concerned” on Friday by “foreign interference” which she considers at work in the movement of opponents of health measures which has paralyzed the city for three weeks. downtown Ottawa.
Posted at 2:05 p.m.
“My biggest concern as Minister of Foreign Affairs is the foreign interference that is happening in the convoy that we are seeing in Canada right now – this information campaign where does it come from, where does its funding come from? -he ? she told the Security Conference in Munich, Germany.
While observing that many Canadians are protesting peacefully, “there are also elements within the trucking convoy that are extremely concerning and have led to criminal charges, particularly at the US-Canada border.” , she pointed out.
Asked if the interference she was referring to was related to former US President Donald Trump, she replied “not naming anyone in particular. »
“But we know that there is foreign interference and that is why we have decided to go ahead,” added the minister, explaining that this is what had led the government to resort this week to the Emergency Measures Actfor the second time in Canada’s peacetime history.
Donald Trump has expressed his support for the protests, including at a recent rally in Texas.
The Canadian protest movement, known as “Freedom Convoy”, started at the end of January from truckers protesting against the obligation to be vaccinated to cross the border between Canada and the United States.
But the demands have extended to a refusal of all health measures and, for many demonstrators, to a rejection of the government of Justin Trudeau.
Canadian police launched a major operation on Friday to unblock the streets of central Ottawa, the federal capital.