The participants of the Freedom Convoy entrenched in the heart of the federal capital defy the ultimatum issued by the Ottawa police the day after the entry into force of the Emergency Measures Act.
“The police just gave us a letter telling us to get out of the convoy,” said Cody Malvin, holding up a notice from the Ottawa Police Service that read orders to “leave the scene now. and to “stop immediately [ses] illegal activities”.
“This document is garbage. It’s not a legal document, it’s not signed… [Vous] waste paper, guys, we’re not going anywhere! he cursed as he warmed up in his car, parked among heavy trucks on Kent Street in downtown Ottawa.
Like many participants in the Freedom Convoy encountered by The duty a few hours after the entry into force of the state of emergency, Cody Malvin said he was ready to risk prison rather than raise his paws.
“Yes, if I have to go to jail, if they take everything away from me. I can’t think that my children will live in the world they are knitting for us,” adds Guillaume, a truck driver from the Magog region.
The father of two young children did not wish to reveal his last name, for fear of reprisals from counter-protesters, who are increasingly aggressive, according to him. His vehicle was the subject of vandalism: its flat tires and its windshield smeared with eggs, he notes. “The cause is beyond me. It’s a question of: “Do we want to live in a free country or in a semi-communist country?” he insists.
On Tuesday evening, the Federal Emergency Measures Act officially came into effect for the very first time since it was passed in 1988. It gives the police the right to prohibit any public assembly near “protected places”, such as the one of Parliament Hill, a war memorial or the vicinity of government buildings, and to “seize vehicles” found there. It is forbidden to go to such gatherings, or to take children or adolescents there.
Municipal, provincial and federal police forces had still not used their new powers to dislodge the trucks as of Wednesday. They have, however, drawn up “a clear and practical plan for a safe and peaceful conclusion to the illegal demonstrations underway in downtown Ottawa”, they jointly assured the press at the end of the day. “In the hours and days to come, the public will hear about and witness police operations. »
Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said during the day that he was relying on police forces — and their “new tools” — to put an end to the occupation of downtown Ottawa, which is at its third week. He “hopes” that the protesters will have packed up by the end of the week. If nothing is done, he fears seeing the exasperated residents of Ottawa “take matters into their own hands” and try to put an end to the uproar.
Criticism in Parliament
Inside parliament on Wednesday, the Liberals and New Democrats defended the use of the Emergencies Act while the Conservatives and Bloc Québécois sharply criticized it.
For the Conservatives, the arguments put forward by the Liberal government to justify the imposition of emergency measures, namely the risks of violence and deterioration of the economy, no longer hold after the lifting of all the dams at the Canadian borderfrom Coutts, Alberta, Windsor, Ontario, and Emerson, Manitoba.
Minister Mendicino indicated that participants in the Coutts barrage had links with “leaders of an extreme right organization who are in Ottawa”. Four people have been charged with conspiracy to commit the murder of police officers after a large weapons seizure took place there.
During question period, the interim leader of the Conservative Party, Candice Bergen, denounced the use of this “hammer” in the toolbox of the federal government by a prime minister who is just trying to “save his political career”, according to her.
Justin Trudeau, he deplored the connections between the Conservatives and the truckers erected behind the “illegal barricades” in Ottawa. “Conservative Party members can stand with people waving swastikas, stand with people waving the Confederate flag,” he said, drawing cries of protest from the official opposition.
Voluntary application in Quebec
The leader of the Bloc Québécois, Yves-François Blanchet, said he also suspected Mr. Trudeau of resorting to the Emergencies Act as part of “an operation to cover up the failure [de son] government” to put down the truckers’ rebellion.
Bloc Québécois MNA Kristina Michaud asked, in vain, the government to guarantee her that it will not apply the Emergency Measures Act on Quebec territory, as the members of the National Assembly of Quebec have demanded. with one voice on Tuesday.
” [La Loi] gives local jurisdiction police more tools if they need them. If they don’t need them, they won’t have to use them,” said the Prime Minister, heckled both inside and outside Parliament. The government can count on the support of the New Democratic Party, which guarantees it a majority of elected members of the Commons.