The Trudeau government is defending its intervention in the face of the demonstration against health measures which has been going on in Ottawa for ten days and indicates that it will launch a trilateral round table.
This was announced on Monday afternoon by the Minister of Civil Protection, Bill Blair.
He maintained that the federal government had, to do this, communicated with the office of the Solicitor General of Ontario as well as with municipal authorities in Ottawa.
This decision comes the day after the declaration of a state of emergency in the federal capital.
Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino, surrounded by colleagues such as Transport Minister Omar Alghabra, insisted that the federal government wanted to put an end to the mobilization.
Singh calls for an emergency debate
For his part, the leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP), Jagmeet Singh, is asking for an emergency debate to be held in the Commons in the face of the ongoing mobilization.
“Citizens, people, families are in a state of fear. They can’t get out of the house, ”he said, in the morning, during a virtual press briefing.
According to him, the movement is far from being a normal demonstration. He believes that the protesters threaten and harass the population.
He hopes, among other things, that all “foreign interference”, such as funding from the United States, cease in the movement still very present in Ottawa.
“We have to stop this immediately. The organizers of this convoy […] really want to replace the government that was democratically elected. They want to replace that with a committee of unelected people,” he said.
“We need to see leadership,” added Mr. Singh in English about his expectations of the Trudeau government, but also of all federal elected officials.
In a letter sent to the Speaker of the House of Commons, the New Democrat leader indicates that he will request, during the day, that an emergency debate be held on the situation, in order to resolve the dead end.
“For more than a week, the people of Ottawa have been under siege, and a similar protest in Coutts, Alberta blocked the border and prevented important goods from reaching those who need them,” he said. he noted that other convoys had been organized.
“Not only have these convoys affected people in their homes, but they have also resulted in the promotion of symbols of hatred, the vandalism of sacred memorials, the harassment of local citizens and the intimidation of health care workers. The situation has reached a crisis point,” he continued.
With the requested emergency debate, the NDP emphasizes its objective that all members of the Commons work to find solutions to end the impasse in downtown Ottawa.
The political formation also says it wants to tackle the issues that plague the health system, such as “professional burnout”, as well as propose a plan to end the crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic.