Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday revoked emergency powers used to dislodge weeks-long trucker-led protests in Ottawa and blockades of border crossings to the United States, as he declared the crisis over.
“Today, we’re ready to confirm that the situation is no longer an emergency,” the prime minister told a news conference. “Therefore, the federal government will be ending the use of the emergencies act.”
“The threat continues,” Trudeau said, but added it is no longer “acute.”
“We are confident that existing laws and bylaws are sufficient to keep people safe.”
Trudeau had invoked the rarely used powers nine days earlier and the Senate was still debating their final approval when he lifted them.
Canada has been in the international spotlight for weeks as thousands of protesters, led by truck drivers furious over Covid-19 vaccination requirements for transporting freight across the border with the United States, converged on Ottawa.
Truckers and their supporters also blocked for days a bridge between Windsor in Canada and the US city of Detroit, freezing a major trade route critical to industry, including automobile manufacturing.
On Sunday, the last big rigs were towed out of the Canadian capital after a two-day police crackdown that saw nearly 200 arrests and dozens of vehicle seizures. Border crossings have also been reopened.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
