Canadian carriers can cause a major economic crisis
An “exceptional” situation that “risked becoming dangerous and unmanageable”: Justin Trudeau’s government was right to resort to exceptional measures to end the truck driver crisis in the winter of 2022, an independent commission of inquiry said on Friday. Canada’s prime minister has invoked a law rarely used in peacetime to remove truck drivers from downtown Ottawa who have been demonstrating for three weeks against COVID-19 health restrictions. The prime minister “had a reasonable fear that the situation he was facing could degenerate and risk becoming dangerous and unmanageable,” according to a report of more than 2,000 pages made public on Friday. “I conclude that, when the decision was made to invoke the law, the cabinet had reasonable grounds to believe that there was a national crisis (…) and that this crisis required the temporary taking of special measures,” Paul said on Friday to Rouleau, the president of the commission of inquiry, upon handing over the report.
Thus, the government faced “a threat of serious violence for political or ideological purposes.” “During the demonstrations, extremists were present who encouraged them,” the report also states. On the other hand, there were “numerous threats” against some civil servants, including the prime minister, declared Rouleau. Therefore, “it was opportune to invoke the law.” It was a “radical but not dictatorial measure.” The commission met for six weeks to hear numerous demonstrators and government representatives, including Justin Trudeau, who was strongly criticized by the opposition and associations for the defense of rights and freedoms for resorting to this provision. In addition, the commission came to the conclusion that this crisis can be considered “a failure of federalism.” Therefore, the report contains 56 recommendations aimed at improving the exchange of information between agencies, the police response to large-scale demonstrations, and the law on emergency measures itself. Initially downplayed by the authorities, the protest movement started with truck drivers protesting the obligation to be vaccinated to cross the border with the United States, then expanded to a general refusal of public health rules in Canada. Protesters went so far as to block a bridge between the Canadian city of Windsor and the US city of Detroit, paralyzing a trade route essential to industry, especially car manufacturers.
By Cora Sulleyman
