Faced with truckers’ demurrers popping up across the nation, and hampering cross-border trade, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday came the only Canadian leader since his father 50 times ago to declare a state of exigency in reconciliation.
Trudeau unveiled a series of tough measures to attack backing for the demurrers, including letting banks indurate accounts linked to the demurrers without a court order, and said city police will help end the leaguers.
But despite the apparent parallels, chroniclers say there are big differences between Trudeau’s advertisement and the one his father made in October 1970.
For one, Liberal Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau put colors on the thoroughfares after a small militant group of Quebec secessionists had abducted a diplomat and a parochial press minister.
His son, facing one of the biggest heads since taking office in 2015, made clear that planting the service wasn’t in the cards as he tried to end demurrers sparked by truckers opposing Covid-19 vaccine authorizations for cross-border passages.
Canada wasn’t facing the kind of public exigency the act had been designed to attack, said Leah West, a professor and public security expert at Ottawa’s Carleton University.
“I am kind of shocked, to be honest, that the government of Canada still actually believes that this meets the description to indeed bring the act,” she told the Canadian BroadcastingCorp.
Trudeau told journalists he was invoking the 1988 Extremities Act because law enforcement demanded further help.
“This is about keeping Canadians safe, guarding people’s jobs, and restoring confidence in our institutions,” he said.
His father, Pierre Trudeau, took more decisive action after the Quebec hijackings. Asked by a journalist how far he’d go, Trudeau replied” Just watch me”, which came one of the main clichés of Canadian politics.
Three days latterly he invoked the War Measures Act, the precursor to the Extremities Act, and transferred colors into Quebec and other businesses. The extremity ended, but only after the separatist group killed the press minister.
“What is striking about this time is we have had no violence, nothing like that,” said University of Toronto professor emeritus Nelson Wiseman.
Justin Trudeau asked on Friday about the parallels with his father’s experience in 1970, replied that”my values are deeply informed by the way I have been brought up, not just by my father but by gests as a Canadian” before adding that”every situation is different”.
The Canadian Parliament must authorize the use of the measures within seven days and has the power to drop them.
Shortly after the demurrers began, the” Extremities Act” snappily came a trending content on social media as some Canadians called for the civil government to act, frustrated by what they saw as police inactivity.
Canadians also demanded Trudeau use the actin early 2020 when the coronavirus epidemic hit the country to circumscribe the movement of people and goods. The government didn’t legislate it, saying it was a last resort.
One person happy to draw parallels was Maxime Bernier, leader of the populist People’s Party of Canada, who explosively opposes vaccine authorizations.
“Trudeau will bring the Extremities Act for the first time since his father did so over 50 times agone, not because there’s an exigency and a major trouble to Canadians’ security, but because HE is losing face”, Bernier, who has appeared at the Ottawa demurrers, twittered.
