Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has vowed to bring an end to a trucker protest still paralysing the Canadian capital - in a movement against Covid restrictions fast becoming a rallying cry for far-right and anti-vaccine groups.
Emerging from a week of Covid-19 isolation to address an emergency debate in the House of Commons late Monday, a visibly frustrated Trudeau declared: “It has to stop.”
Trudeau’s foreign minister, Melanie Joly, doubled down yesterday morning, warning that while the truckers — whose demonstration is in its second week — have a “right to express themselves,” authorities would not tolerate a continued “occupation” of the capital.
“This situation will be dealt with,” she told reporters.
Struggling to tame the boisterous trucker movement that has prompted a state of emergency in Ottawa, Trudeau conceded on Monday that the “pandemic has sucked for all Canadians.”
“But Canadians know the way to get through it is continuing to listen to science, continuing to lean on each other,” he added, pledging unspecified federal support for local authorities.
Federal police have already deployed on the streets of the capital, as demonstrators waving Canadian flags and anti-Trudeau slogans dug in.
Under a light snowfall, the truckers warmed themselves by open pit fires and played street hockey. A court on Monday ordered their incessant loud honking to stop — so they have turned instead to revving the engines of their big rigs.
The “Freedom Convoy” began in January in western Canada — launched by truckers angry with requirements to either be vaccinated, or to test and isolate, when crossing the US-Canadian border.
Protester Martin Desforges, 46, said he was determined to stay “until the end,” which organisers said would come only when all pandemic restrictions are lifted.
“I’m against wearing a mask, all distancing measures and restaurant closures,” he said.
“Getting vaccinated should be a decision between a person and their doctor,” echoed fellow protester John Hawley-Wight, “not the government.”
More than 80% of Canadians five years or older are fully vaccinated against Covid-19.
Vaccine mandates for travellers are set by the federal government, but most other Covid measures are the responsibility of provincial authorities.
Only one province, Saskatchewan, has so far announced an imminent lifting of all pandemic restrictions.
Protesters walk in front of parked trucks as demonstrators continue to protest the vaccine mandates implemented by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Ottawa, Canada, yesterday.
