Earlier this year, blockades at the Canada-U.S. border hurt supply chains as truckers protested Covid lockdowns that deeply affected their jobs and livelihood. To eliminate the protestors, measures included arrests and theft of funds. On Thursday, revelations about the decision to use emergency powers to end the Freedom Convoy blockades were uncovered.
Trudeau is confident he made the right decision to end the protests, claiming they were too violent and the Biden administration also wanted them to end. But Canada has an open inquiry over the methods used to end the peaceful protests. Unfortunately, the White House played a role in Trudeau’s dictator-like behavior.
BREAKING: Biden pressured Trudeau to end the “freedom convoy” right before Trudeau invoked his emergency powers.
In other words, Biden interferes with the politics of a foreign government to shut down the international disdain for tyrannical COVID measures.
Wow.
— Jenny Beth Martin (@jennybethm) November 27, 2022
The Canadian inquiry into Trudeau’s decision to invoke the Emergencies Act on February 14, 2022, to end the protests is required by law. The Public Order Emergency Commission must decide if the government was justified in using the act and if it was used correctly. While it is not likely that powers under the act can be used to freeze bank accounts, ban travel to protest sites and compel trucks to tow protestor vehicles, it is also not likely that there will be many consequences for those actions.
Chrystia Freeland, the Finance Minister of the Public Order Emergency Commission, reported that President Biden’s top economic advisor, Brian Deese, expressed “urgent concern” to her over the protests and bridge blockade. This concern prompted Freeland to order a phone call between Biden and Trudeau. In addition, Trudeau’s chief of staff, Brain Clow, already received numerous concerns from top Biden advisors before Freeland stepped in.
On February 11, Trudeau and Biden were able to communicate via phone. Clow prepped the prime minister by setting up the expectation that the U.S.’s most important goal for the call was for Canada to end the protests immediately. During the call, Biden alluded to trucker convoys heading to Los Angeles and mentioned American influence in support of the blockades through the media.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg also made calls to end the protests. Buttigieg communicated with Transport Minister Omar Alghabra to report the unusual activity at the border and ask for his plan to “resolve the disruptions.” There is no further information on whether Buttigieg was involved further.
Trudeau stands by his decisions. He appeared before the Canadian inquiry on Friday and defended his use of emergency powers. Despite the fact that the move to invoke the powers disrupted peaceful protests and turned them into violent scenes.
In his most confusing statement, Trudeau says that protests are not to be used to “demand changes to public policy.”
