Anti-vaccine protests in Canada.
Photo: JASON REDMOND/AFP/Getty Images
Canada’s Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, will hold an emergency summit with the heads of government of all the provinces of the country in the midst of the wave of protests by anti-vaccine groups, after the restart of traffic on the Ambassador International Bridge.
Trudeau is scheduled to discuss with the provincial premiers the crisis caused by the protests against the restrictions imposed to curb the COVID-19 pandemic and possible measures to remedy the situation. Later, he will meet with all the deputies of the ruling Liberal Party.
On Sunday night, Trudeau held another meeting of the Incident Response Group (IRG), an emergency cabinet made up of a select number of ministers and senior officials who are only summoned when crisis situations occur that affect national security.
According to a statement posted on Twitter, the prime minister said the group discussed “actions the government can take to help end blockades and occupations.”
The GRI meeting came after Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair warned on Sunday that the government is considering invoking the country’s emergency laws, which could mean the use of the armed forces.
Meanwhile, the situation on the Ambassador International Bridge, which connects the cities of Windsor (Canada) and Detroit (USA), returned to normal this Monday after the Canadian Police cleared the blockade on Sunday that kept the crossing closed for a week.
Trucks and private vehicles began circulating on the bridge, the main border crossing between Canada and the United States, starting at midnight.
The bridge, through which goods worth about 400 million dollars circulate daily, had been blocked by truckers opposed to measures against the pandemic.
The Windsor Police reported that they arrested two dozen people and removed several vehicles in the operation that allowed the reopening of the bridge.
But two other border crossings, Coutts, in the west of the country, and Emerson, in the center, were still closed to traffic today due to the actions of truckers and farmers mobilized by the anti-vaccine movement and radical groups.
In addition, the occupation of the center of the Canadian capital, Ottawa, by some 400 trucks and hundreds of people entered its third week without any sign of resolution.
It may interest you:
– They clear the border bridge blocked by anti-vaccine truckers in Canada after almost a week and millions of dollars in losses
– Truckers strike in Canada forces to declare an emergency in Ontario
– Border bridge blockade by Canadian truckers forces Ford, Toyota and GM plants to close
Source-laopinion.com