“Illegal barriers and occupations are not peaceful demonstrations,” he said in a speech in the House of Commons on the implementation of emergency measures.
He added that it was time to “restore confidence in institutions”.
In the face of the national crisis, Trudeau enacted, on Monday, the Emergency Measures Act. It is only the second time in Canadian history that this law has been activated in peacetime.
This measure allows for “extraordinary measures” to be taken, and was first used in the 1970 crisis in Quebec when Pierre Elliott Trudeau, the father of the current prime minister, was running the country.
“The aim of all measures, including the financial measures provided for in the Emergency Measures Act, is to confront the current threat and bring the situation fully under control,” Trudeau said.
He considered that “the barriers and occupations constitute a threat to our economy and our relations with our trading partners.”
In response to opponents denouncing the activation of this law, Trudeau said again: “We do not use the Emergency Law to call in the military. We do not limit people’s freedom of expression, nor do we limit the freedom of peaceful assembly.”
In a letter to provincial heads of government on Wednesday, Trudeau said the move “threatens democracy” and damages “Canada’s reputation abroad.”
Protests in Canada began in late January with truck drivers demonstrating against the imposition of compulsory vaccination as a condition for crossing the border between Canada and the United States, but the demands expanded to include the abolition of all health measures in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, and for some extended to include opposition to the Trudeau government.