In a recent CBC Radio interview defending his government’s response to the Freedom Convoy, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated that tow truck drivers in Ottawa required the Emergencies Act to move in on rigs within the city’s downtown core.
“We had a range of advice from Justice. From Public Safety. From various areas. But if you think about the specific tools, one of the concrete complaints was tow truck drivers weren’t willing to send in their rigs at the cost of being outed or harassed by these protesters,” said Trudeau.
When he was asked by a reporter whether it was the need to get tow trucks into the area which finally convinced the government to act, Trudeau said it was the only effective option left.
“Well, no.. I said, ‘Okay. What are the tools to get tow truck drivers to do that?’ And we saw that one of the only tools we had that was going to be effective in the timeframe necessary was to bring in the Emergencies Act.”
The opposition has called for Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino to resign for misleading Canadians after repeatedly claiming law enforcement requested the government use emergency powers to quash the Freedom convoy.
Several levels of law enforcement including the Ottawa Police Service and the RCMP have disputed Mendicino’s assertions.
During the interview, the prime minister also continued his vindictive rhetoric about unvaccinated Canadians, claiming that millions of Canadians who remain unvaccinated must deal with the consequences of their health decisions.
“It was their choice and nobody ever was going to force anyone into doing something they don’t want to do,” Trudeau said.
“But there are consequences when you don’t. You cannot choose to put at risk your co-workers. You cannot choose to put at risk the people sitting beside you on an airplane,”
About a week before Trudeau embarked on an international tour of Africa and Europe, the prime minister tested positive for Covid-19 a second time despite being fully vaccinated.
Shortly after, the Liberals suspended federal vaccine mandates for domestic travel and federal workers, as pressure from the public and airline industry was ramping up.
During the interview, Trudeau maintained that he would continue to call out “unacceptable and hateful” views of those opposed to his Covid mandates.
“No. I will always call out unacceptable rhetoric and hateful language wherever I see it,” Trudeau said in relation to him calling convoy protestors an “unacceptable and fringe minority.”
“Now, unfortunately, with … our modern social media and communications world, that was picked up and conflated and extended on. And I’m not going to start to say I was taken out of context, but my point was that there are people who are deliberately trying to stir up hate and intolerance and misinformation.”
