Official: Trudeau to use emergency powers to quell COVID-19 mandate protests in Canada

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has decided to invoke emergency powers across all of Canada to quell the protests by demonstrators who have paralyzed Ottawa and blocked border crossings in anger over the country's COVID-19 restrictions, a senior government official said Monday.READ: Ambassador Bridge officially reopened after weekThe prime minister met virtually with the leaders of Canada's provinces and planned to address the nation late in the afternoon.In recent days, Trudeau rejected calls to use the military but otherwise said "all options are on the table" to end the protests, including invoking the Emergencies Act, which gives the government broad powers to restore order.The government official who confirmed Trudeau's plans gave no immediate details on precisely how Trudeau intends to use his emergency authority.

The official was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. For more than two weeks, hundreds and sometimes thousands of protesters in trucks and other vehicles have clogged the streets of Ottawa, the capital, railing against vaccine mandates for truckers and other COVID-19 precautions and condemning Trudeau's Liberal government.Members of the self-styled Freedom Convoy have also blockaded various U.S.-Canadian border crossings, though the busiest and most important -- the Ambassador Bridge connecting Windsor, Ontario, to Detroit -- was reopened on Sunday after police arrested the last of the demonstrators and broke the nearly week-long siege that had disrupted auto production in both countries. "This is the biggest, greatest, most severe test Trudeau has faced," said Wesley Wark, a University of Ottawa professor and national security expert.The.