Canada's Justin Trudeau calls truckers protest 'unacceptable'; defends COVID-19 measures

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday lashed out at the truckers protesting against the COVID-19 vaccine mandate in the country as “unacceptable”. According to BBC, while speaking at parliament in Ottawa, Trudeau defended the COVID-19 restrictions imposed in the country which triggered the truckers to reach the nation’s capital under the ‘Freedom Convoy’ demonstration. Canadian PM’s remarks came as the protests in Ottawa and two other demonstrations at US-Canada border crossings have been going on for two weeks now. 

Trudeau said, “Blockages, illegal demonstrations are unacceptable, and are negatively impacting businesses and manufacturers…We must do everything to bring them to an end." He also added that the demonstrators are “trying to blockade our economy, our democracy and our fellow citizens' daily lives…It has to stop”. 

Canadian PM defends COVID-19 measures

Canadian PM made the remarks after returning to Parliament on Monday following week-long isolation after saying that he caught COVID-19. Since Monday truckers have barred the international suspension bridge in the world at a border crossing that, according to BBC, makes up around a quarter of US-Canada trade. Even though the growing number of Canadian provinces have moved to lift some of the restrictions as Omicron levels off, Trudeau defended the measures that the federal government is responsible for including the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for cross border truckers. 

“The reality is that vaccine mandates, and the fact that Canadians stepped up to get vaccinated to almost 90%, ensured that this pandemic didn't hit as hard here in Canada as elsewhere in the world,” said Trudeau in the parliament, as per PTI.  

On 15 January, the Canadian government’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for truckers came into force requiring all travellers to be fully vaccinated against Coronavirus before crossing the Canada-US border. On that same day, the organisers of the truckers convoy said in a statement that they arrived on a decision that the Trudeau-led government’s decision “crossed a line” and announced their plans to travel to Ottawa. 

The situation in Canada has become so grim that the nation’s capital has become inaccessible forcing businesses to shut down and police arresting hundreds over vandalisation of monuments and disrupting lives of the locals.  In several developments, GoFundMe ended up suspending the crowdfunding page of the truckers protesting against the COVID-19 mandate and turned to GiveSendGo, a Christian crowdfunding website and have already raised millions of dollars

(Image: AP)