Canada: the government toughens the tone in the face of roadblocks on the American border
Cars block the streets of downtown Ottawa, the capital of Canada on February 8, 2022. AP - Adrian Wyld
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Canada, including the center of the capital Ottawa, has been occupied for almost two weeks by truckers and their sympathizers opposed to sanitary measures, has suffered since Monday evening from the closure of the main road link with the United States.
Dozens of pickup trucks and heavy goods vehicles block the Ambassador Bridge between the cities of Windsor and Detroit.
It is the main point of exchange between the highly interrelated Canadian-American economies, where 25% of goods pass through every day.
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With our correspondent in Montreal,
Pascale Guéricolas
The blocking of the Ambassador Bridge hurts the Canadian economy, hit in the heart of its automobile production, but also agri-food.
Already, factories are suspending production.
They do not have reserves of spare parts to continue assembling cars or vans, since supplies usually arrive every day from the other side of the border.
Supermarket shelves are also likely to become empty very quickly.
This is why the Canadian government is asking the demonstrators to lift their blockades immediately.
Other crossing points between Canada and the United States are also subject to blockages.
Further west in Alberta, pickup trucks are dramatically slowing trade with neighboring Montana, preventing beef exports and grain imports.
Limited room for maneuver for Trudeau
The Prime Minister said on Wednesday that the "
lockdowns were unacceptable
" and threatened the Canadian economy.
Faced with the revolt that took the Canadian political class by surprise, some provinces have announced reductions in anti-Covid restrictions.
But the anger doesn't seem to let up.
And
Justin Trudeau's room for maneuver is now narrow.
“
There is nevertheless a popular, civic dimension in the demonstrations, which was expressed as much in Ottawa as in Quebec City and consequently, it was perhaps necessary to have a more conciliatory approach while denouncing the most extremist elements,
analyzes Frédéric Boily, professor of political science at the University of Alberta.
From this point of view, the Liberals, and Justin Trudeau in particular, did not necessarily make this distinction and moreover, this is why there now appears a certain split in the Liberal camp, that is to say a Quebec City-area MP who came out to criticize his own government's approach, saying Trudeau may have gone too far in whistleblowing
.
In Ottawa, meanwhile, police are getting tough.
In the event of an infraction, the demonstrators could be brought to justice and their truck seized.
Some Conservative MPs are trying to use this rising protest anger among truckers for their own benefit.
Frédéric Boily, professor of political science at the University of Alberta
Stefanie Schuler
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