Trudeau defends emergency powers use

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau testified at a public inquiry to defend his use of emergency powers to dislodge noisy trucker-led protests that jammed the capital earlier this year, citing what he called threats of serious violence.

His testimony at the Public Order Emergency Commission wrapped up six weeks of hearings on the rarely used powers, which were invoked in February after weeks of protests that brought Ottawa to a standstill and disrupted trade. Critics have said Trudeau's use of those powers was excessive.

Trudeau told the inquiry that protesters had rammed vehicles into police cruisers and used children as shields.

He said police were concerned they might be hoarding weapons while Canada's spy agency warned of "the presence of people promoting ideologically-motivated violent extremism" that risked triggering lone wolf attacks.

Tensions rose further when counter-protests popped up, with "grandmothers standing in residential streets against massive trucks," Trudeau said, raising concerns about Canadians taking matters into their own hands.

"We were seeing things escalate," he said, adding that advice and "my own inclination was that... we needed to do something to keep Canadians safe."

Invoking the Emergencies Act, he concluded, "was the right thing to do. And we did it."

The self-styled "Freedom Convoy" of truckers rolled into the capitol on January 29 from across Canada to express anger at Covid vaccine mandates.