Trudeau warns blockade is causing ‘real harm to workers’ as U.S. urges Canada to use federal powers

Why are ‘Freedom Convoy’ truckers protesting in Ottawa? Our reporters answered your questions.

Trudeau also said he was aiding the mayor of Windsor, Ontario, where the closure of the Ambassador Bridge — a vital supply route for Detroit’s carmakers and North America’s busiest land border crossing in trade volume — has halted some automotive trade. He said officials were working together to “get the situation under control — because it is causing real harm to workers and economies on both sides of the border.”

Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens said Thursday that the city and auto groups were seeking an injunction to end the blockade. Companies such as Ford and General Motors have said they already have cut production and canceled shifts at some sites.

As the crisis deepens, officials in the United States called on their Canadian counterparts to get the demonstrations under control. The self-styled “Freedom Convoy,” which began as a protest in Ottawa against coronavirus vaccine mandates, is now heading into its third weekend and has crippled much of the Canadian capital.

The impact is also being felt in the United States, where a group of business leaders, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, warned Thursday that the blockade was “adding to the significant supply chain strains on manufacturers and other businesses in the United States.” The chamber said that “we are already seeing some production cuts, shift reductions, and temporary plant closures.”

The Biden administration said Thursday it was monitoring the situation at the border “very closely” and that Cabinet officials were “engaged around the clock to bring this to a swift end.”

Here’s what you need to know about the ‘Freedom Convoy’ in Canada

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg urged their Canadian counterparts to “use federal powers to resolve this situation” and offered the support of their departments, the White House said.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) urged Canadian authorities Thursday to quickly resolve the blockade of the Ambassador Bridge, which she said was “having a significant impact on Michigan’s working families who are just trying to do their jobs.”

“My message is simple: reopen traffic on the bridge.”

Trudeau’s office said Thursday that Canadian ministers and officials have “been in close contact with representatives and officials from the United States of America to align efforts to resolve this situation.”

Trudeau said last week that deploying the military was “not in the cards” at that time.

Although police have so far largely avoided confrontational tactics, “public exasperation is growing,” particularly in Ottawa, while the broader “economic consequences could be enormous,” Roland Paris, a former senior foreign policy adviser to Trudeau and professor of international affairs at the University of Ottawa, told The Washington Post.

As Canadian officials grapple with how to disperse the protesters, they have also warned about “potential foreign interference,” including from the United States.

“Although these protests are homegrown, they are receiving a great deal of encouragement from right-wing politicians and prominent conservative activists and media personalities in the United States,” Paris said.

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Some of the language of U.S. right-wing discourse is visible in the Canadian protests, he added, along with financial donations from across the border.

The Canadian convoy has attracted the attention of some U.S. politicians debating their own country’s coronavirus protocols and has drawn support from Republican figures — including former president Donald Trump, who said last week that “insane covid mandates” were destroying Canada.

In a show of support for the Canadian protesters, some U.S. truckers have said they will send two convoys this weekend to a fourth border crossing, which connects Buffalo and Fort Erie, Ontario, Reuters reported.

In another form of apparent involvement from across the border, Ottawa police said in a statement posted on Twitter on Thursday that there has been a “concerted effort to flood our 911 and non-emergency policing reporting line.” Many of those “excessive calls” were coming from addresses in the United States, said Peter Sloly, Ottawa’s police chief.

Ottawa police have made 25 arrests linked to the demonstrations, he added, for charges such as mischief and menacing behavior. “We will ensure those who are responsible will face the consequences,” Sloly added during a statement read to reporters in a virtual news conference. “We know the residents of Ottawa are angry. We know you are tired.”

The Ambassador Bridge blockade began earlier this week, and two smaller border crossings — at Coutts in Alberta, which connects to Montana, and Emerson, between Manitoba and North Dakota — have since been “shut down” by protesters and vehicles, police said.

The protests started in opposition to U.S. and Canadian rules requiring cross-border truckers to be fully vaccinated. But they have since mushroomed into a movement against pandemic restrictions more broadly and against Trudeau’s government.

The Canadian demonstrations have drawn international support and inspired similar protests from Europe to Australia. Authorities in Paris and Brussels said they would try to stop planned convoys from entering those cities over the weekend.

Read more:

Canada’s capital is jammed, its border crossings are blockaded, and there’s no end in sight

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Auto industry already feeling the pinch from Canadian bridge blockade