Canada’s Trudeau draws line on street protests

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has insisted his government was right to invoke sweeping emergency powers to quell mass street protests against Covid-19 mandates early this year, saying that drastic measures were needed to “keep people safe.”

Addressing an official commission created to investigate Trudeau’s decision in February to activate the Emergencies Act for the first time in Canada’s history, the PM argued it was a “tough” but necessary decision given the chaotic demonstrations gripping the country at the time.

“First of all, what if the worst had happened in those following days? What if someone had gotten hurt?” he asked. “What if, when I had an opportunity to do something, I had waited and we had the unthinkable happen?” 

Though Trudeau noted he was willing to have dialogue with some protest leaders, the PM…