WASHINGTON: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is being roasted by right wing nationalists across the world, including from India, after he invoked emergency powers on Monday to quell a truckers protest against Covid-19 mandates.
It is only the second time in its history that Ottawa has used such powers, the last time when Trudeau’s father, Pierre Trudeau, invoked them to contain a separatist movement in Quebec.
Canada’s Emergencies Act confers powers on the federal government to override civil rights, restrict trade and ban public assembly. Although Trudeau pledged his government would not restrict peaceful gatherings in the ongoing protests, he accused truckers of “illegal and dangerous activities” and said he was invoking the act as a “last resort.”
The move invited a cascade of criticism and online trolling, including from US and India, where a farmers protest that had similarly shut down New Delhi had found support from Trudeau last year.
“Canada will always be ready to defend the right to peaceful protest,” Trudeau had said, inviting a smackdown from New Delhi, which such comments were “unwarranted and ill-informed.” The Canadian PM was accused of pandering to Sikh constituents in his country.
Canada virus outbreak truckers protest
Payback for that episode came swiftly online on Monday with one post from India sneering, “Blockade is undemocratic, dangerous and fascist in Canada but enriches democracy in India.” A cartoon showed Trudeau expressing support for Indian farmers on a tractor in one panel with second panel where Trudeau is being chased by a truck with “KARMA” emblazoned on its side.
It’s rightly said that karma returns with interest whatever you give to others….
He gave it in tractors n got back in trucks..#JustinTrudeau #Karma #Canada pic.twitter.com/vT2HGpeSww
— Rocky🇮🇳 (@Rocky201196) February 1, 2022
Even former diplomats came down heavily on Trudeau. “Sins coming home to roost. Stand Trudeau takes on Trucker rally at home contrary to Tractor rally in India. Calls it blocking economy& democracy, no dialogue with truckers, police arresting those supplying fuel to truckers. Usual hypocrisy, double standards by western “liberals,” noted former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal.
The right wing media in Canada and US also came down heavily on the Canadian Prime Minister, who heads a minority government, with one headline reading, Trudeau tests positive for fascism. Fox News’s Tucker Carlsen headlined the story “Trudeau bring Martial Law to Canada.”
