Canadians divided on whether Emergencies Act was right move to end protests: poll

It appears Canadians are generally torn when it comes to whether the Emergencies Act was the right move to deal with weeks-long blockades at border crossings and in the nation’s capital.

According to a new poll from the Angus Reid Institute, 46 per cent of Canadians surveyed believe the move to invoke the act was necessary in order to give law enforcement the resources needed to end the disruptive demonstrations. Liberal voters were more in support of the decision, at 79 per cent, while NDP supporters followed behind at 58 per cent.

Thirty-four per cent of respondents and just over half of past Conservative voters disagree with the sentiment, saying the Emergencies Act was unnecessary and that police already had the tools they needed to end the protests.

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Meanwhile, 15 per cent of people polled believe the protests should have been allowed to continue uninterrupted, and that no action was necessary.

People living in B.C., Ontario, and Atlantic Canada were most likely to support use of the act, while those in Alberta and Saskatchewan were more likely to say the protests should have been allowed to go on.

The survey also found that younger people, those aged 18 to 34, were more likely to say the right to protest outweighed the economic disruption the demonstrations may have caused.

The Emergencies Act was invoked for the first time in Canadian history in mid February. It gave the federal government the power to ban public gatherings in specific areas, take control of public services it deems necessary to deal with the situation, and issue fines and jail time to those who breach public orders.

The blockades made several border crossings across the country virtually unusable. They also brought Ottawa’s downtown core to a standstill for more than two weeks.

Use of the Emergencies Act was revoked on Feb. 23 after just over a week.

On April 25, the government officially called an independent public inquiry into its use of the measure. The legislation requires the government to call an inquiry into the use of the legislation within 60 days of revoking the declaration.

This was the first time the Emergencies Act had ever been invoked since its creation in the 1980s. It replaced the War Measures Act, which was invoked by former prime minister and Trudeau’s father, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, for the October Crisis, when politicians were being kidnapped.