Manitoba border blockade enters 6th day with federal Emergency Act act now in effect
CBC
Demonstrators continue to block an integral transportation hub for trade between Canada and the U.S. for the sixth day in a row, despite the federal government signalling a crackdown on protesters may be on the way.
Protesters have largely dictated who comes and goes at the Highway 75 border crossing in Emerson, Man., since moving in Thursday last week, though they have also been allowing through emergency vehicles, according to RCMP.
On Tuesday, the co-owner of the Duty Free Shop in Emerson says something needs to be done to get traffic going.
"After two years of the pandemic, and this [blockade] … we will close if this continues," said Simon Resch, whose shop has been inaccessible to customers since last week.
The Emerson crossing is one of several important land ports for trade at the Canada-U.S. border targeted by protesters calling for an end to not just pandemic restrictions and a federal vaccine mandate for truckers, but also for the resignation of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other changes.
On Tuesday, less than 24 hours after Trudeau enacted the federal Emergencies Act, vehicles remained at the Emerson border.
The Emergencies Act, invoked for the first time in Canadian history, gives the federal government more powers to handle the protests.
In addition to the largest protest in Ottawa, a demonstration at the Manitoba Legislative Building has been going on for two weeks.
On Monday, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said $73-million in trade is impacted every day the border remains closed at Emerson.
It's unclear what the act will mean for Manitoba. In advance of Trudeau's announcement on Monday, Premier Heather Stefanson said the protests need to end but that she does not think measures enabled through the Emergencies Act are necessary in Manitoba.
Resch disagrees.
"There is a reason they invoked the [Emergencies] Act yesterday, and that's to avoid situations like what I am faced with," he said.
The shop, which his father started four decades ago, has been inaccessible to travellers since protesters in a variety of vehicles set up nearby last week.
The blockade comes after two years of intermittent border closures, testing requirement changes and other public health restrictions he says have devastated his family-owned store and other travel-related businesses along the border.
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