Canada court raps PM Justin Trudeau for Emergency invoked in Feb 2022, calls it ‘unjustified’

Amid a serious popularity crisis for Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a court in Ottawa has termed his decision to impose an Emergency in February 2022 ‘unjustified’. The ruling comes as the government led by Justin Trudeau took the step during the intense wave of the Covid-19 pandemic and imposed several restrictions on the citizens of the North American nation.

The court's ruling provided the Opposition parties with fresh ammunition against Justin Trudeau, whose ratings among Canadian voters are plunging rapidly.

“I have concluded that the decision to issue the proclamation does not bear the hallmarks of reasonableness — justification, transparency, and intelligibility — and was not justified about the relevant factual and legal constraints that were required to be taken into consideration,” Judge Richard G Mosley said while delivering the judgment on Saturday.

Justin Trudeau imposed Emergency in Canada after a group called "Freedom Convoy" led massive protests in the country against vaccinations for the Covid-19 virus. As the protests entered the 18th day, the Canada government took the unprecedented decision to invoke the 1988 Emergency Act.

The Ottawa administration used the Emergency powers to remove the protestors, who had been camping for over three weeks, and in just 9 days, the Justin Trudeau government decided to revoke the Emergency provisions, before being voted upon in the Senate.

'Emergency not in eyes of the beholder'

The Opposition parties in Canada slammed PM, Justin Trudeau, after the verdict of the court and said the government caused the crisis to divide the people of the country.

"Emergency is not in the eye of the beholder. Emergency powers are necessary in extreme circumstances, but they are also dangerous to democracy. They should be used sparingly and carefully. They cannot be used even to address a massive and disruptive demonstration if that could have been dealt with through regular policing and laws,” Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre posted on X.