Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Jan. 25 that he received an “extraordinary” and “warm” welcome from people in Hamilton and that the “angry” people who protested his stay in the city do not represent democracy in Canada.
“The welcome that I’ve gotten here in Hamilton has been extraordinary. The people I’ve met, the students here, the folks and teams that I met in various places during a couple of days here have been thoughtful, and open, and warm,” Trudeau said while answering whether he felt safe as protesters swarmed him in the street the previous day.
“A handful of angry people do not define what Hamilton is or what democracy in this country is,” he said.
The prime minister said it was “really, really important” that people have the freedom in a democracy to express their disagreements or anger with the government, but that police services need to ensure the protests remain law-abiding.
Protesters were present during the three-day Liberal cabinet retreat in Hamilton, an area currently held by the Liberals (three seats) and the NDP (one seat).
The prime minister made the comments from McMaster University, flanked by his entire cabinet.
Trudeau was asked by a reporter whether a shift in mood toward him would explain why he’s not holding town halls anymore and instead participating in controlled events.
He said it wasn’t the case and that the pandemic had changed the way things were being done.
“So we’re going to continue to be out there and we’re not going to let a handful of angry people interfere with the democratic processes that Canadians have always taken pride in, in being able to come up and meet members of parliament, ministers, or even the Prime Minister and share their preoccupations,” he said.
At this time last year, truck convoys were making their way to Ottawa to protest COVID-19 restrictions.
Trudeau called them a “small, fringe minority ... holding unacceptable views” and neither he nor any other federal government official met with the protesters who stayed for weeks in the capital.
He invoked the Emergencies Act on Feb. 14 to have them removed, but proceedings of the Public Order Emergency Commission revealed that essentially no powers granted by the act were used to clear protesters.
Financial measures were used to freeze the financial accounts of participants and police officers from outside Ottawa were sworn-in faster.
Police leadership from different outfits said the protest would have been cleared without resorting to the act.
The report from the commission on the first-time use of the Emergencies Act must be tabled in Parliament next month.
