Alberta Premier Jason Kenney tweeted Saturday the province will file a court challenge of the federal government’s Emergencies Act in the wake of convoy protests in Ottawa.
In the posted video, he said invoking the act is “an unnecessary and disproportionate measure that can violate civil liberties, invades provincial jurisdiction and creates a very dangerous precedent for the future.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the never-before-enacted Emergencies Act on Feb. 14 because people protesting vaccine mandates and COVID-19 restrictions have tied up traffic and created public disorder for weeks in Canada’s capital.
Kenney pointed to the Coutts border as an example of how police can handle illegal blockades.
“As Tommy Douglas said about the use of the War Measures Act in 1970, it’s like ‘using a sledgehammer to crack a peanut,'” Kenney tweeted.
“Law and order must prevail regardless of the cause that people stand for.”
Trudeau previously said the “scope of these measures will be time-limited, geographically targeted and proportionate to the threats they are meant to address,” noting it does not include calling in the military or overriding Charter rights.
Kenney added his government “may also intervene in support of other court challenges,” including those of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and the Canadian Constitution Foundation.
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