Trudeau invokes Emergencies Act to deal with blockades

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has taken the unprecedented action to invoke the Emergencies Act to deal with the anti-government blockades.

The act gives the federal government temporary and extraordinary powers to curtail the anti-vaccine mandate demonstrations.

Trudeau says the act will be used to protect critical infrastructure such as borders and airports from the blockades, and is creating time-limited powers that do not already exist.

This is the first time the Emergencies Act has been invoked since it came into force in 1988.