The Emergencies Act Has Been Invoked & Alberta's Premier Has Some Thoughts About It

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has responded to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's decision to invoke the Emergencies Act in Canada.

Trudeau announced that he was invoking the act on Monday in response to the ongoing protests across Canada involving the Freedom Convoy.

Alberta RCMP have also been dealing with protests at the Coutts border crossing with the U.S. and arrested 11 people after they received information about a large quantity of ammunition and firearms.

However, in a live address to the province on Monday, Kenney said that the Emergencies Act is "not necessary" in Alberta and that some people could be "further inflamed" by this type of intervention.

He said: "We have all of the necessary statutory powers and operational capacity for enforcement now that the RCMP has resolved the militant cell, which could potentially have resulted in violence.

"So, we have now obtained the necessary equipment, and we have very strong laws in Alberta already, in a sense, in a strange sense, we anticipate a situation like this, because the Alberta Critical Infrastructure Defence Act gives us sanctions that are quite similar to the court injunction obtained by Ontario to deal with Windsor last week."

Kenney said that the province has the legal powers it currently needs to deal with protests, adding: "I think at this point for the federal government to reach in over top of us without offering anything in particular would frankly be unhelpful. I think we need to find ways to effectively enforce without escalating the situation.

"I am concerned that there's a certain kind of person who — if the federal government does proceed with this, who will be further inflamed, and that could lead to a prolongation of some of these protests. So I think that on the balance, prudence dictates that, at least here in Alberta, we give support to law enforcement to get the job done."