Steve Scherer, David Ljunggren

OTTAWA (Reuters), – Canada’s government has new emergency powers that will allow it to quickly clear a blockade of truckers for the past three weeks, which is causing Ottawa’s center to be in a halt.

Protesters still camp out at Parliament Hill weeks after the police allowed trucks to park on the streets.

On Tuesday, Ottawa police chief Peter Sloly was fired after being criticised for not taking enough action to quell the protests. They began with truckers protesting trans-border COVID-19 vaccination mandates. But they have become an anti-government movement that also targets Justin Trudeau as Liberal Prime Minister.

Trudeau invoked Monday the seldom-used Emergencies Act to allow the government to increase local police force with Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers.

Brenda Lucki, RCMP Commissioner, stated that on Tuesday she had a great meeting with Steve Bell (the acting chief of Ottawa police) and with the head of Ontario’s police.

She tweeted, “Our teams are dedicated and look forward to cooperating,” late Tuesday.

Some protestors refuse to leave. On Wednesday, there was still an abundance of trucks parking near Trudeau’s Office on Parliament Hill.

Sources have told Reuters Trudeau sought emergency powers after he was fed up with police failure to lift the blockades in Ottawa and at the border.

The police say that there are only 360 vehicles within the city centre, as opposed to 4,000 in the height of protests. There have been 33 arrests and 18 charges brought against the police.

When asked by Bill Blair, Emergencies Preparedness Minister, when Ottawa residents can expect to see order restored on Tuesday, Blair replied: “That work starts now…there’s an urgency for that response.”

Bell had earlier stated to the council that he believed the city now has the resources to end this occupation safely.

A truck driver claimed that the protesters were taking care of the town.

It was snowy when we first arrived. You can see who cleared it all up. John declined to reveal his last name and said that there was no trash. “And they’re terrorists?”

Candice Bergen was interim head of the Official Opposition Conservatives and accused Trudeau Tuesday in the House of Commons of unnecessarily employing an “unprecedented Sledgehammer”.

Trudeau replied that this was a time to show responsible leadership and not be crassly partisan.