The White House defended vaccine mandates as the “Freedom Convoy” rolls toward a third weekend in Ottawa and talks emerge of a similar protest taking place in Washington, D.C.
The Freedom Convoy protests have spread across Canada, and protesters temporarily shut down the Ambassador Bridge linking Detroit and Windsor, Ontario. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is facing heat for not meeting with the group, which has left plenty of controversy in its wake.
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The protests started as a call to eliminate vaccine requirements for crossing the long U.S.-Canada border, a policy White House press secretary Jen Psaki defended on Tuesday.
“Vaccination requirements have been implemented with no disruptions, have helped increase vaccinations,” she said. “These requirements help protect more people from COVID-19, and there’s been zero indication across these industries that they would lead to disruptions, including on this policy.”
WATCH: TRUDEAU FACES HEAT FOR NOT MEETING WITH FREEDOM CONVOY PROTESTERS
If anything is causing disruptions, Psaki added, it’s the protests.
“We know that our requirements work. We have not seen a disruption as it relates to requirements to the industry,” she said. “Where we have seen disruptions has been related to these convoys and protests. Everybody can peacefully protest — we fully support that — but it’s important to note where the disruption is occurring.”
Psaki was also asked about reports that a similar protest could occur in Washington, D.C., beginning March 1, the same day as President Joe Biden’s State of the Union speech, responding that she’d “have to check with our team on security preparations.”
In an emergency debate on Monday, Trudeau said that “this pandemic has sucked” and that everyone is tired of COVID-19 restrictions, but he added that Canadians chose vaccines as the way to fight the pandemic.
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“I know people are tired, but we’ve seen it through the various [COVID-19] waves and their receding over the past months [that] these pandemic restrictions are not forever,” Trudeau said while addressing Parliament. “But we have to make sure that our shared values and the idea of Canadians being there for each other, supporting one another, respecting each other — that has to be here to stay.”
