Trucks block downtown streets as truckers and their supporters continue to protest against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine mandates, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, February 10, 2022.
Trucks block downtown streets as truckers and their supporters continue to protest against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine mandates, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, February 10, 2022. Reuters / PATRICK DOYLE

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will invoke rarely-used special measures allowing him to tackle protests that have shut some border crossings and paralyzed downtown Ottawa, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp said on Monday.

CBC said Trudeau had told legislators from his ruling Liberal Party that he would use the 1988 Emergencies Act, which allows the federal government to override the provinces and authorize special temporary measures to ensure security during national emergencies.

It has only been used once in peacetime - by Trudeau's father, former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, who invoked an earlier version of the act in 1970 after Quebec separatists kidnapped a provincial cabinet minister and a British diplomat.

The act also allows the government to send in the military but the CBC cited Trudeau as saying he had no plans to do so. Cameron Ahmad, Trudeau's communications director, declined to comment on the report.

The "Freedom Convoy" protests, started by Canadian truckers opposing a vaccinate-or-quarantine mandate for cross-border drivers, have turned into a rallying point for people opposing the policies of Trudeau's government, covering everything from pandemic restrictions to a carbon tax.

A six-day blockade of North America's busiest trade corridor in Windsor, Ontario, ended on Sunday while protests in Ottawa entered a third week.

Protesters have also shut down smaller border crossings in Alberta and Manitoba last week and, on the weekend, shut down the Pacific Highway border point in British Columbia.

Trudeau has shown reluctance to invoke the Emergencies Act to deal with previous crises, given the potential political fallout from Ottawa interfering in provincial jurisdiction. He was due to speak to the 10 provincial premiers on Monday.

Ontario premier Doug Ford, a conservative who has not always enjoyed good relations with Trudeau, told reporters the protests could not be tolerated.

"We cannot have people creating chaos at our borders, interrupting trade with the rest of the world," he said.

Ford spoke after announcing that Ontario, the most populous province, would this week remove pandemic-related capacity limits on many businesses and planned to remove proof of vaccination requirements in the province from March 1.

Removal of vaccine mandates is one of the key demands of protesters who have used trucks to block many streets in downtown Ottawa, much to the fury of residents.

A leak site said it been has been given reams of data about the donors the protests after the fundraising platform popular with supporters of the movement allegedly suffered a hack.

($1 = 1.2721 Canadian dollars)

(Writing by Amran Abocar; Editing by Paul Simao and Nick Zieminski)