The federal government plans to ramp up its response to a growing uprising over vaccine mandates.

This morning, CBC News reported that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told the Liberal caucus that his government will invoke the Emergencies Act. The national broadcaster cited unnamed sources who were "not authorized to speak publicly".

According to these sources, Trudeau will not dispatch the Canadian Armed Forces.

The Emergencies Act grants the federal government tremendous leeway to respond to an urgent and critical situation of a temporary nature that:

• (a) seriously endangers the lives, health or safety of Canadians and is of such proportions or nature as to exceed the capacity or authority of a province to deal with it, or

• (b) seriously threatens the ability of the Government of Canada to preserve the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of Canada,

It's invoked to address situations that cannot be effectively dealt with under any other law of Canada.

The caucus meeting came after Trudeau held another meeting last night with the Incident Response Group. It's a committee that includes unnamed cabinet ministers, which is convened in the event of a national crisis.

"We covered further actions the government can take to end the blockades and occupations," Trudeau tweeted, "We'll keep working urgently on this—to protect jobs, public safety, our neighbourhoods, and our economy."

https://twitter.com/JustinTrudeau/status/1493071646676201474

The Ambassador Bridge has reopened after Windsor police cleared away protesters on February 13. Surrey RCMP said on February 13 that its officers arrested four demonstrators in connection with protests near the Pacific Highway border crossing.

If there's a declaration of a "public order emergency", the cabinet can issue orders regulating or prohibiting:

• (i) any public assembly that may reasonably be expected to lead to a breach of the peace,

• (ii) travel to, from or within any specified area, or

• (iii) the use of specified property.