Under the act, Ottawa could redirect medical supplies — masks, ventilators and COVID-19 testing devices — to pandemic hot spots in dire need. The Emergencies Act replaced the War Measures Act, notoriously invoked by Trudeau's father, then prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, during the FLQ crisis. Sources say there is some reluctance in the Prime Minister's Office to invoke the Emergencies Act, given the optics involved in two Trudeaus triggering such sweeping laws. The Emergencies Act includes some major depatures from the War Measures Act, however — most notably the requirement that the government needs Parliament's participation in invoking the act. The Liberal government also would have to answer tough questions about its use of the Emergencies Act once the crisis is over.

Source: CBC News April 09, 2020 17:15 UTC