Justin Trudeau

In a press release on the Prime Minister's website, Trudeau said on Tuesday that Canada is imposing new measures on 62 close associates of the Russian government and a defence sector entity, Xinhua news agency reported. Among the individuals sanctioned are high-ranking Russian government officials, including Russian federal governors and regional heads, their family members, and senior officials of currently sanctioned defence sector entities, according to the press release.

Canadian PM Trudeau said that he would be following public health guidelines and isolating, Xinhua news agency reported. "I feel okay, but that's because I got my shots. So, if you haven't, get vaccinated. And if you can, get boosted. Let's protect our healthcare system, each other, and ourselves," he said. Last week Trudeau travelled to the US city of Los Angeles for the Summit of the Americas, meeting a number of top officials, including US President Joe Biden.

At a press conference on Wednesday, Trudeau made the announcement to end the use of the Emergencies Act which was passed by the House of Commons. "Immediate emergency situation is over," he said, stressing that the decision was made after careful consideration, Xinhua news agency reported.

Responding to the Trudeau government' crackdown on crypto funding of the truckers’ protest, Musk tweeted a picture of Adolf Hitler captioned “Stop Comparing me to Justin” on the top of the photo and “(At least) I had a budget” at its bottom. The tweet had generated over 35,000 likes before it was take down.

Addressing the media here on Monday, Trudeau said that he invoked the Emergencies Act to give the federal government extra and "temporary" powers to handle the issue, adding the move targets to those areas in need, not the whole country, reports Xinhua news agency.

“Blockades, illegal demonstrations are unacceptable, and are negatively impacting businesses and manufacturers… We must do everything to bring them to an end,” PM Trudeau said in the Parliament. “(The protesters are) trying to blockade our economy, our democracy and our fellow citizens' daily lives… It has to stop… "You can't end a pandemic with blockades.... You need to end it with science. You need to end it with public health measures,” he further asserted.

In the elections held on Monday, Trudeau's ruling Liberal Party again ended up 14 seats short of the 170-mark in the 338-member House of Commons. The Jagmeet Singh-led New Democratic Party (NDP) will again hold the balance of power as it increased its tally from 24 to 27. The main opposition Conservative Party ended up with a tally of 122 seats one up from the dissolved House. Among the 17 Indo-Canadian winners are Jagmeet Singh, former Minister Tim Uppal and three current Cabinet Ministers Harjit Singh Sajjan, Bardish Chagger and Anita Anand.

Trudeau's Liberal Party and the Erin O'Toole-led Conservative Party have been locked neck-and-neck and bounced back and forth in the lead position, with each claiming between 30 per cent and 32 per cent support in public polling, reports Xinhua news agency. A win for either would result in a minority government -- and for the governing Liberal Party, not the majority Trudeau sought when he called the snap election on August 15.

The Liberal Prime Minister gambled on an election he did not have to call. If the Conservatives win, he'll suffer the worst kind of bad beat. And if the Liberals scrape by, he'll still take heat for Canadians calling his bluff, the report said. Trudeau's proposition that the election needed to happen now, two years early and in the midst of an ongoing pandemic, has drawn repeated scrutiny

An election is needed now to allow Canadians to "weigh in on how we will end this pandemic" and "choose how we finish this", said Trudeau, who positioned his governing Liberal Party as best suited to continue the work it has done, particularly in obtaining enough vaccines for everyone eligible to receive a dose, reports Xinhua news agency.