Everything on table to end illegal protests: Trudeau

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says everything is on the table to bring illegal blockades to an end — but he can’t say when that will happen because of fears of violence.

Trudeau said the people still illegally blocking streets in Ottawa and border crossings to the United States must go home or face increasingly severe consequences that could ruin their lives.

“They’re endangering jobs, there are threats to our economy, and public safety," Trudeau told a media briefing Friday.

“The blockades are hurting small businesses and neighbourhoods. At the border, they’re impacting trade, supply chains and manufacturing. The people these blockades are hurting are everyday families, auto assembly workers, farmers, truckers and blue-collar Canadians.”

Trudeau said the blockades have to end “… for the good of all Canadians.”

Ontario is moving to invoke a state of emergency so it can hike fines and introduce jail time for people refusing to leave the blockades. Trudeau called the move responsible and necessary.

“The absolute safest way for this to end is for everyone to return to your communities, now,” Trudeau said.

Ontario’s move to a state of emergency comes two weeks after the first big rigs began snarling streets in downtown Ottawa and amid some clear tensions between the federal and provincial governments about who is responsible for solving the crisis.

Ontario Transport Minister Caroline Mulroney says on Twitter that the province acted because the federal government wouldn’t.

Ontario meanwhile is refusing to participate in daily meetings the federal government set up with the city of Ottawa and provincial government this week in a bid to find solutions to the impasse.

Funding dilemma

As for funding for protesters coming from U.S. sources, an anti-money laundering expert says attempting to stop funds going to those blockading Parliament Hill and several border crossings is like playing a game of whack-a-mole.

Matthew McGuire says the order recently approved by an Ontario court to freeze millions raised through GiveSendGo will be effective at least temporarily in stopping those funds flowing into organizers' hands.

However, he says nothing can prevent another campaign from popping up, which would present the same challenge for governments and police.

So far, around US$8.8 million has been raised through a campaign page on GiveSendGo, a Christian fundraising platform, and more than $700,000 has rolled in through another page on the website.

The campaigns were quickly put together last week after GoFundMe cancelled an earlier fundraiser that had gathered more than $10 million, once the website determined the protest in Ottawa had turned into an "occupation."

With files from The Canadian Press