Fox News propagandists described Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau as a tyrant and an authoritarian after he invoked emergency powers on February 14 to disrupt right-wing protesters who had occupied parts of the capital city of Ottawa and blockaded international border crossings. But Trudeau’s revocation of those powers nine days later has gone unmentioned on the network.

Fox devoted 27 hours and 27 minutes of coverage to the so-called “Freedom Convoy” of Canadian truckers and their supporters, which originally assembled in January to oppose a COVID-19 vaccine requirement for truckers who crossed the U.S. border, but subsequently demanded that the Canadian government “end all mandates” related to the pandemic. The protests effectively shut down downtown Ottawa for weeks by using vehicles to block traffic and snarled supply chains by stopping traffic on several border crossings, while Fox hosts cheered them on and encouraged similar actions in the U.S.

Fox’s hosts, who have relentlessly undermined the U.S. vaccination campaign, typically ignored that these protests were deeply unpopular in Canada. Trudeau came under intense pressure to take action as the ongoing occupations and blockades became more disruptive. 

Trudeau invoked Canada’s Emergencies Act on February 14, providing law enforcement and financial institutions with special powers to help end the occupations and blockades for 30 days. Those powers were expansive, and his use of the act drew some criticism from the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and the opposition party. But Trudeau was an elected leader acting under a specific statute which granted those emergency powers for a limited period, and those powers had to be confirmed by a vote of the House of Commons within seven days. They ultimately were, with the support of not only Trudeau’s Liberal Party but also the New Democratic Party.

Nonetheless, right-wing Fox propagandists who likely want to prevent American government agencies from responding to similar planned actions in the United States decried Trudeau as an “authoritarian” and a dictator who had “suspended democracy” and turned Canada – Canada! – into a “fascist state.”

Fox’s star host Tucker Carlson – who in 2020 called for the Trump administration to treat activists who topple statues as “domestic terrorists” and to arrest unnamed “leaders” of antifa and Black Lives Matter – was Trudeau’s most fervent critic on the network. Carlson also devoted more time to the Canadian protests than any other host, giving them 2 hours and 29 minutes of airtime since mid-January.

Carlson initially responded to Trudeau’s invocation of the Emergencies Act by saying he had “suspended democracy and declared Canada a dictatorship.” Over the following week, he described Trudeau as “Canada's Maximum Leader, its strongman, its caudillo, its potentate” and “the dictator of Canada”; claimed that he had “ended democracy in Canada” and become “the unchallenged dictator of Canada”; argued that Canada had “descended into tyranny” and become a “fascist government”; and said that Trudeau had “declare[d] martial law,” assumed “dictatorial powers,” and intended to “remain in full control of Canada indefinitely."

Carlson’s furious response to Trudeau’s actions came in stark contrast to his nightly apologias for Russian autocrat Vladimir Putin over the same period.

Sean Hannity, the Fox host who spent the second-most time on the protests with 2 hours and 13 minutes, said on February 14 that Trudeau’s invocation of the Emergencies Act signals “an all-out authoritarian, dictatorial crackdown” and that the prime minister “is acting like an authoritarian thug.” Over the following days, Hannity frequently criticized the “all-out authoritarian crackdown” by an “authoritarian dictator,” and compared Trudeau to Putin. 

For Fox host Laura Ingraham, using the Emergencies Act was a sign that “Canada's moving toward martial law” and doing “what dictatorships do,” and Trudeau was engaged in “dictatorial moves” and “authoritarian tactics” while making it “clear that democracy won't be returning anytime soon.” 

Other Fox figures described Trudeau variously as “acting like a dictator,” turning Canada “into a fascist state,” and enacting a “tyrannical government.”

These claims were incredibly overheated. On February 23, with the occupation successfully quashed and the blockades ended, Trudeau revoked the use of emergency powers, something that generally does not happen in tyrannical authoritarian dictatorships.

But do Fox’s viewers know that? Not if they get their news solely from the network. No one at Fox has mentioned Trudeau’s revocation of emergency powers, and the Canadian protests have garnered only a few brief mentions since then. True, major stories like Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and President Joe Biden’s nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to fill a Supreme Court seat overlap with that period – but surely the network could spare some time to let its audience know that the Canadian “dictatorship” has ended.

On February 22, Carlson told his viewers that Trudeau’s “allies extended martial law” – an apparent reference to the House of Commons voting to approve the assumption of emergency powers, as required by statute. The Fox host added ominously that a member of the prime minister’s party had “argued that a permanent state of emergency is absolutely necessary.” Carlson hasn’t mentioned Canada since.

That “state of emergency'' ended the next day. Why doesn’t Carlson want his audience to know?