Ontario’s Conservative premier, Doug Ford, said he supports emergency measures enacted by Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to stamp out protests that have blocked trade and paralyzed the nation’s capital.

“It’s critical that all levels of government work together. It’s critical that our police forces have every single tool needed to resolve the situation and restore order,” Ford said Tuesday at a news conference in Hamilton, Ontario. “I don’t care about the politics.”

Trudeau invoked sweeping emergency powers on Monday, giving the government the right to ban public assembly in specific locations and requisition property for managing the situation, including tow trucks. The measures also include expanding money-laundering provisions and allowing banks to freeze accounts linked to demonstrators without requiring a court order.

Ford said the new measures need to “extremely targeted” and used “not one minute longer” than required to end the protests.

“I believe in freedoms and liberties in this country and I’d never, ever want to squash that,” Ford said at Tuesday’s news conference.

Ontario, Canada’s most-populous province, plans to lift proof-of-vaccination requirements and capacity limits on indoor public settings on March 1. Canadians are all exhausted by the pandemic, Ford said, but the protests risk permanently damaging the country’s reputation abroad.

Police did “great work” ending the blockade of the Ambassador Bridge connecting Windsor, Ontario with Detroit, Ford said, adding that he hopes similar progress can be made in Ottawa in the next few days or even sooner. The premier also pleaded with protesters in Ottawa to bring their children home, saying it is making it extremely difficult for police to take action, while calling for unity in the country.

“I’ve never seen this country and this province so divided -- it’s affected friendships, it’s affected coworkers, it’s affected families,” Ford said. “And I can tell you guys, I faced all three of them, and man, it’s challenging, especially on the family side.”