Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in February that both the Ottawa Police Service (OPS) and Ontario Police (OPP) could have cleared out Freedom Convoy protesters without emergency powers. on Wednesday refuted a recent challenge to the federal government’s use of the emergency law. It emerged that the RCMP Commissioner had said not all options had been exhausted hours before the act was put into use.
Prime Minister Trudeau testifies before the Public Order Emergency Committee (POEC), which is investigating whether the federal government’s use of the emergency law was justified, during questioning in the House of Commons on Oct. 26. He said he was “enthusiastic” about it.
“[The Emergencies Act] It was necessary and responsibly done,” Trudeau said.
“That’s why it’s all called out so that Canadians can know, impartially and nonpartisanly, why it was the right thing to do and why it was done to a limited extent. We launched a public inquiry to find out why, and it helped put an end to the illegal truck driver profession.”
OPS interim director Steve Bell told POEC on Oct. 25 that without additional powers granted by the Emergency Act, police could have cleared freedom protesters in Ottawa. rice field.
“Without the emergency law being invoked, the OPS, OPP and RCMP, as part of a unified command, would have tried to wipe out the protests,” Bell said.
The federal government invoked the Emergency Act on the afternoon of February 14th. Hours earlier, RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lackey informed the Liberal Cabinet that it had not exhausted “all the tools already available through existing legislation.”
Former OPP senior officer Carson Pardy recently told the POEC that the Emergency Act was helpful but not necessary.
“We had some help [the provincial declaration of emergency] But in my humble opinion, without either of these laws, we would have reached the same solution with the plans we had.
‘requirement’
Responding to a question about Lucky’s Feb. 14 email that no emergency law was needed, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said before a parliamentary committee that he had authorized emergency powers to end the Freedom Convoy protests. said it did not change her previous testimony when stating that a .
“[Lucki] Speaking to reporters at the Capitol on October 25, Mendicino made it very clear that emergency legislation was needed to resolve the situation on the ground.
Lucky told House Public Safety Committee In February, emergency laws allowed the RCMP to ban additional protesters from participating in the Freedom Convoy in downtown Ottawa, she said, while ordinary laws could not.
“Operationally, it was all about reducing our footprint in Ottawa,” she told the commission on Feb. 25, noting that the RCMP used the emergency law “as a major deterrent to people coming into the area.” I added that I did.
“We used the measures that were in the Emergency Act and other powers that we had,” she said. Said.
Mendicino also told reporters on Oct. 25 that the federal government “listened carefully to the arrangement.” [of] Advice I received at the time
“We have consulted with various partners, states, territories,” he said. “But we made the decision because it was necessary.”
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