On February 14th, 2022 Justin Trudeau, Chrystia Freeland, Marco Mendicino, David Lametti, and Bill Blair (missing from photo) stood in front of Canada via televised announcement invoked the Emergency Measures Act for the first time since it’s inception in 1988. Since then, multiple court challenges, a parliamentary inquiry, and a parliamentary committee have brought forth serious questions about it’s legality and necessity.
Marco Mendicino, Canada’s current Minister Of Public Safety claimed on numerous occasions that police had asked for the act to be invoked. These claims were later found to be false, as the police forces involved at the time have both confirmed that this was not the case.
More recently, a court challenge by the Justice Center For Constitutional Freedoms revealed a bounty of documents relating to the invocation. Although these documents had been redacted, one interesting detail has emerged. There was a deal in the works between Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson and the Freedom Convoy 2022 organizers.
Lawyer Keith Wilson recently posted written communications from Watson, dated Saturday February 12th, 2022 and signed by Mayor Watson himself. In this communication, Mayor Watson agreed to wait until noon on Monday February 14th to see “clear evidence” that the convoy would depart residential areas, while acknowledging that it could take 24 to 72 hours to complete the task.
Justin Trudeau announced the invocation of the Emergency Measures Act at approx. 4:30PM on February 14th, even though it was acknowledged by Mayor Watson that a clearing of the residential areas could take until Thursday that week. At this point, I find it important to mention that Global news reported that some of the trucks had indeed moved by the deadline.
The reason this is important is because Mark Gerretsen, MP for Kingston and the Islands, Ontario, recently tweeted that the “deal” had already fallen through when the Emergency Measures Act was invoked. A statement now proven to be untrue. It is also important to note that Mark Gerretsen has already had to apologize for spreading misinformation regarding CPC leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre.
Given the timeline of events and the documents provided, it very much appears that Trudeau didn’t simply jump the gun on the Emergencies Act, but invoked it while a breakthrough deal was not only in place, but being acted upon in good faith by the Freedom Convoy.