Even before Justice Paul Rouleau had a full day of public hearings under his belt, Justin Trudeau was publicly defending his invocation of the Emergencies Act.
A normal prime minister, one who followed our laws, constitution and legal traditions, would have said he couldn’t comment while the inquiry was on.
Even before Justice Paul Rouleau had a full day of public hearings under his belt, Justin Trudeau was publicly defending his invocation of the Emergencies Act. A normal prime minister, one who followed our laws, constitution and legal traditions, would have said he couldn’t comment while the...
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Instead, for the second day in a row, Trudeau was pleading his case in the court of public opinion.
“We knew from the very beginning, that invoking the Emergencies Act is a big step that had never been done before,” Trudeau said in Hamilton. “But given these unprecedented illegal protests, we needed to take action. We took it in a way that was measured, that was responsible that was time limited.”
It’s not up to the Prime Minister to declare, as the inquiry into his use of the Emergencies Act begins, that his actions were measured, responsible and time limited. Were this a trial, Trudeau could have been found in contempt of court for such utterances. Instead, he’s just showing he has no shame.
Even before Justice Paul Rouleau had a full day of public hearings under his belt, Justin Trudeau was publicly defending his invocation of the Emergencies Act. A normal prime minister, one who followed our laws, constitution and legal traditions, would have said he couldn’t comment while the...
apple.news
The purpose of this inquiry is supposed to be to look into the government’s actions and whether they are justified. That’s what the Emergencies Act requires, but the terms of reference Trudeau issued to Justice Rouleau back in April show he wants the judge to look into the behavior and financing of the protesters.
“Uncovering the truth is an important goal,” Justice Rouleau said in his opening statement.
Getting the truth out of any government is difficult — they all like to keep things hidden — but the Trudeau government is the antithesis of the open and transparent government he promised before he was elected. Justice Rouleau his team at the Commission will need to work hard to ensure the truth does come out and that “the circumstances that led to the declaration being issued” are examined as the law requires.
That means examining the government’s actions and their reasons for invoking the act in the first place.
Even before Justice Paul Rouleau had a full day of public hearings under his belt, Justin Trudeau was publicly defending his invocation of the Emergencies Act. A normal prime minister, one who followed our laws, constitution and legal traditions, would have said he couldn’t comment while the...
apple.news
Justice Rouleau undertakes this job with a partisan cloud hanging over him, one that I hope he can disperse.
Given his past as a key staffer to former Liberal prime minister John Turner, many people have suspicions.
His time working for Turner though is more than 30 years ago. His time as a low-level Liberal donor – just a few hundred dollars in the mid-90s – is also a long time ago but gives some pause for concern. Let’s hope that he proves his impartiality by pushing the government to get to the truth.
According to the law, a
Public Order Emergency, which is what the Trudeau government invoked, is “an emergency that arises from threats to the security of Canada and that is so serious as to be a national emergency.” I’ve never felt the convoy protests in Ottawa met that threshold.
Remember that the blockade of the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor had been cleared before the Trudeau government even met to discuss the Emergencies Act. The much smaller blockade in Coutts was being dealt with by the RCMP in Alberta.
In Ottawa, the protests had lingered for weeks because there was a lack of leadership at the municipal level. Once Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly “resigned” and someone new was put in charge, the streets were cleared.
There was no reason to suspend civil liberties, give police extraordinary powers that they didn’t even use, or to freeze the bank accounts of protest participants. Regardless of your view of the protests, and I told them to go home after the first weekend, invoking this act is something that should only be done under extreme circumstances.
The Trudeau government failed to adequately defend their actions in Parliament, let’s see if they can when the truth comes out at the Commission.
