February 2023
On 17 February, Justice Paul Rouleau released his Public Order Emergency Commission report, related to the invocation of the Emergencies Act in February 2022, and it’s a mixed bag.
While I disagree with Justice Rouleau’s finding that invoking the Emergencies Act was justified, I’m pleased to hear that, amongst other points, that he at least advised that he did so reluctantly, and that invoking the Emergencies Act could have been avoided, if not for the failures of policing and actions from all levels of government, along with Trudeau’s inflammatory statements against the convoy members.
Many things could be said, and many political commentators will analyze and dissect this report better that I can, but I will leave it at this: Windsor was able to dismantle the blockade at the Ambassador Bridge and Toronto was successfully able to keep their trucker protest from entrenching themselves, both without the use of the federal Emergencies Act. They both did it using things like basic police work, good intelligence gathering and effective crowd control management tactics (was the provincial E.A. even needed?).
Thank you, Your Honour, Justice Rouleau, for your work on this report. Let’s just hope that politicians listen and that no future governments ever feel the need to invoke the Emergencies Act under such flimsy pretenses. The precedent has been set and we should all be worried about that.
Also read:
Trudeau Blinks, Revokes Emergencies Act – Canadian Military History (militarybruce.com)
GUNTER: Report on use of Emergencies Act is Liberal-biased | Toronto Sun
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Sources: Emergencies Act inquiry Commissioner Paul Rouleau’s full statement | CTV News, FULL TEXT: Report on PM’s use of Emergencies Act to end Freedom Convoy | National Post, LILLEY UNLEASHED: Emergencies Act was justified, according to commission | Toronto Sun, EDITORIAL: Time to amend Emergencies Act | Toronto Sun, Public Order Emergency Commission – Wikipedia.
