Commissioner Paul Rouleau rests on his hands as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appears as a witnesses at the Public Order Emergency Commission in Ottawa, on Friday, Nov. 25, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
OTTAWA – The public inquiry probing the Liberal government’s decision to invoke the Emergencies Act in response to last winter’s weeks-long “Freedom Convoy” protest is hearing closing arguments from lawyers representing governments, police services, cities and protesters themselves.
The arguments come at the end of the final day of hearings at the Public Order Emergency Commission, which heard testimony from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau earlier today.
A lawyer for the federal government says it’s clear after six weeks of testimony that there were serious threats of violence by demonstrators, that blockades posed threats to the economic security of Canada and that there were reasonable grounds to declare a national emergency.
But not all of the parties to the inquiry agree, with a lawyer for the protesters saying that the act was government overreach and lawyers for Alberta and Saskatchewan saying provincial governments were not consulted enough on the special powers.
With many witnesses pointing fingers at law enforcement for failing to respond to the blockades earlier, police lawyers argued that it was impossible to know how demonstrations would unfold, and a lawyer for former Ottawa police chief Peter Sloly said he was a selfless leader.
The commission will hear analysis from expert witnesses next week, and commissioner Paul Rouleau is expected to provide a final report to Parliament by early next year.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 25, 2022.
