Category: Emergencies Act

Two Conservative Leadership Candidates Call for Mendicino to Step Down Over Emergencies Act Claims

Two Conservative Party leadership candidates have called for Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino to either resign or be fired over his controversial comments that the Emergencies Act was invoked based on the advice of law enforcement. “It’s crystal clear that the Minister made false statements in the House of Commons,” said Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre in…


Contradictions and Dubious Claims: Some Hard Questions Must Be Asked—and Answered—by Emergencies Act Inquiry

Commentary Assuming Justice Paul Rouleau takes his role seriously as the commissioner of a public inquiry into the use of the Emergencies Act earlier this year, it is going to be difficult for the government to justify its actions. The Emergencies Act is the most powerful piece of legislation the federal government has. Through the…


Public Safety Minister Says Police Request for Tools Led to Invoking Emergencies Act

A day after his deputy said he was “misunderstood” when saying the government invoked the Emergencies Act based on the advice from law enforcement, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said police requested certain tools that only the act could provide. “Before we invoked the Emergencies Act, we consulted extensively and meaningfully with law enforcement precisely…


Public Safety Minister ‘Misunderstood’ in Saying Emergencies Act Invoked on Advice of Law Enforcement: Deputy Minister

Federal Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino has repeatedly said that invoking the Emergencies Act in February was done based on the advice of law enforcement, but according to a senior public safety official, he has been “misunderstood” in saying that the act was requested specifically. “I believe that the intention that he was trying to…


Former Ottawa Police Chief Says He Did Not Request Emergencies Act

Former Ottawa Police Service (OPS) Chief Peter Sloly said on Thursday neither he nor anyone in the service he directed asked the federal government to invoke the Emergencies Act to deal with the Freedom Convoy. “I did not make that request. I’m not aware of anybody else in the Ottawa Police Service who did,” he…


Joe Oliver: Canada and the US Share a Litany of Harmful Policies

Commentary Victor Davis Hanson raised an alarm in a recent column about a litany of unchartered developments besetting the United States that risk becoming unimaginable. Hanson believes the traditional bedrocks of the American system are dissolving, including a stable economy, energy independence, hallowed universities, and a credible criminal justice system. Many of these damaging assaults…


Trudeau Defends Invoking Emergencies Act as Bergen Says Justification Is ‘Falling Apart’

With recent revelations that neither the RCMP nor the Ottawa police requested that the federal government invoke the Emergencies Act, Conservative interim leader Candice Bergen said the Liberals’ argument for invoking the order is “very quickly falling apart.” Both Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino have repeatedly said the act was…


Trudeau Defends Declaring Emergency as Bergen Says Justification Is ‘Falling Apart’

With recent revelations that neither the RCMP nor the Ottawa police requested that the federal government invoke the Emergencies Act, Conservative interim leader Candice Bergen said the Liberals’ argument for invoking the order is “very quickly falling apart.” Both Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino have repeatedly said the act was…


Ottawa Police Chief Says He Didn’t Request Emergencies Act

The Ottawa Police Service (OPS) did not request that the federal government invoke the Emergencies Act to deal with the Freedom Convoy protest in Ottawa this winter, its interim chief told a House committee on May 17. “We were involved in conversations with our partners and with the political ministries; we didn’t make a direct…


Ryan Moffatt: Lots of Blame to Go Around for Crass Public Behaviour, But Legislation Is Not the Solution

Commentary Although the profanity and hostility directed at NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh by a small group of protesters in Peterborough last week was ugly and alarming, a share of the blame must be laid at the feet of federal leaders, who have repeatedly sought political capital through divisive rhetoric. These leaders have shown a profound…