Did the Trudeau government have to bring in the Emergencies Act, or did it have options?
On Thursday, as he opened his public inquiry into the Trudeau government’s invocation of the Emergencies Act last February, Justice Paul Rouleau said his focus would be “squarely on the decision of the federal government. Why did it declare an emergency? How did it use its powers? And were those actions appropriate?”
The right to protest is the right to go to the public square to share an opinion – even if your cause is unpopular or questionable or just plain wrong. It does not include the right to take over roads for anything more than a brief march. That’s true even if your cause is popular, or the powers that be are sympathetic.
To ensure that governments are reluctant to declare a national emergency, the law includes an obligation to convene a postemergency public inquiry. It began this week, and is to issue a report in February. In his opening remarks, Justice Rouleau said the public “has a right to know what happened.” Indeed they do. They should learn:
Did police lack the resources or the legal tools to clear the streets? Did they need the Emergencies Act? Did they request it? Several border blockades, from British Columbia and Alberta to the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, Ont., were ended by police, albeit with difficulty, prior to Feb. 14.
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