Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said today that an “exponential” economic threat posed by border blockades last February was a key factor in the government’s invocation of the Emergencies Act. She told the inquiry into the government’s decision that Canada was already facing several serious economic challenges when the situation erupted, including supply-chain problems and U.S. protectionism. [node:read-more:link]
An additional $1.6 billion in long-term support for communities facing the weather-related effects of climate change is a key element of a new federal adaptation strategy announced today by Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair. The funding mostly tops up existing programs but not major capital projects. [node:read-more:link]
Justice Minister David Lametti today defended the government's decision to invoke the Emergencies Act to deal with anti-vaccination protests last winter, but he declined to go into detail on the legal opinion the government received. He was testifying before the commission of inquiry into the decision, but a government had given notice that the minister would refuse to answer “all questions that would delve into areas of solicitor-client privilege.” [node:read-more:link]
The RCMP warned Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino during last winter’s “freedom” border blockade in southern Alberta that some protestors were willing “to go down with the cause.” He told the Emergencies Act inquiry today that it was “a threshold moment for me” as the government considered invoking the legislation because “lives literally hung in the balance.” [node:read-more:link]
An earthquake in Indonesia's West Java killed at least 268 people, many of them children, with 151 still missing, disaster relief officials said today. While earthquakes of magnitude 6 or 7 are relatively common in Indonesia and occur mostly at depth along offshore fault lines, the latest, registered at 5.6, occurred at a relatively shallow depth in the densely-populated area. [node:read-more:link]
The federal government’s decision to invoke the Emergencies Act to deal with “freedom” protests in Ottawa and at two border crossings last February was supported by Canadian Security Intelligence Director David Vigneault. Testifying today before commission of inquiry into the decision, he said that while the blockades did not meet the agency’s technical definition of a national security threat, he told Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that the evolving situation “required” action. [node:read-more:link]
Parts of the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear station in Ukraine were damaged today by artillery fire and both countries blamed each others’ forces. “As I have said many times before, you're playing with fire,” said Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, called for an immediate ceasefire. [node:read-more:link]
The Canada Border Services Agency received a death threat against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and inquiries about how to import bullets during last winter's “Freedom Convoy.” Former CBSA President John Ossowski told the Emergencies Act inquiry November 16 that the threats showed up on its online “contact us” form. [node:read-more:link]
RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki testified today at the inquiry into the government’s invocation of the Emergencies Act last February that some federal politicians and bureaucrats were frustrated by what they perceived to be the Ottawa Police Service’s inability to deal with the “Freedom Convoy” blockade. [node:read-more:link]
A day before it invoked the Emergencies Act last winter to end the “Freedom Convoy” blockade of downtown Ottawa, the government was told by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service that the protest was not a threat to national security. Nor, according to CSIS documents released today by the public inquiry into the government’s action, was the protest supported by foreign state interests. [node:read-more:link]
A day before the federal government invoked the Emergencies Act against “freedom” protestors in Ottawa February 14, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service warned cabinet of a possibility that the law would “likely increase the number of Canadians who hold extreme anti-government views and push some toward the belief that violence is the only solution to what they perceive as a broken system and government.” Details became public November 7 during the ongoing commission of inquiry into the government’s decision. [node:read-more:link]
A former member of the RCMP and Prime Minister’s personal protection unit says he did not leak the PM’s schedule ahead of last winter’s “Freedom Convoy” gridlock in Ottawa. The allegation was in a redacted Ontario Provincial Police report to the inquiry into the use of the Emergencies Act but Daniel Bulford, who resigned from the RCMP last December because he disagreed with the government’s vaccination mandate, adamantly rejected the suggestion. [node:read-more:link]
Key organizers of last winter’s gridlocking “Freedom Convoy” in Ottawa have told the inquiry into the government’s use of the Emergencies Act to end the protest that some participants evidently were more interested in gaining access to millions of dollars in donations than anything else. [node:read-more:link]
The Ottawa Police Service is investigating allegations that some officers leaked intelligence to organizers of last winter’s “Freedom Convoy” which gridlocked the city’s downtown for weeks. The investigation follows testimony before the inquiry into the government’s use of the Emergencies Act by a lawyer representing some protest organizers. [node:read-more:link]
An investigation is under way into reports that a former member of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's security team may have leaked the PM’s schedule, The issue came to light November 3 during the inquiry into the government’s use of the Emergency Act to end the “Freedom Convoy” protest in Ottawa last winter. A redacted intelligence document suggested that the officer, who resigned from the RCMP in 2021, believed that the government’s mandatory coronavirus vaccinations were unconstitutional. [node:read-more:link]
