Cabinet “pissed away our credibility” when dealing with the Freedom Convoy, according to the prime minister’s parliamentary secretary. Liberal MP Greg Fergus (Hull-Aylmer, Que.) made the remark in a text message critical of cabinet, according to Blacklock’s Reporter.
“Put a solid RCMP or Canadian Armed forces spokesman before the press, since we politicians have pissed away our credibility,” Fergus wrote in a February 12 text to his caucus colleagues. The comments followed a teleconference on the Parliament Hill protests with Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino.
“Marco is talking, talking, talking at the meeting with National Capital Region caucus,” wrote Fergus. “Is integrated command the best we can offer? F—k.” Declaring a national emergency “is exactly where people are at,” wrote Fergus. “It is where I am.”
“Consensus from our call: 1) use Emergencies Act,” wrote Fergus. Cabinet invoked the Emergencies Act just 48 hours later.
Fergus did not elaborate on why military commanders were a suitable substitute for the cabinet to appear in charge. Internal documents reveal that despite police concluding that protesters were unarmed, at least two cabinet members supported giving the military a role.
In a videoconference on February 13 with bank executives, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland expressed that she “couldn’t agree more” with the recommendation to send in armed soldiers. In the meeting’s minutes, Freeland was quoted as saying, “This is indeed a crisis.”
“It is a threat to our democracy and to peace, order and good government.” Freeland said.
One unidentified banker was quoted: “Canada’s reputation is at risk. We need to show the world proactively we won’t let this happen again and that our trade corridors will remain open. We should think about putting the military in place to keep the border crossings moving even after the protesters are removed to send a clear signal.”
“Couldn’t agree more with those points,” replied Minister Freeland. “We must make clear that one, we will resolve this, and two, we won’t let this happen again.”
Four days after the Freedom Convoy arrived in Ottawa and started jamming up traffic in downtown Ottawa, Attorney General David Lametti already wanted military action. In a text exchange with Minister Mendicino he said he supports deploying the army.
In a February 2 text exchange with Minister Mendicino also supported deployment of the army. “You need to get the police to move and the Canadian Armed Forces if necessary,” texted Lametti. “People are looking to us for leadership and not stupid people.”
“How many tanks are you asking for?” replied Mendicino. “I just want to ask Anita how many we’ve got on hand.” Lametti replied, “I reckon one will do!!”
Anita Anand, the minister of defence, stated during her testimony before the Public Order Emergency Commission on November 23 that she had never thought to order military to remove protesters from Parliament Hill.
“The Canadian Armed Forces is the force of last resort,” testified Anand. “Therefore we were not considering deploying tanks in any number.”
