Deputy minister claims Mendicino was “misunderstood” about police asking for Emergencies Act
Apparently Mendicino was “misunderstood” when he repeatedly said law enforcement requested the government to invoke the Emergencies Act to quash the Freedom Convoy Protest, according to Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino’s deputy minister
When being questioned at the special Joint Committee on the Declaration of Emergency back in April Mendicino said “The advice we received was to invoke the Emergencies Act,”
This claim has been denied several times by policing leaders, from the RCMP commissioner to the Ottawa police chief.
Public safety deputy minister Rob Stewart told the special Joint Committee on the Declaration of Emergency, the committee to focus on and dig into why Trudeau used the Emergencies Act, that he believed Mendicino “was trying to express was that law enforcement asked for the tools that were contained in the Emergencies Act.” ”
Mendicino referred to alleged law enforcement requests for the Emergencies Act in several media and House of Commons statements dating back to February.
Holly Doan, a publisher of Blacklock’s Reporter, identified 11 instances in which Mendicino claimed cabinet was acting on police advice.
“We saw borders shut, we saw Canadians laid off, and we saw our communities and our neighbourhoods in danger. That is the reason why we had to invoke the Emergencies Act, and we did so on the basis of non-partisan, professional advice from law enforcement,” said Mendicino in February.
Mendicino said in April that the Emergencies Act was “put forward after police officials told us they needed this special power.”
In May, Mendicino claimed that “at the recommendation of police, we invoked the Emergencies Act to protect Canadians because keeping Canadians safe will always be this government’s priority.”
According to RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki, while the government consulted with law enforcement about invoking the Act, the RCMP did not request it.
“There was never a question of requesting the Emergencies Act,” said Lucki, also stating clearly to her knowledge there wasn’t any police authority that had made the request for the Emergencies Act.
During another parliamentary committee meeting investigating Trudeau’s use of the Emergencies Act, Ottawa’s interim Police Chief Steve Bell told them his department did not make a direct request to the Trudeau government for the Emergencies Act to be used.
Ottawa’s interim Police Chief Steve Bell told a parliamentary committee that his department had not made a direct request to the Trudeau government for the Emergencies Act to be invoked.
“We were involved in conversations with our partners and with the political ministries,” said Bell, adding, “we didn’t make a direct request for the Emergencies Act.”
Former Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly also testified to the committee that he never requested the invocation of the Emergencies Act.
