Jim Watson, the mayor of Ottawa, testified before the Public Order Emergency Commission that neither he nor the City of Ottawa had asked for the use of the Emergencies Act.
He stated that neither he nor anyone else was informed or consulted about the federal government’s plan to use the unprecedented step to invoke the Emergencies Act. This appears to go against the consultation requirement under section 25 of the Emergencies Act, which Saskatchewan is taking part in the inquiry to hold the federal government accountable.
Trudeau said the use of the Emergencies Act was targeted, however failed to consult with the mayor of the target city and provincial Premiers as well.
Only two City of Ottawa representatives testified on Day 3: Watson and Kim Ayotte, manager of Ottawa emergency services.
Watson did not request the Emergencies Act, but afterwards he said he “very much supported” it.
“No one had raised the Emergencies Act with us,” Watson said. “When it was invoked and I was briefed on what its powers were, I thought this was a very positive step to getting this resolved once and for all.”
Morris said Saskatchewan’s position is that “the federal government had already determined that a nationwide emergency would be declared before the first Minister’s call on February 14th” and that “the call was not so much about Consulting as it was about telling the”
On January 31, 2022 mayor Jim Watson and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had a phone call in which they discussed the protesters and police operations.
“These people [the protesters] have had their time and now they need to move on”
“We have been trying to get this across to the chief of police”
The weekend prior to Watsons call with the PM he spoke with the then-chief of police Sloly asking what the police have planned to clear out the downtown core, Sloly said they are working on one. Jim Watson relayed the message a plan is being worked on and how the protest is effecting the community.
Jim Watson told Prime Minister Trudeau that Sloly spoke with Commissioner Lucki saying OPS needed more resources.
On the January 31, 2022 call Watson had with the Prime Minister There was no specific type of help he needs but did tell Trudeau that OPS needs more resources and the RCMP will need to get involved.
PM “that’s for sure”
JW “we have to do this with a sense of balance, these guys are just looking for a fight”
PM “the reminders will have no choice but to incite as a counter balance, so we all have to be careful”
That was the end of the call. It is unclear what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau meant by “the reminders will have no choice but to incite as a counter balance.”
Watson said at the Emergencies Act Inquiry that he “couldn’t negotiate with these individuals (Convoy leaders) rationally” when asked about talks with them before the Emergencies Act was invoked.
Given that Watson had written Tamara Lich a thorough letter outlining the requirements that the protesters would need to meet in order to meet with the mayor, and given that members of his staff had been negotiating with Convoy leadership “in good faith,” Convoy attorney Brendan Miller pressed Watson on this accusation.
In the end, Watson concurred that the truckers fulfilled their obligation to transfer their vehicles onto Wellington St. from residential zones.
Questions from the Commission’s counsel centred on the same agreement made by the city and the Convoy’s leadership. Commission counsel wished to expand on revelations made by city manager Steve Kanellakos on the abandoning of the agreement by the Ottawa Police Service and the Parliamentary Protective Service.
In his testimony, Watson stated that he believed that the invoking of the Emergencies Act the cause for trucks to be blocked from moving.
According to a text exchange between Ayotte and the convoy organizer, Barber was successful in moving 40 big rig trucks onto Wellington Street from residential areas the night before, and protesters intended to move more trucks the next day.
Ayotte praised Barber for his efforts and appreciated them.
The agreement with the city fell through later that day when Trudeau invoked the Emergency Act, which had never before been since its rebranding from the War Measures Act with a few changes, and police blocked all truck movement out of residential areas.
Ayotte testified that protesters were in constant contact with him and kept open traffic lanes for emergency vehicles at all times when Miller questioned him about the protestors’ concern for preserving open traffic lanes.
In a February 8, 2022 discussion between the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Jim Watson was clear he held negative feelings about the Canadians protesting in his city.
During the call with Trudeau Watson asserted the protesters are “vulgar” and “hateful” and he told Trudeau, he claimed that he “can’t reason with them” while accusing the protesters of “ripping masks off people.”
Watson also told Trudeau that he felt the protesters reminded him of “The Republican Party down South.”
Mayor Jim Watson claimed in his testimony “some guy from New Brunswick was coming down here with guns in his trunk to shoot me”.
Watson also revealed corporate security installed a security system at his house because other groups of protesters to the freedom convoy were hanging out near his house.
BC Rise is unaware of any incident of someone saying they were going to “shoot” mayor Jim Watson. There was a man who pleaded guilty for uttering threats to “throat punch” mayor Jim Watson and take the assault charge.
BC Rise reached out to Mayor Jim Watson for statement to clarify the incident he was talking about when he said some guy was coming to “shoot me”. However Watson and his office did not respond to our questions.
We did find a New Brunswick newspaper that says they got a response from the mayors office claiming Mayor Jim Watson “misspoke” during his testimony under oath. Many people are criticizing mayor Jim Watson saying he lied under oath.
Watson responded that he had only heard about incidents from media reports when Alan Honner, the litigation director at The Democracy Fund, questioned him about whether he had personally witnessed protesters ripping masks off residents.
Ayotte was questioned regarding a fake bomb threat received by CHEO, the Ottawa children’s hospital, by lawyers for the Canadian government.
“Do you have any evidence that that bomb threat was connected to the Convoy,” government lawyers asked Ayotte. “No”, he responded.
I n earlier questioning by Commission counsel Kim Ayotte said when they dispatch fire truck they don’t all come from the same fire department by design so they can ensure fire trucks will arrive at the location. If all of the trucks came from station it’s like putting all your eggs in one basket.
Ayotte informed Commission counsel for the Chateau Laurier incident it was an alarm call for a broken sprinkler. Four trucks were dispatched to the hotel, one truck wasn’t able to stop right at the door and that is what went noticed by the hotel and the public.
It was written in a letter to Ayotte by Mathieu Fleury the hotel said no fire trucks were able to make it to the call.
When asked about the letter from Chateau Laurier saying no fire trucks could make it to the hotel. Kim Ayotte, Ottawa’s general manager of emergency and protective services said “the reality is there was 3 other trucks responding and responders were already in the hotel” it was a “very low risk” situation.
Last week Mathieu Fleury testified there was a truck with a deasil fuel tank on it where people were ferry fuel out to protesters that needed some for their vehicles and said “we should have evacuated” the Rideau Centre.
Ayotte shut down Fleury’s opinion saying “well that’s not accurate.” The truck in question was a construction type truck with a legal diesel container and posed low risk.
Ayotte clarified his statement surrounding the scenario involving the Chateau Laurier and the inability of firetrucks to react to a particular emergency incident at the hotel as he concluded his evidence. Three fire vehicles were able to enter the hotel without any problems, and just one fire truck was unable to do so, according to Ayotte, who called the incident “overblown.”
