At the Special Joint Committee on the Declaration of Emergency looking in to Trudeau’s use of the Emergencies Act, on June 7, 2022, Deputy Minister Rob Stewart Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, said they required the powers of the Emergencies Act to move vehicles.
Deputy Minister Rob Stewart was asked if through conversation the government got a better idea of where the gaps may be, they were not sufficiently met with existing laws” that they required the invocation of the Emergencies Act.
“for example tow trucks. Police across the country in particular in Alberta, and in Manitoba were having trouble getting tow trucks and in Ottawa. Were having trouble getting tow trucks to help them to enforce the law” Deputy Minister Rob Stewart told the committee.
Tuesday, Apr 26, 2022 at the Special Joint Committee on the Declaration of Emergency, Minister of Public Safety Marco Mendicino also claimed that “no tow trucks were available.” in which Senator Claude Carignan challenged that claim by telling Mendicino he found tow trucks for sale and there are other options such as reaching out to other government agencies with the appropriate tools to borrow.
The quotes in this portion are taken from the government website, translation French to English.
Senator Claude Carignan said under section 134.1 of Ontario’s Highway Traffic Act “a police officer may order the removal of a vehicle that’s blocking traffic.” adding “Absolutely nothing was done under the Emergencies Act that police officers couldn’t have done before it was invoked.”
“Yes, we have Ontario’s Highway Traffic Act, but it wasn’t effective in the circumstances. One of the problems was that no tow trucks were available.” said Marco Mendicino continuing “We were not able to secure the tow trucks. There were threats. There were interruptions at the time. That was one piece of advice we were getting at the time.”
Senator Claude Carignan responded “I found tow trucks for sale in Auto Hebdo magazine. You could have bought some and had the trucks removed yourselves without invoking the Emergencies Act.”
“Ontario’s Highway Traffic Act gives police officers authority to enter a vehicle, take its keys and have it towed and moved somewhere else. You didn’t need the Emergencies Act to do it” said Claude Carignan, adding “If towing was your problem, you should’ve used the army’s tow trucks or bought your own. You didn’t need to invoke the Emergencies Act in order to remove vehicles. It made no sense.”
