The RCMP and Ottawa police did not request Trudeau and his Liberal government to invoke the Emergencies Act.
Parliamentarians were told by Ottawa Police Service (OPS) interim chief Steve Bell he did not request the Trudeau government invoke the Emergencies Act.
Bell testified to this during a Committee on Procedure and House Affairs on Tuesday, May 17, 2022 when questioned by Conservative MP Andrew Scheer
“Did the Ottawa police make a request to the federal government to invoke the Emergencies Measures Act? Yes or no?” asked Scheer.
“So, we were involved in conversations with our partners and the political ministries,” Bell answered. “We didn’t make a direct request for the Emergencies Act.”
Scheer also questioned why the term “occupation” was used by police, politicians, and the media, pointing out that the demonstrators did not break into any buildings.
Bell acknowledged no buildings were occupied but said there was people in the streets.
Bell’s statement is similar to when RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki told a Special Joint Committee on the Declaration of Emergency on May 10, 2022, that is tasked with investigating Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s use of emergency powers the RCMP also did not make a request for the Emergencies Act to be invoked
“No, there was never a question of requesting the Emergencies Act,” said Lucki last week.
Since the Emergencies Act was invoked in February, Trudeau and his Liberal government have constantly tried to justify why they made that decision by claiming law enforcement asked requested the special emergency powers.
It was just a couple weeks ago, On April 28 ,2022 Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said during Question Period in Parliament “it was only after the police told us they needed the special power” from the Emergencies Act.
“When illegal blockades hurt workers and endangered public safety, police were clear that they needed tools not held by any federal, provincial or territorial law,” Trudeau said on Apr. 27. “It was only after we got advice from law enforcement that we invoked the Emergencies Act.”
“We had to invoke the Emergencies Act and we did so on the basis of non-partisan professional advice from law enforcement,” said public safety minister Marco Mendicino.
This is another false claim in a long list of debunked accusations tossed around to smear the Freedom Convoy by the Liberal government.
In February, some Trudeau cabinet members claimed that the convoy was being funded by foreign extremists to harm Canada’s democracy.
Executives with funding platforms and the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) have both denied that the convoy was foreign-funded .
“It was their own money. It wasn’t cash that funded terrorism or was in any way money laundering,” said FINTRAC deputy director of intelligence Barry MacKillop.
The accusations of the attempted building arson being connected to the Freedom Convoy protest was debunked and Marco Mendicino was called out for trying exploit the incident in his testimony spreading false claims to justify invoking the Emergencies Act.
No firearms were seized in the crack down of the Freedom Convoy protest in downtown Ottawa.
While the police were busy with peaceful protesters, there was a violent attack with flare guns and axes at a Coastal Gaslink site in BC., but none of the special powers from the Emergencies Act were used for the investigation or enforcement.
