Route links
- Comment by NP
Apparently, it was just a bit of careless phrasing that led to the invocation of the Emergency Act. It could have happened to anyone
Date Posted:
June 8, 2022 • 13 hours ago • 4 minutes of reading • 489 comments Public safety Marco Mendicino is seen on February 15, 2022, the day after it was announced that the government was invoking the Emergency Law to deal with the Freedom Convoy protest in Ottawa. A parliamentary committee is conducting an investigation into the use of the law. Photo by Blair Gable / Reuters
Content of the article
Well, that’s fun.
Announcement 2
This ad has not yet been uploaded, but your article continues below.
Content of the article
The Government of Canada invoked the Emergency Law, the largest of all Canadian civil liberties annulments, due to a misunderstanding. Poor communication. A slip of the tongue, or as Maxwell Smart would say, the old trick of the tongue.
Nothing deliberate account. Just a little sloppy phrasing. It could happen to anyone. Even a public safety minister from the Government of Canada.
After all, what is public safety? A smaller portfolio at best. Not as a truly central cabinet office as, for example, the defunct middle-class prosperity ministry. That minister had real charges. He had to keep track of whether the middle-class gentleman and lady could still afford to go for genuine Egyptian cotton sheets or shyly demote them to imitations of China. Or if getting the new Tesla, even with a government grant, would leave some time for the family trip to St. Louis. Pete’s.
Announcement 3
This ad has not yet been uploaded, but your article continues below.
Content of the article
Now that was the responsibility. That was a real stress.
But still. By invoking the Emergency Act, the government gave itself unlimited powers, gave the police a step on due process, gave banks authority to freeze the bank accounts of Canadian citizens, and froze funds given to protesters.
The government was given unlimited powers
And the Minister of Public Security, Marco Mendicino, unequivocally stated, he said, that he had been asked by two police forces to invoke the act. He did so in the special parliamentary committee that conducted an investigation into the use of the law. He was told that the government had been consulting regularly with law enforcement, including the RCMP, during the February protest in Ottawa.
He said he had received advice from them. From his own ministerial mouth he stated that “The advice we received was to invoke the Emergency Act.”
Announcement 4
This ad has not yet been uploaded, but your article continues below.
Content of the article
And when you get advice from law enforcement, including the RCMP, to get the dragon out, well, that’s when you hear the terrible baptism of its impatient wings.
But law enforcement did not give that advice. Both RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki and Ottawa (interim) Chief of Police Steve Bell have made it very clear that they did not call for the Emergency Act to be invoked.
I resist being demanding, but I think there is a small difference between not asking for the act and asking for the act.
Yesterday, Mendicino’s own deputy minister, Rob Stewart, clarified what the minister really meant when he said, “The advice we received was to invoke the Emergency Act.” What he meant, his deputy minister said, was that it was not “the advice” he had received. He said yes, but that was not what he meant. And what he meant is not what he said. There are days when you yearn for the clarity of the mud.
Announcement 5
This ad has not yet been uploaded, but your article continues below.
Content of the article
There are days when you yearn for the clarity of the mud
And in another act of clairvoyance in the mind of his minister, Stewart said Mendicino did not mean that the police were directly calling for the law to be used.
This means, we must assume, that the police asked for it “indirectly”. Minor difference: potato, potahto. After all, it is only a matter of the Emergency Law and the suspension of civil liberties, the annulment of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The kind of thing you hint at or leave open to a little mental reading.
The deputy minister was much clearer than his minister about what his minister meant: “I think the intention he was trying to express was for law enforcement to ask for the tools contained in the Emergency Act.”
This is a great help. The police did not want the Emergency Act per se. They just wanted their powers.
Announcement 6
This ad has not yet been uploaded, but your article continues below.
Content of the article
On a global scale, it is very similar to a situation I often face. I go to the supermarket to buy some beans. By the way, beans are delicious in toast. They give me a can of Libby’s (my favorite). And then I have to explain: “I didn’t order a can of beans. I just wanted what was in the can, ninny.
-
Rex Murphy: Please Show Me You’re Wrong with This Emergency Law Research Scam
-
Rex Murphy: Which will probably reveal (not) the Emergency Law investigation
A purely secondary question, did Mendicino also tell Jagmeet Singh that the police had advised him to invoke the Emergency Law? And was it on this basis that the former NPD leader, now co-prime minister, voted to allow the invocation?
So here we are. The stumbled legal investigation into the invocation of the Emergency Act has revealed that the police did not request it; that, according to the Deputy Minister of Public Safety, the Minister said some things he did not want, or did not say some things he wanted; and that the widest possible powers were given to law enforcement on the basis of truly appalling misinformation.
What to say? Well, I guess this is a good time to visit Chile. That is, if you do not need to leave (or return) via Pearson.
National Mail
Share this article on your social network
Announcements
This ad has not yet been uploaded, but your article continues below.
NP published
Sign up for the National Daily Post, a division of Postmedia Network Inc.
By clicking the sign up button, you agree to receive the previous Postmedia Network Inc. newsletter. You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of our emails. Postmedia Network Inc. | 365 Bloor Street East, Toronto, Ontario, M4W 3L4 | 416-383-2300
Thanks for signing up!
A welcome email is on its way. If you don’t see it, check your junk folder.
The next issue of NP Posted will soon be in your inbox.
We encountered a problem registering you. Please try again
Comments
Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil discussion forum and encouraging all readers to share their views on our articles. Comments can take up to an hour to moderate before appearing on the site. We urge you to keep your comments relevant and respectful. We’ve enabled email notifications – you will now receive an email if you receive a response to your comment, there is an update to a comment thread you are following, or if a user is still commenting. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information and details on how to adjust your email settings.