Alberta received no federal help to deal with protest blockade last winter: inquiry | CityNews Ottawa - Laura Osman & Marie-Danielle Smith, Canadian Press:
November 10, 2022 -"Senior civil servants from Alberta and Ontario left the impression at a public inquiry Thursday that Ottawa was not keen to come to their aid to deal with protest blockades last winter.... Neither of the bureaucrats from those provinces felt the use of the [Emergencies Act] was necessary, and in Alberta, the inquiry heard, the legislation wasn't useful at all.... The public inquiry is tasked with determining whether the federal government was justified in triggering the legislation for the first time since it became law in 1988.
"A convoy of 1,000 vehicles of all types drove to Coutts, Alta., on Jan. 29 to protest provincial and federal COVID-19 health restrictions, blocking the highway in both directions and halting the movement of trade. The Liberal government invoked the Emergencies Act on Feb. 14, the same day RCMP in Alberta moved in to arrest protesters in Coutts. The prime minister ... Justin Trudeau held a consultation with premiers before invoking the act, and notes taken by political staffers and submitted to the public inquiry detail their comments and concerns. Handwritten notes taken by aides in the Prime Minister's Office and Saskatchewan government say former Alberta premier Jason Kenney worried that triggering the emergency legislation would be a 'very serious provocation' and a 'net negative'....
"Marlin Degrand, the assistant deputy minister in the Alberta solicitor general's office, told the commission earlier Thursday that RCMP had the power to clear the convoy from the border, but it didn't have the co-operation it needed to get the job done.... Alberta looked all over the province, in British Columbia and Saskatchewan and even the United States, but tow companies refused to help.... The province opted against declaring a state of emergency to try and force tow operators to help, and instead asked for federal help in a formal letter on Feb. 5.
"The Liberal government never officially responded to that request, but did draft a letter to turn Alberta down on Feb. 12, the commission learned. The undelivered letter said the province had all the legal authority it needed to deal with the protest. Degrand said he would agree that Alberta didn't need any more legal authority; what it lacked were the tow trucks....
"On Feb. 21, [federal Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill] Blair texted [Alberta Municipal Affairs Minister Rick] McIver to tell him that the Emergencies Act was effective at addressing the tow truck issue. 'You were too late and did the wrong thing,' McIver responded, telling the minister that by the time the state of emergency was invoked the Coutts blockade was already over."
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