The federal government spent over $3.7 million in legal expenses related to its invoking of the Emergencies Act in February 2022 in response to the Freedom Convoy protests in Ottawa at the time, says the Department of Justice. Liberal MP Gary Anandasangaree, who is Justice Minister David Lametti’s parliamentary secretary, said in the House of Commons on…

Commentary Apparently it’s grand being a Liberal in Canada. You’re the best, you know it, and you want the world to see you dance before your own tabernacle. Which might not be the best approach just now. It doubtless seems weird to emerge from the heady atmosphere of the Shaw Centre to a lecture on…

Commentary Inside a spectacular courtroom at the Supreme Court of Canada building in early April, Justice Richard Mosley of the Federal Court heard arguments from national civil liberties organizations about why the Government of Canada’s invocation of the Emergencies Act last year was illegal and unconstitutional. The Federal Court is the last guardrail of accountability…

Commentary Defending the security and integrity of the Canadian state from external and internal threats is a key federal responsibility. But it seems the federal government has its priorities backward. Ottawa unleashed the Emergencies Act on the fictional premise that  the truckers’ Freedom Convoy protest was an existential threat to Canada’s security. But when it…

Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe has rejected an offer by the federal government to take over a section of Wellington Street that runs past Parliament Hill with the aim of “maintaining the current road closure” in the aftermath of the Freedom Convoy protest. In a written response on April 6, Sutcliffe reminded Procurement Minister Helena Jaczek…

A lawyer for the Attorney General argued in court on April 5 that civil liberties’ lawyers were engaging in “revisionist history” by asserting that the Freedom Convoy was under control when cabinet invoked the Emergencies Act to quell the protest last winter. “You’ve heard from my friends that the situation was getting under control by…

A lawyer for the Canadian Constitution Foundation argued Tuesday in Federal Court that the Liberal government needed more supporting information to invoke the Emergencies Act in response to the Freedom Convoy protests last winter. “Cabinet’s determination that the protests and blockades were threats to the security of Canada was unreasonable, because it had insufficient evidence…

The former minister under Brian Mulroney who oversaw the process to replace the War Measures Act with the Emergencies Act in 1988 says the Trudeau government should release the legal opinion it used to justify invoking the act last winter. “I believe the government should release the legal opinion it relied on,” tweeted former defence…

Commentary If Commissioner Paul Rouleau had applied his intellect to the culinary arts he would be touted as being the first cook to boil the perfect egg, producing a yolk that was both perfectly hard-boiled and runny at the same time. This is the aptitude and ingenuity of the mind applied to the mandatory review…

Commentary The report from the Public Order Emergency Commission shows that Commissioner Paul Rouleau was missing key information he needed to make his ruling, in which he said he found “with reluctance” that the use of the Emergencies Act to clear convoy protests was justified. On the one hand, the report is critical of everyone…