A civil liberties advocacy group says that “economic harm” is not grounds to declare a national emergency, in reaction to Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland’s testimony at the Emergencies Act inquiry on Nov. 24.
“The Emergencies Act and the CSIS act do not contemplate economic harm as a national emergency,” said Cara Zwibel of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) in a statement.
“With just one day of testimony left, the Government is running out of time to prove it met the high burden of invoking the Emergencies Act.”
The public inquiry has been hearing a variety of interpretations from federal officials in recent days on how the threshold was met to declare a public order emergency last winter to deal with cross-country protests and blockades….