The Prime Minister of Canada was concerned that police inaction would make Ontario “a laughing stock”, and suggested taking inspiration from the good management of the Convoi de la liberté by the police officers of Quebec, during a call with Doug Ford in February.
“There are police forces that know how to handle this stuff like QC [Québec] and Toronto. So let’s make sure other police forces know how to respond,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told his Ontario counterpart, Doug Ford, on February 10.
The transcript of the phone call was released to the Emergency Commission on Tuesday. The discussion shows that Mr. Trudeau was very concerned at the time by the inability of the police to dislodge the Freedom Convoy in the federal capital, Ottawa, but especially at the border point with the United States of Windsor.
Unlike in Ottawa, where the police set up the trucks directly in front of Parliament at the end of January before finding themselves unable to dislodge them for three weeks, partly because of internal disputes, a similar convoy went smoothly in the Quebec city.
It was finally officers from the Sûreté du Québec, loaned for the occasion, who dispersed the crowd in front of the federal Parliament a few days after the invocation of the Emergency Measures Act, in mid-February.
Canada’s image at stake
The federal prime minister alluded to the damage the illegal blockades were having on the reputation of the country in general, and Ontario in particular. He said he wonders if these anti-government protesters are “not very smart people,” adding that their disruptions are “shaming Canada” in addition to having heavy economic impacts.
He told Doug Ford that he was prepared to accept the offer from the United States to lend him tow trucks to dislodge trucks, even if “it would be embarrassing” for Canada. “A bunch of people are watching this and thinking you can’t even dislodge a protest on a bridge? can we read in the summary of the appeal.
The discussion makes it clear that Justin Trudeau did not hold in high esteem the work of Ottawa’s municipal police, a service that had jurisdiction over the streets occupied by protesters for two weeks at that time. He kept asking how to involve other police forces, such as the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP).
“I’m just as frustrated as you are, and if I could lead the police, I would,” Doug Ford replied. He later spoke of his intention to make the provincial police understand the importance of not letting the Windsor blockade drag on like in Ottawa: “I will be in their ass with a metal brush. »
The Premier of Ontario will not have to come and give his version of the facts during the public inquiry, the Federal Court ruled on Monday.
Police independence
Doug Ford told his federal counterpart that he could not command police operations himself. Like the mayor of Ottawa, the Ontario premier was unaware of the police plans, even though the protesters’ lawyer himself said under oath that he had obtained this information, supposedly leaked by officers sympathetic to his cause. .
“The problem, if I can be honest, and I’ve spoken to experienced police officers, is that he [le chef de police d’Ottawa, Peter Sloly] lost command and police officers are going sick every day,” said Doug Ford.
He also asked during this conversation “more legal tools” for his police officers, four days before the invocation of the Emergency Measures Act by the federal government.
Justin Trudeau instead offered to provide him with more equipment and officers, to “remove this excuse” heard from the mouths of police not to act, “so that they can do their job and to prevent Ontario not become a laughing stock”.