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Concern about political interference with RCMP spotlighted at Emergencies Act inquiry

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OTTAWA — A few hours after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the history-making decision to invoke the Emergencies Act, his national security adviser reached out to the RCMP for a threat assessment of the protests that had blockaded downtown Ottawa and several border crossings.

Jody Thomas did not go through official channels when she asked for that assessment, and prefaced it with her own description of the protest.

She told the RCMP in a Feb. 14 email the protests were a threat to democracy and the rule of law.

“This is about a national threat to national interests and institutions. By people who do not care about or understand democracy. Who are preparing to be violent. Who are motivated by anti-government sentiment,” Thomas wrote in the email released Tuesday through a public inquiry.

Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act on Feb. 14 for the first time since the legislation became law in 1988. At the time, he told Canadians extraordinary powers had to be granted to police and the government to quell countrywide protests against COVID-19 public health restrictions.

The Public Order Emergency Commission is tasked with determining whether the government was justified in triggering the legislation. It is holding public hearings in Ottawa until Nov. 25.

The emails were shown to RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki and her deputy, Mike Duheme, who appeared as witnesses before the commission Tuesday. The idea of political interference with police was brought up repeatedly throughout their testimony, though Lucki denied that the federal government ever exerted undue pressure on the RCMP.

“Were you alert to the fact that this was a threat assessment going from your people to the Privy Council Office in connection with the invocation of the Emergencies Act?” commission lawyer Gordon Cameronasked the two highest-ranking officers in the RCMP.

Neither answered him directly because they said they could not remember if they were briefed. The RCMP produced an intelligence report in response to the request, and made reference to the noted presence of ideologically motivated violent extremists in the protest.

Lucki first raised the spectre that the government would invoke the Emergencies Act on Feb. 5 in a private exchange of text messages with Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner Thomas Carrique, after telling him the federal government had lost confidence in the Ottawa police.

Lucki told the commission on Tuesday she came to that conclusion based on the questions she fielded daily about what was going on in Ottawa at the time.

“I could hear the impatience. I could hear the frustration,” she testified.

Brendan Miller, the lawyer for several organizers of the Ottawa protest, pointed to notes Duheme took during the protest about federal officials calling for more action from the RCMP.

On Feb. 9, Duheme wrote that the country’s top public servant, clerk of the Privy Council Janice Charette, told him “we need to take this over,” according to notes presented into evidence at the inquiry.

Duheme also noted a comment by the prime minister on Feb. 12, writing that Trudeau said the RCMP “haven’t done anything” on border blockades.

“They were not happy,” Duheme said during his testimony Tuesday about “how we were handling” demonstrations.

Federal politicians can issue administrative directives to the RCMP commissioner, who is appointed by the government, but they aren’t allowed to interfere with police operations.

No one in the government has tried to cross that line, Lucki said, but perhaps it could be more clear.

“I think it’s time that we put something (in) writing that outlines the what you can and cannot do from both the commissioner’s perspective and the politicians’,” she told the commission.

When federal ministers sat down to formally deliberate on the invocation of the Emergencies Act on Feb. 13, Lucki told the commission that she was in the room but did not get a chance to speak.

That meant she did not get an opportunity to tell ministers that Ottawa police finally had a plan to deal with protest that had gridlocked the city for weeks. The new plan would not have relied on any new powers for law enforcement.

“I guess in hindsight, that might have been something significant,” Lucki said of not being able to deliver the information during that crucial meeting.

The report she intended to deliver to ministers also included her opinion that police had not exhausted all the “tools” that were available to them through existing legislation.

Lucki said she did brief Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino before the meeting.

Ultimately, she told the commission she was not sure it would have changed anything. And in any case, the Emergencies Act powers proved useful in shrinking the protest before police moved in to remove the crowds and trucks from the streets, she said.

After her testimony wrapped on Tuesday, Lucki told reporters she was “very confident” the federal cabinet was aware of her position at the time that there were still alternative options to invoking the Emergencies Act.

She also said her opinion on the Emergencies Act has since changed.

“It was useful. I thought it was needed,” she said of the legislation. “Now, obviously, I have the benefit of hindsight. We wouldn’t have been able to do the enforcement actions as safe as we did.”

A document from a Feb. 23 cabinet meeting, in which cabinet opted to revoke the emergency legislation, offers insight into how the powers were actually used.

The document, tabled with the commission, shows police used the powers to compel the co-operation of two tow truck companies and deny two “known” foreign nationals from entering Canada.

There were “no specific arrests” made under the new Emergencies Act authorities in Ottawa, it says, and the local police service was able to secure the perimeter downtown without needing to use any of the designations in the legislation.

The document also shows that police agencies and banks worked together to freeze hundreds of bank accounts to limit funding to the protest.

On Tuesday evening, deputy commissioner Curtis Zablocki, the commanding officer of the RCMP in Alberta, testified about the police response to protests at a border crossing in that province.

He said the RCMP had reports of firearms at the border blockade in Coutts, Alta., in the early stages of the protest, and officers received a report on Feb. 9 that some of the people involved had guns.

Several people were arrested and charged with conspiring to commit murder after a cache of guns, body armour and ammunition was found in nearby trailers.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 15, 2022.

 

Laura Osman and David Fraser, The Canadian Pres

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‘Disgraceful:’ N.S. Tory leader slams school’s request that military remove uniform

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HALIFAX – Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says it’s “disgraceful and demeaning” that a Halifax-area school would request that service members not wear military uniforms to its Remembrance Day ceremony.

Houston’s comments were part of a chorus of criticism levelled at the school — Sackville Heights Elementary — whose administration decided to back away from the plan after the outcry.

A November newsletter from the school in Middle Sackville, N.S., invited Armed Forces members to attend its ceremony but asked that all attendees arrive in civilian attire to “maintain a welcoming environment for all.”

Houston, who is currently running for re-election, accused the school’s leaders of “disgracing themselves while demeaning the people who protect our country” in a post on the social media platform X Thursday night.

“If the people behind this decision had a shred of the courage that our veterans have, this cowardly and insulting idea would have been rejected immediately,” Houston’s post read. There were also several calls for resignations within the school’s administration attached to Houston’s post.

In an email to families Thursday night, the school’s principal, Rachael Webster, apologized and welcomed military family members to attend “in the attire that makes them most comfortable.”

“I recognize this request has caused harm and I am deeply sorry,” Webster’s email read, adding later that the school has the “utmost respect for what the uniform represents.”

Webster said the initial request was out of concern for some students who come from countries experiencing conflict and who she said expressed discomfort with images of war, including military uniforms.

Her email said any students who have concerns about seeing Armed Forces members in uniform can be accommodated in a way that makes them feel safe, but she provided no further details in the message.

Webster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

At a news conference Friday, Houston said he’s glad the initial request was reversed but said he is still concerned.

“I can’t actually fathom how a decision like that was made,” Houston told reporters Friday, adding that he grew up moving between military bases around the country while his father was in the Armed Forces.

“My story of growing up in a military family is not unique in our province. The tradition of service is something so many of us share,” he said.

“Saying ‘lest we forget’ is a solemn promise to the fallen. It’s our commitment to those that continue to serve and our commitment that we will pass on our respects to the next generation.”

Liberal Leader Zach Churchill also said he’s happy with the school’s decision to allow uniformed Armed Forces members to attend the ceremony, but he said he didn’t think it was fair to question the intentions of those behind the original decision.

“We need to have them (uniforms) on display at Remembrance Day,” he said. “Not only are we celebrating (veterans) … we’re also commemorating our dead who gave the greatest sacrifice for our country and for the freedoms we have.”

NDP Leader Claudia Chender said that while Remembrance Day is an important occasion to honour veterans and current service members’ sacrifices, she said she hopes Houston wasn’t taking advantage of the decision to “play politics with this solemn occasion for his own political gain.”

“I hope Tim Houston reached out to the principal of the school before making a public statement,” she said in a statement.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Saskatchewan NDP’s Beck holds first caucus meeting after election, outlines plans

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REGINA – Saskatchewan Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck says she wants to prove to residents her party is the government in waiting as she heads into the incoming legislative session.

Beck held her first caucus meeting with 27 members, nearly double than what she had before the Oct. 28 election but short of the 31 required to form a majority in the 61-seat legislature.

She says her priorities will be health care and cost-of-living issues.

Beck says people need affordability help right now and will press Premier Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party government to cut the gas tax and the provincial sales tax on children’s clothing and some grocery items.

Beck’s NDP is Saskatchewan’s largest Opposition in nearly two decades after sweeping Regina and winning all but one seat in Saskatoon.

The Saskatchewan Party won 34 seats, retaining its hold on all of the rural ridings and smaller cities.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.

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Nova Scotia election: Liberals say province’s immigration levels are too high

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HALIFAX – Nova Scotia‘s growing population was the subject of debate on Day 12 of the provincial election campaign, with Liberal Leader Zach Churchill arguing immigration levels must be reduced until the province can provide enough housing and health-care services.

Churchill said Thursday a plan by the incumbent Progressive Conservatives to double the province’s population to two million people by the year 2060 is unrealistic and unsustainable.

“That’s a big leap and it’s making life harder for people who live here, (including ) young people looking for a place to live and seniors looking to downsize,” he told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.

Anticipating that his call for less immigration might provoke protests from the immigrant community, Churchill was careful to note that he is among the third generation of a family that moved to Nova Scotia from Lebanon.

“I know the value of immigration, the importance of it to our province. We have been built on the backs of an immigrant population. But we just need to do it in a responsible way.”

The Liberal leader said Tim Houston’s Tories, who are seeking a second term in office, have made a mistake by exceeding immigration targets set by the province’s Department of Labour and Immigration. Churchill said a Liberal government would abide by the department’s targets.

In the most recent fiscal year, the government welcomed almost 12,000 immigrants through its nominee program, exceeding the department’s limit by more than 4,000, he said. The numbers aren’t huge, but the increase won’t help ease the province’s shortages in housing and doctors, and the increased strain on its infrastructure, including roads, schools and cellphone networks, Churchill said.

“(The Immigration Department) has done the hard work on this,” he said. “They know where the labour gaps are, and they know what growth is sustainable.”

In response, Houston said his commitment to double the population was a “stretch goal.” And he said the province had long struggled with a declining population before that trend was recently reversed.

“The only immigration that can come into this province at this time is if they are a skilled trade worker or a health-care worker,” Houston said. “The population has grown by two per cent a year, actually quite similar growth to what we experienced under the Liberal government before us.”

Still, Houston said he’s heard Nova Scotians’ concerns about population growth, and he then pivoted to criticize Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for trying to send 6,000 asylum seekers to Nova Scotia, an assertion the federal government has denied.

Churchill said Houston’s claim about asylum seekers was shameful.

“It’s smoke and mirrors,” the Liberal leader said. “He is overshooting his own department’s numbers for sustainable population growth and yet he is trying to blame this on asylum seekers … who aren’t even here.”

In September, federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller said there is no plan to send any asylum seekers to the province without compensation or the consent of the premier. He said the 6,000 number was an “aspirational” figure based on models that reflect each province’s population.

In Halifax, NDP Leader Claudia Chender said it’s clear Nova Scotia needs more doctors, nurses and skilled trades people.

“Immigration has been and always will be a part of the Nova Scotia story, but we need to build as we grow,” Chender said. “This is why we have been pushing the Houston government to build more affordable housing.”

Chender was in a Halifax cafe on Thursday when she promised her party would remove the province’s portion of the harmonized sales tax from all grocery, cellphone and internet bills if elected to govern on Nov. 26. The tax would also be removed from the sale and installation of heat pumps.

“Our focus is on helping people to afford their lives,” Chender told reporters. “We know there are certain things that you can’t live without: food, internet and a phone …. So we know this will have the single biggest impact.”

The party estimates the measure would save the average Nova Scotia family about $1,300 a year.

“That’s a lot more than a one or two per cent HST cut,” Chender said, referring to the Progressive Conservative pledge to reduce the tax by one percentage point and the Liberal promise to trim it by two percentage points.

Elsewhere on the campaign trail, Houston announced that a Progressive Conservative government would make parking free at all Nova Scotia hospitals and health-care centres. The promise was also made by the Liberals in their election platform released Monday.

“Free parking may not seem like a big deal to some, but … the parking, especially for people working at the facilities, can add up to hundreds of dollars,” the premier told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.

— With files from Keith Doucette in Halifax

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