OTTAWA — Different levels of government involved in trying to bring an end to the mass demonstrations in Ottawa and several border crossings last winter were not always on the same page, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau acknowledged Wednesday.
But he says the important thing is that, in the end, there was unity between the city, the province and the federal government, including over the decision to invoke the federal Emergencies Act in mid-February to bring an end to the weeks-long events.
There were “of course” moments during the unfolding of the convoy when governments “weren’t working as tightly as would have been ideal,” said Trudeau. “But the important thing is that we all stood together and put Ontarians and Canadians first and we resolved the situation.”
His comments come a day after the public inquiry into the use of the federal Emergencies Act produced evidence suggesting that about 10 days into the convoy, Trudeau did not think Ontario Premier Doug Ford was showing up to help end it.
“Doug Ford has been hiding from his responsibility on it for political reasons as you highlighted,” Trudeau told Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson, according to a readout of a call between them on Feb. 8.
He went on to say that Ford couldn’t be allowed to get away with that.
Watson was testifying at the inquiry Tuesday and said he shared Trudeau’s frustration.
With three days of testimony now complete, the inquiry has begun to paint a picture of a chaotic response to the event by police and different levels of government.
The inquiry is a legal requirement under the Emergencies Act to evaluate whether the government met the high threshold required to use it.
Invoking the Emergencies Act, which had never been done since its passage in 1988, allowed the government to implement temporary but extraordinary powers including freezing the bank accounts of convoy participants and forcing insurance companies to suspend insurance coverage of vehicles involved in the convoy.
Opposition Conservatives are among the critics who say the government did not meet the legal threshold and invoking the act was an overreach to deal with what amounted to people lawfully expressing their discontent with the government.
Many of the party’s MPs also openly supported the demonstrators during their takeover of the streets outside of Parliament Hill, even as local residents complained of unending honking and city leaders begged them to leave.
Alberta Conservative MP Arnold Viersen called on protesters who were there to make public submissions to the commission about their motivations and “how safe you felt.”
“‘You can talk about the bouncy castles, you can talk about the street hockey that got played, you can talk about the sense of camaraderie that you had and the pride that you had in our country,” he said in a Facebook video filmed Tuesday at the main site of the Ottawa blockade.
“You can talk about how this was generally a safe congregation and you can talk about how you didn’t feel the government was listening.”
Aslast winter’sdemonstrations continued, Ottawa attempted to create a regular conversation between the three levels of government to discuss the convoy, but the province never accepted the invitation.
Ford ultimately supported the use of the Emergencies Act and used his own measures, including calling a state of emergency in the province to try and get a handle on both the occupation in Ottawa and the blockades at critical border crossings with the United States.
On Monday, before the transcript of the conversation between Trudeau and Watson was public, Ford stood beside both of them at an announcement in Ottawa, and told reporters he “stood shoulder to shoulder” with the federal government during the convoy.
Ford is the first conservative premier to have publicly backed Trudeau’s use of the Emergencies Act. The governments of Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba, whose provinces saw border blockades or efforts to disrupt traffic, all rejected the move as unnecessary.
Former British Columbia premier John Horgan said at the time that he believed something needed to be done, and that it would be up to Ottawa to defend its actions.
Ford’s endorsement this week wasn’t welcomed by Ontario Tory MP Karen Vecchio, who on Tuesday called it “unfortunate” and noted the inquiry was still doing its work.
Quebec MP Gerard Deltell added on Wednesday that he feels the commission process must unfold before any comments can be made.
Trudeau said Wednesday there will be many more details to come as the inquiry continues, but to him, the key is what happened to bring the events to an end.
“Doug Ford invoked his emergencies act. We invoked our Emergencies Act,” he said.
“We put the citizens of Ontario, the well-being of families, the well-being of our economy ahead of the interests of illegal protesters, and we were glad to stand together on that. And as you saw on Monday, we continue to stand together on this even as we’re making important economic announcements for the future of Ontario.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 19, 2022.
Mia Rabson and Stephanie Taylor, The Canadian Press
KAMLOOPS, B.C. – A 35-year-old man has been charged with second-degree murder after his mother’s body was found near her Kamloops, B.C., home a year ago.
Mounties say 57-year-old Jo-Anne Donovan was found dead about a week after she had been reported missing.
RCMP says its serious crime unit launched an investigation after the body was found.
Police say they arrested Brandon Donovan on Friday after the BC Prosecution Service approved the charge.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
TORONTO – Strength in the base metal and technology sectors helped Canada’s main stock index gain almost 100 points on Friday, while U.S. stock markets climbed to their best week of the year.
“It’s been almost a complete opposite or retracement of what we saw last week,” said Philip Petursson, chief investment strategist at IG Wealth Management.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 297.01 points at 41,393.78. The S&P 500 index was up 30.26 points at 5,626.02, while the Nasdaq composite was up 114.30 points at 17,683.98.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 93.51 points at 23,568.65.
While last week saw a “healthy” pullback on weaker economic data, this week investors appeared to be buying the dip and hoping the central bank “comes to the rescue,” said Petursson.
Next week, the U.S. Federal Reserve is widely expected to cut its key interest rate for the first time in several years after it significantly hiked it to fight inflation.
But the magnitude of that first cut has been the subject of debate, and the market appears split on whether the cut will be a quarter of a percentage point or a larger half-point reduction.
Petursson thinks it’s clear the smaller cut is coming. Economic data recently hasn’t been great, but it hasn’t been that bad either, he said — and inflation may have come down significantly, but it’s not defeated just yet.
“I think they’re going to be very steady,” he said, with one small cut at each of their three decisions scheduled for the rest of 2024, and more into 2025.
“I don’t think there’s a sense of urgency on the part of the Fed that they have to do something immediately.
A larger cut could also send the wrong message to the markets, added Petursson: that the Fed made a mistake in waiting this long to cut, or that it’s seeing concerning signs in the economy.
It would also be “counter to what they’ve signaled,” he said.
More important than the cut — other than the new tone it sets — will be what Fed chair Jerome Powell has to say, according to Petursson.
“That’s going to be more important than the size of the cut itself,” he said.
In Canada, where the central bank has already cut three times, Petursson expects two more before the year is through.
“Here, the labour situation is worse than what we see in the United States,” he said.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.61 cents US compared with 73.58 cents US on Thursday.
The October crude oil contract was down 32 cents at US$68.65 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was down five cents at US$2.31 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$30.10 at US$2,610.70 an ounce and the December copper contract was up four cents US$4.24 a pound.
— With files from The Associated Press
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida State has asked a judge to decide key parts of its lawsuit against the Atlantic Coast Conference without a trial, hoping for a quicker resolution and path to a possible exit from the league.
Florida State requested a partial summary judgment from Circuit Judge John Cooper in a 574-page document filed earlier this week in Leon County, the Tallahassee-based school’s home court.
Florida State sued the ACC in December, challenging the validity of a contract that binds member schools to the conference and each other through media rights and claiming the league’s exit fees and penalties for withdrawal are exorbitant and unfair.
In its original compliant, Florida State said it would cost the school more than half a billion dollars to break the grant of rights and leave the ACC.
“The recently-produced 2016 ESPN agreements expose that the ACC has no rights to FSU home games played after it leaves the conference,” Florida State said in the filing.
Florida State is asking a judge to rule on the exit fees and for a summary judgment on its breach of contract claim, which says the conference broke its bylaws when it sued the school without first getting a majority vote from the entire league membership.
The case is one of four active right now involving the ACC and one of its members.
The ACC has sued Florida State in North Carolina, claiming the school is breaching a contract that it has signed twice in the last decade simply by challenging it.
The judge in Florida has already denied the ACC’s motion to dismiss or pause that case because the conference filed first in North Carolina. The conference appealed the Florida decision in a hearing earlier this week.
Clemson is also suing the ACC in South Carolina, trying to find an affordable potential exit, and the conference has countersued that school in North Carolina, too.
Florida State and the ACC completed court-mandated mediation last month without resolution.
The dispute is tied to the ACC’s long-term deal with ESPN, which runs through 2036, and leaves those schools lagging well behind competitors in the Southeastern Conference and Big Ten when it comes to conference-payout revenue.
Florida State has said the athletic department is in danger of falling behind by as much as $40 million annually by being in the ACC.
“Postponing the resolution of this question only compounds the expense and travesty,” the school said in the latest filing.
The ACC has implemented a bonus system called a success initiative that will reward schools for accomplishments on the field and court, but Florida State and Clemson are looking for more as two of the conference’s highest-profile brands and most successful football programs.
The ACC evenly distributes revenue from its broadcast deal, though new members California, Stanford and SMU receive a reduced and no distribution. That money is used to fund the pool for the success initiative.
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