A PUBLIC inquiry yesterday found Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government – facing circumstances that risked becoming “dangerous and unmanageable” – was right to use emergency powers to dislodge trucker-led protesters that jammed Canada’s capital last year.

The self-styled “Freedom Convoy” of truckers rolled into the city in January 2022 from across Canada to express anger at Covid vaccine mandates, blocking trade routes and distressing residents in downtown Ottawa.

“Invocation of the Emergencies Act is a drastic move, but it is not a dictatorial one,” former judge Paul Rouleau, who led the review, concluded in a 2,092-page report.

“The invocation of the act was appropriate,” he told a news conference, adding that the “very high threshold required for invocation of the act was met.”

Rouleau in his report, which was the culmination of a 10-month probe, cited an out-of-control situation plagued by a policing breakdown and escalating threats of violence.

“It is regrettable that such a situation arose here, because in my view, it could have been avoided,” he wrote.

But ultimately, he said, Trudeau’s cabinet was justified in taking the rarely-used emergency measures as it had information “indicating a threat of serious violence for a political or ideological purpose.

“Ideologically motivated extremists… were present at and encouraging the protests.”

There had also been “numerous threats” against officials including the prime minister, Rouleau said.

Trudeau, responding to the commission’s findings, said: “We didn’t want to have to invoke the emergencies act. It’s a measure of last resort.”

“But we’d gotten to a place where there was no other choice to keep Canadians safe,” he said.

The use of extraordinary powers of the act to remove the protests and blockades has been criticised as overreach by political opponents and civil liberties groups.

Cara Zwibel of Canadian Civil Liberties Association, which is seeking a federal court review of its use, said yesterday: “It is a dangerous power for any current or future government.”

‘Tinder box’

During hearings last fall, the commission heard from officials, protest leaders and Ottawa residents impacted by the big rigs’ gathering, including traffic blockages, nearly incessant honking and diesel fumes.

Former Ottawa police chief Peter Sloly described the scene as a “tinder box waiting to explode.”

He resigned during the crisis over what the commission heard was a disorganised police response, including intelligence failures and leaks, which Rouleau concluded “contributed to a situation that spun out of control.”

Convoy organisers, however, painted a different picture, calling their actions legitimate pushback against “evil” government policies and describing a festive atmosphere in front of Parliament, with hot tubs, bouncy castles and barbecues.

“We weren’t there to disrupt the city residents,” trucker Brigitte Belton told the inquiry. “We were there to be heard.”

As solidarity rallies popped up – blocking trade corridors including a bridge to Detroit that is the busiest international crossing in North America – their demands expanded to a broader rejection of pandemic restrictions and an anti-establishment agenda.

Police eventually moved in, towing the big rigs out of Ottawa in a crackdown that saw nearly 200 arrests.

A cache of guns was seized and four people involved in blockading the Coutts, Alberta border crossing were charged with conspiring to murder police officers. – AFP, February 18, 2023.