No choice but to invoke Act: ministers

• Liberal cabinet ministers defended the government's call to invoke the Emergencies Act to end “Freedom Convoy” blockades as a committee of MPS and Senators began Tuesday examining the unprecedented use of the act.

Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said the government had no choice because the closure of U.S. border crossings and downtown Ottawa was damaging the economy.

“We lost about $390 million a day in trade. Plants were closed, workers were laid off and the manufacturing sector was stalled,” he told members of the committee. “The seat of the federal government here on Wellington Street was completely overrun by blockaders who entrenched themselves with structures and propane tanks, who parked a crane in front of the Prime Minister's Office and Privy Council Office, and who repeatedly intimidated and harassed residents, 24/7, making it unbearable and unsafe.”

The parliamentary committee, made up of Senators and MPS from all parties, was struck as required by the act to study the use of its extraordinary powers. The prime minister invoked the Emergencies Act on Feb. 14 after three weeks of protests in downtown Ottawa. It gave the government the power to freeze bank accounts to cut off the convoy's funds and to force tow truck drivers to remove vehicles.

The act was revoked nine days later, on Feb. 23, after a massive police operation had cleared downtown Ottawa and resulted in hundreds of arrests.

Mendicino said he welcomed the committee's scrutiny and said the government didn't want to take the measures, but felt it had no choice.

“When it came to the Emergencies Act, we were reluctant to invoke and eager to revoke,” he said.

On Monday the government announced a separate judicial inquiry, which is also required by the act. Judge Paul Rouleau will hold public hearings, compel testimony and demand documents. Mendicino said the government will provide classified information to the inquiry and the committee, but has not ruled out withholding some cabinet confidences.

Conservative MP Glen Motz said the government should release all documents.

He said he doubts the invocation was necessary and said the government is not being transparent.

“In my 35 years of law enforcement experience, I have a built-in BS detector, a built-in lie detector, if you will, and it's dinging, dinging big-time,” he said.

Justice Minister David Lametti testified that the government tailored the act to the situation, which he said had spiralled out of control.

Both ministers declined to specify if they would provide the committee with documents and memos on the cabinet decision to invoke the act.