By Canadian Press

Mendicino says email from Lucki doesn’t mean Emergencies Act was unnecessary

Oct 25, 2022 | 2:41 PM

OTTAWA — Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino is brushing off concerns about an email sent to his office from the RCMP commissioner just hours before the government invoked the Emergencies Act last February.

The email from Commissioner Brenda Lucki shows she didn’t think police had exhausted all available tools to end the ongoing occupation of downtown Ottawa by protesters demanding an end to COVID-19 restrictions.

The email was submitted as evidence at the Public Order Emergency Commission investigating whether the government was justified in using that act to give itself and police temporary but extraordinary powers to bring the protests to a close.

Mendicino says the government listened to lots of different advice but ultimately made its own decision to invoke the act.

He also says Lucki told a House of Commons committee in the spring that the act was needed to clear out protests.

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Mendicino told that same committee that the federal Liberals invoked the act on the advice of police.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 25, 2022.

The Canadian Press