Emergencies Act: US was 'worried' over Canada Freedom Convoy protests

An inquiry into the first-ever use of government emergency powers to bring an end to the "Freedom Convoy" protest that gridlocked Canada's national capital last winter completes its public work this week, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expected as its final witness.

The Public Order Emergency Commission is examining whether the Trudeau government was justified in invoking the Emergencies Act to bring an end to the anti-vaccine mandate and anti-government protests that gridlocked the country's national capital and blocked vital border crossings, costing the economy millions of dollars a day.

Over six weeks, the inquiry has offered a rare glimpse behind the curtain into how Canadian officials handled the unprecedented protests that drew the global attention - and revealed plenty of frustration, "intemperate" text messages, and finger-pointing as they sought to bring an end to the blockades.

A final report on the inquiry's findings will be released early next year.

In the lead-up to Mr Trudeau's testimony, the inquiry, headed by Justice Paul Rouleau, is hearing from a series of federal ministers, including Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, who expressed concern that the protests were harming Canada's reputation and its trade relationship with the US.

The Ottawa protest lasted three weeks, from late January to mid-February, but shorter-lived protests cropped up at two key border crossings, near Coutts, Alberta, and at the Ambassador Bridge, a vital trade route between the US and Canada.

Mr Trudeau has said that invoking the Act on 14 February - which allowed the government to temporarily impose bans on public assembly in some areas, prohibit travel to protest zones, and give authorities the ability to freeze bank s - was a necessary "last resort".

Civil liberty groups and the convoy organisers have argued the use of the Act was an overreach.

Police cleared the protests at the border crossings before the emergency order was implemented. But the border blockades - especially at the Ambassador Bridge crossing, used by North America automakers - got the White House's attention.

Ms Freeland spoke with Brian Deese, a senior economic advisor for President Joe Biden, who she said told her the US was "very, very, very worried".

Americans saw an "amber light flashing in Canada - and this amber light said to them, you know what, the Canadian supply chain could be a vulnerability", she said on Thursday.

Canadian bank CEOs were also worried, telling Ms Freeland during a 13 February call that investors were looking at Canada as a "joke".

One banker, whose name was not revealed in the call readout released at the inquiry, said a US investor told him: "I won't invest another red cent in your banana republic in Canada."

Ms Freeland told the banker to remind investors that other countries had recent political upheavals, including the 6 January Capital riots in the US.

"If they are a Brit, remind them of Brexit. If they are French, remind them of the Yellow Vests. If they are German, look at how badly they are handling Russia right now," she said.

Earlier this week, Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair testified that his colleagues were reluctant to use the emergency powers but that an "escalation" of protests - including further "threatened" blockades at the border - convinced him otherwise.

He said the blocking of critical infrastructure raised it to "an actual emergency".

"You don't have to blow everything up to render it unusable," he said.

Two provinces - Saskatchewan and Alberta - said they were caught unawares by the invocation of the Act, and one Alberta official felt Ottawa failed to offer timely help.

In February, Alberta had asked about the possibility of military help to remove vehicles at Coutts, but a text message from provincial Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver to Mr Blair - "Any update":[]}