In an interview with CTV’s Question Period on Sunday, Mendicino said Ottawa was giving Judge Paul Rouleau, who has led the investigation, “broad powers” to determine whether enforcing the law was justified. “We have been transparent all along and are now fulfilling our obligations under the Emergency Act by launching a full-scale public inquiry that gives Justice Rouleau broad powers to coerce witnesses, enforce documents, enforce information, including classified documents.” he said. “Our desire is to work with him a lot.” On Monday, Prime Minister Justin Trindade announced the creation of the independent “Public Order Emergency Committee”, which will be in place for most of the year. Rouleau, a longtime judge, is due to present his final report, including key findings and “lessons”, to both the House of Commons and the Senate in both official languages by 20 February 2023. He is expected to weigh in. on the “appropriateness and effectiveness” of the measures taken by the government in invoking the law on emergencies. It will cover “the evolution of escorts, the impact of funding and misinformation, the financial impact and the efforts of police and other correspondents before and after the statement”, in the hope of preventing a recurrence of similar incidents, according to a statement from his office. Prime Minister. As much of the debate over escorting and invoking the law took place behind closed doors at the cabinet table, the Liberals are under pressure to relinquish cabinet secrecy so that Rouleau has unrestricted access to the necessary information. Medicino was adamant that the commissioner would do so, without committing to abandoning the authority. “We will be there to work with Judge Rouleau to ensure that there is transparency and, most importantly, to make sure he has the information he needs to validate and examine a lot, you know, with a lot of control,” he said. Asked what the government’s limit was for the law to go ahead, saying all other laws were inadequate to resolve the issue, the minister said there were many factors. “We did not look at any of these events in isolation. We looked all over the country and we looked at the fact that our corridors were blocked. “And while there has been some progress, there were significant risks in the future that these exclusions could return.” “The advice we received from law enforcement officials was that the existing authorities were not effective – and this word is very important because it is included in the emergency law test – they were not effective in restoring public safety,” he said. The Conservative Party called the inquiry “white”, questioning both the scope and depth of Rouleau’s mandate. “The Liberal government is doing everything in its power to ensure that this investigation is not substantial and does not hold them accountable,” said conservative public safety critic Raquel Dancho, emergency preparedness critic Dane Lloyd, and by industry critic Gerard Deltell. With files from Rachel Aiello of CTV News
