Don Martin: After a long final day on the Emergencies Act inquiry stand, it's convoy zero, Trudeau won
He gambled just by showing up. And he appears to have won in the court of reasonable public opinion.
Voluntarily hot-seated for 5.5 gruelling hours as the grand finale of a nationally televised inquisition, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau left the Emergencies Act Inquiry Friday without serious damage to his rationale for invoking unprecedented police powers against a perceived security threat from February’s convoy occupation and border blockades.
For those of us paid to watch this prime minister, there was ample reason to be skeptical that he could survive the glare of a legal battering under oath for long without resorting to his usual fixation on reciting scripted lines instead of coherently answering significant questions.
But confronted by a lineup of lawyers representing very divergent clients, Trudeau threw away his internal Teleprompter and delivered a surprisingly relaxed, reflective and confident performance.
That’s just the optics, of course. The substance of his appearance is obviously more important. And on that score, Trudeau did well despite some nagging gaps in his answers.
True, Trudeau allowed, some of his justification for acting was in anticipation of violence, which ultimately never developed, instead of an actual threat.
The prime minister also admitted the occupation fell short of the security threat definition that Canada’s spy agency needs to unleash extraordinary powers. But, Trudeau insisted, it still met the government threshold for the move.
And Trudeau did concede that border blockades were removed even before the Emergencies Act came into force.
But under cross-examination, intervening lawyers failed to poke any major holes in the prime minister’s emergency action narrative.
The highly anticipated Trudeau showdown with the "Freedom Convoy" legal team fizzled when its lawyer squandered her precious time by reading messages from anti-vaxxers into the record, which set up Trudeau for an eloquent defence of vaccine mandates.
And the sleepy set of lawyers representing police, cities, constitutional authorities and provincial governments flat-lined the proceedings with tedious questions instead of breathing new life from the big guy’s testimony into the inquiry’s final hours.
Ultimately, Trudeau emerged as a prime minister who appeared to have done due diligence in gathering security input before being provoked to protect public safety.
Trudeau’s testimony paints the picture of a prime minister bombarded with alarms and warnings of potential security concerns to the soundtrack of airhorns blanketing downtown Ottawa and editorials thundering against federal footdragging.
Bringing in the Act does not, as some (including me) suspected, seem to have been a kneejerk do-something reaction by a cabinet that hadn’t contemplated the serious consequences of its introduction.
Trudeau noted he was acutely aware that by introducing the Act, he would end up in front of an inquiry to justify his decision as mandated by the enabling legislation.
Far from precipitating frequent uses of the Act against lesser protests, he argued, the spectacle of facing an inquiry and the risky exposure it brings to a sitting prime minister is fear factor enough to discourage its use without an airtight defence.
So now it’s over to Justice Paul Rouleau to spend a headache-filled holiday deciding if the Trudeau Government met the legislative criteria for invoking the Emergencies Act.
Armed with evidence that the RCMP wanted to keep the Act around for longer than the eight days it was in force, and with a CSIS director who enthusiastically endorsed its implementation, Trudeau had protection against any allegations he went rogue in introducing the Act before taking the stand.
But his strong performance at the inquiry is another buffer against being found personally and politically reckless in making the move.
To the largely-disinterested public, who watching the February protests dissolve in tandem with the Emergencies Act’s introduction, the ends will likely have justified the means even if Rouleau decides the federal government lacked sufficient legislative authority to invoke the Act.
In the court of public opinion, it seems, Trudeau taking the stand was a winning strategy.
That’s the bottom line.
IN DEPTH
Budget 2024 prioritizes housing while taxing highest earners, deficit projected at $39.8B
In an effort to level the playing field for young people, in the 2024 federal budget, the government is targeting Canada's highest earners with new taxes in order to help offset billions in new spending to enhance the country's housing supply and social supports.
'One of the greatest': Former prime minister Brian Mulroney commemorated at state funeral
Prominent Canadians, political leaders, and family members remembered former prime minister and Progressive Conservative titan Brian Mulroney as an ambitious and compassionate nation-builder at his state funeral on Saturday.
'Democracy requires constant vigilance' Trudeau testifies at inquiry into foreign election interference in Canada
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau testified Wednesday before the national public inquiry into foreign interference in Canada's electoral processes, following a day of testimony from top cabinet ministers about allegations of meddling in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections. Recap all the prime minister had to say.
As Poilievre sides with Smith on trans restrictions, former Conservative candidate says he's 'playing with fire'
Siding with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith on her proposed restrictions on transgender youth, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre confirmed Wednesday that he is against trans and non-binary minors using puberty blockers.
Supports for passengers, farmers, artists: 7 bills from MPs and Senators to watch in 2024
When parliamentarians return to Ottawa in a few weeks to kick off the 2024 sitting, there are a few bills from MPs and senators that will be worth keeping an eye on, from a 'gutted' proposal to offer a carbon tax break to farmers, to an initiative aimed at improving Canada's DNA data bank.
Opinion
opinion Don Martin: Gusher of Liberal spending won't put out the fire in this dumpster
A Hail Mary rehash of the greatest hits from the Trudeau government’s three-week travelling pony-show, the 2024 federal budget takes aim at reversing the party’s popularity plunge in the under-40 set, writes political columnist Don Martin. But will it work before the next election?
opinion Don Martin: The doctor Trudeau dumped has a prescription for better health care
Political columnist Don Martin sat down with former federal health minister Jane Philpott, who's on a crusade to help fix Canada's broken health care system, and who declined to take any shots at the prime minister who dumped her from caucus.
opinion Don Martin: Trudeau's seeking shelter from the housing storm he helped create
While Justin Trudeau's recent housing announcements are generally drawing praise from experts, political columnist Don Martin argues there shouldn’t be any standing ovations for a prime minister who helped caused the problem in the first place.
opinion Don Martin: Poilievre has the field to himself as he races across the country to big crowds
It came to pass on Thursday evening that the confidentially predictable failure of the Official Opposition non-confidence motion went down with 204 Liberal, BQ and NDP nays to 116 Conservative yeas. But forcing Canada into a federal election campaign was never the point.
opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike
When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Parliamentary report on Emergencies Act decision is 18 months past due — and counting
The erstwhile group of senators and MPs studying the federal government's invocation of the Emergencies Act over the "Freedom Convoy" was supposed to present its findings in December. December of 2022, that is.
Grandparents killed in wrong-way crash on Hwy. 401 identified
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
The kids from 'Mrs. Doubtfire are all SUPER grown up now, and we're not OK
The adorable trio of child actors from the 1993 classic comedy 'Mrs. Doubtfire,' which starred the late and great Robin Williams, are all grown up and looking back on their seminal time together.
Quebec man who threatened Trudeau, Legault online sentenced to 20 months in jail
A Quebec man who pleaded guilty to threatening Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier François Legault has been sentenced to 20 months in jail.
Drone footage shows Ukrainian village battered to ruins as residents flee Russian advance
The Ukrainian village of Ocheretyne has been battered by fighting, drone footage obtained by The Associated Press shows. The village has been a target for Russian forces in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.
Bystander livestreams during Charlotte standoff show an ever-growing appetite for social media video
Saing Chhoeun was locked out of his Charlotte, N.C., home on Monday as law enforcement with high-powered rifles descended into his yard and garage, using a car as a shield as they were met with a shower of gunfire from the direction of his neighbor's house.
Britney Spears 'home and safe' after paramedics responded to an incident at the Chateau Marmont, source tells CNN
A source close to singer Britney Spears tells CNN that the pop star is 'home and safe' after she had a 'major fight' with her boyfriend on Wednesday night at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood.
Israel has briefed U.S. on plan to evacuate Palestinian civilians ahead of potential Rafah operation
Israel this week briefed Biden administration officials on a plan to evacuate Palestinian civilians ahead of a potential operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah aimed at rooting out Hamas militants, according to U.S. officials familiar with the talks.
TD worst-case scenario more likely after drug money laundering allegations: analyst
TD Bank Group could be hit with more severe penalties than previously expected, says a banking analyst after a report that the investigation it faces in the U.S. is tied to laundering illicit fentanyl profits.
Local Spotlight
Twin Alberta Ballet dancers retire after 15 years with company
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
B.C. mayor stripped of budget, barred from committees over Indigenous residential schools book
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three Quebec men from same family father hundreds of children
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
Here's how one of Sask.'s largest power plants was knocked out for 73 days, and what it took to fix it
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
Quebec police officer anonymously donates kidney, changes schoolteacher's life
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Canada's oldest hat store still going strong after 90 years
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Road closed in Oak Bay, B.C., so elephant seal can cross
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
B.C. breweries take home awards at World Beer Cup
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Kitchener family says their 10-year-old needs life-saving drug that cost $600,000
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.