Ottawa: Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, who appeared on Thursday to testify during an ongoing investigation into the emergency act enacted by the federal government to end freedom convoy demonstrations, said there is a direct link between Canada’s economic and national security.
She also justified the decision to invoke the Emergency Act to control the situation that has gone out of control.
In February, the Federal government imposed a state of emergency to divert protesters from Canada’s border with Ottawa and the United States. Now the Public Order Emergency Commission is investigating whether it was right to implement this Act or not.
Several cabinet ministers have deposed before the commission in this case.
Although Freeland maintained that the Liberal government’s decision to impose the Emergency Act was right, she refused to elaborate on whether the government’s decision was due to the economic damage caused by the protesters and, if so, was it within the scope of the law.
Freeland said she was not a lawyer. She believed the decision of the authorities who had advised her to do so and the decision was taken by the Federal government on the advice of legal experts.
Pertinently, the Commission has reached the last days of public hearing and the analysis of the matter is its lost link. The Emergency Act was enacted for the first time since it became law in 1988.