‘Former bureaucrat-turned-politician seems too fond of command and control.’
On the afternoon of February 12, 2025, Liberal leadership contender Mark Carney rallied supporters in Kelowna, BC. During his remarks, he pledged, “It’s something that my government is going to do, is to use all of the powers of the federal government, including the emergency powers of the federal government, to accelerate major projects that we need in order to build this economy and take on the Americans.”
If Carney becomes the Liberal leader, he’ll become prime minister. The pledge to reach for Emergencies [War Measures] Act powers is disturbing and contrary to the legislation. Especially, if done when Parliament is suspended by prorogation.
The Mulroney government enacted the Emergencies Act in 1988. It expanded the existing War Measures Act of 1914, previously enforced by Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau in October 1970 during the FLQ Crisis. The CBC then observed, “Canada looked more like a police state than a democracy on Oct. 13, 1970.”
Seven years later, the McDonald Commission examined allegations of RCMP wrongdoing and illegal activities, such as burning down a barn and blaming it on the FLQ. The Commission’s 1981 Report resulted in the creation of CSIS in 1984, and the 1988 Emergencies Act, which outlined four triggers to invoke the act: evidence of a) Espionage, b) Sabotage, c) Serious violence (which neither police nor military can cope with,) or d) A plot to overthrow the government.
The Emergencies [War Measures] Act does not name a trigger plan “to accelerate major projects… in order to build (the) economy.” It does not identify economic, diplomatic or political pressure from a foreign power. Using the Emergencies Act to develop large infrastructure projects or “to confront the Americans” reveals our government’s trend of redefining “threat” and “emergency” to serve its own interests.
‘Pandemic’ and 2022 Emergencies Act Invocation… On March 13, 2020, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urged Canadians to flatten the curve for two weeks in response to the coronavirus. Officially, one Canadian had died by that date. In contrast, the Public Health Agency of Canada reported the deaths of over 15,000 Canadians due to opioids between 2016 and early 2020. However, Prime Minister Trudeau canvassed provincial premiers on March 23, 2020, about the need to invoke the Emergencies Act to deal with the coronavirus.
The premiers rejected such action, which gives federal governments the power to override municipal and provincial powers. It also allows federal governments to enact laws without consulting Parliament.
Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act on February 14, 2022, in response to protests over pandemic measures and mandates.
- But, there was no damage to property. No one was charged with physical violence.
- The police never determined that the protests in Ottawa constituted a riot.
- And the military was not called upon to quell the crowd.
- Neither police nor intelligence asked government to invoke the Emergencies Act.
A bridge in Windsor had been reopened the night of February 13, 2022. Alarming charges of conspiracy to commit murder (which a Lethbridge jury later issued a not guilty verdict for the accused) resulted in RCMP arrests under existing laws prior to invoking the Emergencies Act. Yet, the ‘measure of last resort’ was propelled to the front of the line.
Emergencies Act legislation required an inquiry to determine if the government was justified when invoking it. In the fall of 2022, a Public Order Emergency Commission held hearings. Justice Paul Rouleau’s Report concluded, “the very high threshold for invocation was met.” But he admitted, “I have done so with reluctance,” adding he “did not consider the factual basis (for invocation) to be overwhelming,” “there is significant strength to the arguments against reaching it,” and that “reasonable and informed people” would reach the opposite conclusion.
Among the “reasonable people” was Justice Richard Mosley. In his January 2024 judicial review of the government’s action, he found the freezing of bank accounts was done in an entirely ad hoc fashion. Mosley found the government acted unconstitutionally and illegally. Cabinet did not account for the requirement under section 3 of the Act that emergencies be declared only in cases where a circumstance cannot be effectively managed under existing Canadian law.
He also ruled that “reasonable grounds” — justification, transparency and intelligibility — for invoking the Act were unmet. And according to the legislation, it does not include “economic disruption that resulted from the border crossing blockades, troubling as they were.” The government instantly appealed the Mosley decision.
Mark Carney’s recent musing about reaching for the ‘measure of last resort’ to address economic challenges is part of a pattern. Having its way, the governing Liberal party would have invoked the Emergencies Act in March 2020 in response to the coronavirus, despite provincial emergency health measures already in place. Their invocation of the Act in 2022 has been ruled unconstitutional.
Carney entered the Liberal leadership race on January 16, 2025. His major opponent is Chrystia Freeland. If Carney becomes prime minister, Canadians may get used to Emergencies Act invocations becoming part of our ‘new normal.’
Published in the Western Standard.
Ray McGinnis is Senior Fellow with the Frontier Centre for Public Policy. He is author of Unjustified: The Freedom Convoy, the Emergencies Act and the Inquiry that Got It Wrong.
