RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki despatched the Ontario Provincial Police a textual content message per week after anti-COVID-19 mandate protesters arrived in Ottawa to say the federal government was shedding — or had already misplaced — confidence in the native police power.
OPP Commissioner Thomas Carrique is testifying Thursday at a public inquiry investigating the Liberal government’s choice to invoke the Emergencies Act for the primary time in Canadian historical past. The government argued its short-term and extraordinary powers had been wanted to finish the blockades.
The textual content messages between Carrique and Lucki on Feb. 5 — in which the RCMP commissioner additionally stated she was having a tough time making an attempt to settle down federal cupboard ministers who had been seeing “bouncing castles in downtown Ottawa” — had been submitted to the general public inquiry.
During his testimony, Carrique stated the OPP is liable for policing practically 330 communities throughout the province and have become conscious the “Freedom Convoy” was on its method to Ottawa about two weeks earlier than it arrived.
He stated he believed Ottawa police would cease giant vehicles from going downtown and parking round Parliament Hill. He stated that, had he recognized in any other case, he would have requested extra questions and will have supplied further assets.
He additionally stated the power’s intelligence confirmed protesters had been expressing a “dedication for long-term exercise” and had been making “calls for that might not be realized in the quick time period or at all.”
