Ontario Premier Doug Ford has been summoned to testify at the inquiry trying into the federal authorities’s use of the Emergencies Act in response to the protest convoy that descended on Ottawa and various border crossings final winter.
Ford and Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones — who was the province’s solicitor basic in the course of the protests — have been requested by the fee to seem various instances, in accordance to a letter from the fee’s authorized counsel which was supplied to CBC.
“It was our hope that Premier Ford and Minister Jones would agree to seem earlier than the Commission voluntarily,” the letter reads.
“However, provided that the repeated invites have been all declined, the Commission has issued summons this present day to Premier Ford and Minister Jones.”
The letter contradicts what Ford has stated in latest weeks when requested why he would not be testifying.
“I’ve not been requested,” Ford instructed reporters throughout an unrelated press convention final week.
On Feb. 14, the federal authorities invoked the Emergencies Act in response to the convoy protest’s occupation of downtown Ottawa. That gave authorities new powers to freeze the funds of these linked to blockades and protests, ban journey to protest zones, prohibit individuals from bringing minors to illegal assemblies and commandeer tow vehicles.
The fee has been directed to look at the circumstances that led to the declaration of a public emergency, together with the actions of police prior to and after the declaration.