Emergencies Act Author Warned Cabinet of ‘Long Term Issues’ Following Its Use on Convoy Protest: Text Messages

Perrin Beatty, president and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and former defence minister, speaks during a news conference held by the Canadian Travel and Tourism Roundtable at the Ottawa Airport in Ottawa, on June 14, 2021. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)

Perrin Beatty, a former Conservative defence minister who helped draft the Emergencies Act in the 1980s, told Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland in February text messages that he was worried about possible “long term issues” that might follow the federal government’s use of the emergency powers.

“I certainly hope that we'll see an early, non-violent end to the blockades although I am worried, as I know you are,” Beatty wrote to Freeland on Feb. 22, eight days after the federal government invoked the Emergencies Act. The act was revoked on Feb. 23.

“There are also lots of long term issues we need to consider once this is over, including whether we need to take other measures that could obviate the need to use the extraordinary powers in the Act in the future, and how to repair holes in our political system,” Beatty continued in the messages.

Screenshots of the messages were entered as evidence for the Public Order Emergency Commission (POEC) on Feb. 24.

Beatty said he was also concerned that using the Emergencies Act could lead to the “radicalization” of Canadians “who would normally be law-abiding and focused on going about their daily lives.”

Beatty, who is now 72 years old and president and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, sponsored a bill in 1987 that was eventually passed into law a year later as the Emergencies Act.

‘Last Resort’

Freeland yesterday told the POEC that she valued Beatty’s “collaboration,” but did not comment on his text messages to her in February.

“I fully understand we’re talking now about a very strong action we took which was polarizing for the country,” she said of the government’s use of the Emergencies Act during her POEC testimony on Nov. 24, according to Blacklock’s Reporter.

Beatty said back in May that the now-ongoing public inquiry into the government’s use of the act is a crucial component of maintaining government transparency.

“If you don’t have [transparency], then people will always have their suspicions that something has been withheld,” Beatty told The Canadian Press during an interview in early May.

In March, Beatty appeared before the parliamentary joint committee on the declaration of emergency to explain the background of the Emergencies Act and the thresholds that must be met to justify its use.

Beatty told the committee he wouldn’t give his opinion on whether the federal government’s use of the Emergencies Act in February was justified, but said the act was “designed to be legislation of last resort.”

“It’s explicit on that. It is designed to be used when there is no other legal authority available to be able to adequately resolve an emergency,” he told the committee on March 29.

“You need to know on what basis it’s decided that there was not sufficient other power that the authorities had to act. Also, was the emergency so grave that it was essential to invoke the act?”

Noé Chartier contributed to this report.