Former Conservative interim leader and MP Candice Bergen is criticizing Prime Minster Justin Trudeau for what she said amounts to mischaracterization of a private phone conversation between the two amid the Freedom Convoy protests last winter.
An interpretation of the Feb. 3 phone call by Katie Telford, Trudeau’s chief of staff, was followed by a number of media articles suggesting that Bergen publicly urged Trudeau to engage in dialogue with the protesters while privately acknowledging concerns about engagement.
“Ms. Telford added that during the call, Ms. Bergen acknowledged that there were significant concerns about whom the federal government could engage with and setting a bad precedent,” said a document released by the Public Order Emergency Commission on Nov. 24 that contained a summary of interviews with Trudeau’s senior aides.
That transcript, along with the document summarizing the interviews with PMO staff, was entered into evidence at the inquiry into the invocation of the Emergencies Act.
The Feb. 3 phone call between Trudeau and Bergen took place on the first day that Bergen assumed the role of interim leader of the Opposition.
In her Nov. 25 statement, Bergen said that Trudeau has a “long habit of mischaracterizing conversations and interactions he has with people. And there are some in the media who gladly and with no hesitation help him to do so.”
In the call between Bergen and Trudeau, according to the transcript, Bergen stated they “disagree on some things” but she agrees with Trudeau that the goal is “to find a way for people to head back home and clear things up in Ottawa.”
According to the transcript, it was Trudeau who first said he didn’t want to set a bad precedent. Trudeau told Bergen, “I’m worried about setting a precedent where if anyone wants something they can set up a blockade on Wellington St. People need to be heard and that’s part of our democracy and getting that balance right.”
‘People Needed to Be Heard’
Bergen said in her Nov. 25 statement that while she “agreed with the PM that though he could not necessarily acquiesce to demands of protesters, that people needed to be heard and that involved dialogue. I also agreed with him and [said] that he should not set a bad precedent.”However, Bergen said Trudeau did set a bad precedent “when he chose not to engage in discussion, not to turn the temperature down and to unnecessarily invoke the Emergencies Act.”
In Bergen’s Nov. 25 statement, she said she believed Trudeau “could have achieved that balance whereby the demonstrators did not feel entirely dismissed. Where he could have extended to them an olive branch instead of unleashing the entirely inappropriate use of a heavy-handed measure that will severely tarnish Canada’s reputation.”
Bergen said in her statement that Trudeau’s “only preoccupation was to save face. Unwilling to compromise. Unwilling to discuss. Unwilling to be honest. Even if that meant stomping on Canadian’s basic civil liberties and weaponizing the banking system against demonstrators who only wanted their Prime Minister to hear them out.”
The phone call ended on a pleasant note. Trudeau promised that Bergen’s office will receive briefings on the security situation. “Politics these days is fairly super-charged not with standing [sic] the intensity of folks with what you guys have gone through and the current context in Ottawa,” he said. He suggested they “should have a channel to agree to disagree on a lot of things but at least keep open communication.”
“Because we’re all trying to serve this country as best we can and it’s better to talk than not to,” added Trudeau.
Bergen responded that they were both elected in 2008 and “hollered at each other occasionally” but that they both had the same goal. “We love our country,” she said.
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