Two ministers with key portfolios in the Trudeau government joked about sending tanks against the Freedom Convoy a few days after the trucker-led protest had settled in Ottawa, according to text messages.
“How many tanks are you asking for,” wrote Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino to Justice Minister David Lametti on Feb. 2. “I Just wanna ask Anita how many we’ve got on hand,” he added in reference to Defence Minister Anita Anand.
“I reckon one will do!!” replied Lametti.
Trucks had started arriving in Ottawa on Jan. 28, and tens of thousands of protesters joined over the weekend to demand the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions.
The exchange between the two, which had started on a serious note, was entered as evidence at the Public Order Emergency Commission on Nov. 23. The commission is reviewing the use of the Emergencies Act by the Liberal government to deal with the protests.
While it appears they were joking on the matter of tanks, Lametti raised with Mendicino getting the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) involved.
“You need to get the police to move. And the CAF if necessary. Too many people are being seriously impacted by what is an occupation. I am getting out as soon as I can,” Lametti wrote before Mendicino mentioned tanks.
“People are looking to us/you for leadership. And not stupid people. People like Carney, Cath, my team...” added Lametti.
‘Banter’
Lametti testified before the commission on Nov. 23 and he was asked about his text messages with Mendicino.Another exchange between the two was entered as evidence and it shows Lametti telling Mendicino that then-Ottawa police chief Peter Sloly needed to be “quick quick quick.”
This, with Lametti’s other comment about needing to “get police to move,” appeared to show an intent to influence police operations.
Lametti defended that there was no interference there, saying ministers can identify priorities to police services, but without making operational decisions.
He also said he would often use humour in his exchanges with Mendicino.
“Minister Mendicino and I have a close relationship. There’s some banter here. There’s some humour here. That’s a reference to my favourite Christmas movie. The ‘quick quick quick’ part,” said Lametti.
Anand testified after Lametti and said he had made the comment about tanks “in jest,” and that the CAF never considered deploying tanks in any number.
She was asked whether she found the joke about sending tanks on protesters funny.
“Just a few days after the arrival of the protesters in Ottawa, this was the sort of joke that was considered funny among your cabinet colleagues, wasn’t it?” asked Rob Kittredge, counsel for the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms.
Anand replied she was not in Canada at the time as she was dealing with the Russia-Ukraine situation.
“I will say that I know that my colleagues take their work extremely seriously,” she said.
On the issue of CAF’s involvement during the events, Anand told the commission that soldiers should not be deployed for protest management.
“Any minister of national defence in a democracy would be loath to deploy the Canadian Armed Forces, except in the most dire of circumstances,” Anand said.
“Our country’s soldiers are not police officers. They are not trained in crowd control. They are not trained in protest management. They are not law enforcement. And that reality was one that the chief of defence staff and my deputy minister and I carried with us throughout this time.”
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