Author of Emergencies Act Says Government Should Release Legal Opinion for Invocation

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

The former minister under Brian Mulroney who oversaw the process to replace the War Measures Act with the Emergencies Act in 1988 says the Trudeau government should release the legal opinion it used to justify invoking the act last winter.

“I believe the government should release the legal opinion it relied on,” tweeted former defence minister Perrin Beatty on Feb. 22.