State of Emergency Not Needed to Clear Alberta Border Blockade: Provincial Official

Anti-mandate demonstrators gather as a truck convoy blocks the highway the busy U.S. border crossing in Coutts, Alta., Jan. 31, 2022. The Canadian Press/Jeff McIntosh

A senior civil servant in Alberta says the provincial government never declared a state of emergency after protesters blockaded a key border crossing because it would not have helped.

Marlin Degrand told the public inquiry investigating the federal Liberal government’s use of the Emergencies Act that triggering the provincial legislation would not have given police extra powers to help clear protesters at the crossing in Coutts, Alta., last winter.