Convoy organizers agreed to remove trucks the day before Trudeau invoked Emergencies Act
Ottawa City Manager Steve Kanellakos testified that at agreement to move the Freedom Convoy from downtown Ottawa had been reached the day before Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act. Photo: POEC website
Ottawa City Manager Steve Kanellakos told the Public Order Emergencies Commission that Freedom Convoy organizers had agreed to move trucks from Ottawa’s city core only hours before Cabinet invoked the Emergencies Act.
Kanellakos had spent six days negotiating with Freedom Convoy organizers, and said he had no warning Justin Trudeau’s government would invoke the Emergencies Act.
Kanellakos’ testimony filled about five hours hours of the Commission hearings Monday, October 17th, and contradicted cabinet claims that only the Emergencies Act could persuade protesters to withdraw from Ottawa neighbourhoods.
The agreement to withdraw Convoy trucks from downtown Ottawa was finalized Sunday, February 13, one day before cabinet invoked the Emergencies Act, but not made public at the time.
No reason was given why cabinet pre-empted the successful negotiations with the Emergencies Act. Kanellakos testified from the beginning of the protest he did not consider it violent or dangerous.
