Ottawa spent $2.2 million unsuccessfully defending Emergencies Act use
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
188.41957
Summary
A federal judge ruled that the government's use of the Armed Forces Act in response to an anti-police protest in 2011 was a violation of Canadian citizens' civil liberties. The government has since been fighting the ruling and has spent millions of dollars in legal fees to try to overturn it. In this episode, we talk to Chris Sims from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation about why the government should back down.
Transcript
00:00:08.800
But I want to shift gears here very dramatically for a moment.
00:00:12.680
It is Monday. We'll talk in a few minutes to our, well, a few seconds really,
00:00:16.280
to our good friend Chris Sims from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
00:00:19.200
But just to set the stage here, you remember when the Federal Court of Canada
00:00:23.520
found that Justin Trudeau had violated your and my constitutional rights
00:00:27.080
when they invoked the Emergencies Act and used it to trample on civil liberties?
00:00:31.620
Well, that lawsuit, they spent $2.2 million on in legal fees.
00:00:39.060
And by the way, tip of the iceberg, the appeal is ongoing.
00:00:42.060
But $2.2 million, only to be told by a federal court judge.
00:00:48.340
Chris Sims, always good to talk to you. Thanks for coming back on today.
00:00:52.280
So $2.2 million. I mean, in terms of the broader Canadian budget,
00:00:57.660
this isn't the hugest amount, but it's about priorities.
00:01:00.760
Instead of a government showing contrition and saying,
00:01:02.980
yeah, you know what, we probably shouldn't have done that,
00:01:04.700
they fought it tooth and nail and even now are continuing to fight it.
00:01:10.580
that shows just how out of touch governments can get
00:01:15.260
And so, to your point, it was a federal court judge
00:01:18.340
that made what I would consider a pretty landmark ruling.
00:01:21.280
I'm not a lawyer, but a lot of my lawyer friends are calling it that.
00:01:24.300
When the justice decided, yeah, the invocation of the Emergencies Act
00:01:28.540
that included things like freezing the bank accounts
00:01:33.600
who were in Ottawa at the time was unconstitutional.
00:01:38.060
So definitely hats off to our friends and colleagues
00:01:42.620
I know you've spoken with them many times, Andrew, on your show.
00:01:47.320
And I think a lot of people are now writing that down
00:01:51.980
And so it would be a good idea for the government
00:01:59.080
You know, the heat has come down out of this kind of witch hunt era,
00:02:08.320
And now it's probably a good idea for the federal government
00:02:13.360
is this really in the best interest of the public
00:02:21.460
has said, yeah, you guys crossed the line here,
00:02:30.600
They shouldn't spend one penny more of taxpayers' money.
00:02:33.420
And if the government does want to say something,
00:02:40.340
And we saw in Alberta, your province, this happen.
00:02:44.840
she issued an apology on behalf of the Alberta government
00:02:50.140
who had been subjected under the previous government
00:02:52.980
by Jason Kenney to some very significant restrictions,
00:02:57.300
but didn't actually have any sort of contrition
00:02:59.380
or acknowledgement of wrongdoing from the governments.
00:03:04.920
But I would also point out here that it was something,
00:03:12.300
is that the government right now federally says,
00:03:14.040
on one hand, oh yeah, we want to move on from this,
00:03:16.000
but they're still trying to defend the indefensible here,
00:03:22.900
to defend their right to freeze your bank account.
00:03:26.900
And going on with an appeal to this ruling is not moving on.
00:03:31.220
That is continuously spending taxpayers' money.
00:03:33.880
And I think we need to really put a frame around this,
00:03:37.060
on what happened when they froze those bank accounts.
00:03:58.160
is only supposed to be used in extreme emergencies,
00:04:12.960
You know, aliens are not coming down out of the sky.
00:04:15.320
We are not suffering a massive terrorist attack again,
00:04:18.700
That is what the Emergencies Act is supposed to be.
00:04:24.300
And so, that is why the Taxpayers' Federation said,