Not All Tools Exhausted Before Invoking Emergencies Acts, Says OPP Commissioner

Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Commissioner Thomas Carrique said on Thursday he shares the “sentiment” his counterpart at the RCMP expressed about not all tools having been exhausted before the Emergencies Act was invoked.

Carrique was testifying before the Public Order Emergency Commission and was asked what he thought about RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki’s stance on the invocation.

The OPP Commissioner was presented with an email Lucki wrote to the chief of staff of Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino on Feb. 14.

“I am of the view that we have not yet exhausted tools that are already available through the existing legislation,” said Lucki.

“There are instances where charges can be laid under existing authorities for various Criminal Code offences occurring right now in the context of the protest. The Ontario Provincial Emergencies Act just enacted will also help in providing additional deterrent tools to our existing toolbox.”

Commission counsel Eric Brousseau asked Carrique whether he agreed with that “sentiment.”

“I would agree with that sentiment, yes,” said Carrique.

The Trudeau government went on to declare a public emergency on Feb. 14, hours after Lucki had provided her input.

Supports OPP Intelligence Chief

Along with agreeing with Lucki on the Emergencies Act, Carrique also supported the testimony provided earlier to the commission by OPP Superintendent Pat Morris.

Morris said on Oct. 19 the Provincial Operations Intelligence Bureau (POIB) he manages had found “no credible intelligence of threats” of violence related to the Freedom Convoy movement.

“The superintendent’s evidence was that there were no threats that materialized and that there were no credible threats to national security. Do you agree with that?” asked Brousseau.

“I do agree with that, I do agree with that,” said Carrique.

“When you move from strategic intelligence into operational and tactical intelligence, and establishing thresholds for mandates and thresholds for charges, that further analysis needs to be done to determine whether it’s credible, and whether that threat actually came to fruition.”

Carrique said in his August interview with the commission before testifying in person that he had not requested emergency powers from the federal government.

The interview summary says that the “OPP recognized that it would be beneficial to compel service providers,” but the act was “not used to compel them to provide service,” in reference to the issue of tow trucks.

“The OPP did not change its approach to enforcement action as a result of the invocation of the Emergencies Act.”

Despite having a sizeable role in managing last winter’s events, Carrique told the commission he was never advised the Emergencies Act would be invoked and learned about it when it was announced publicly by the federal government.