It was not the events of February 2022 in Ottawa that were the story. It was the examination of those events at the end of the year by Ontario Justice Paul Rouleau. The curtain went up and revealed much about the failed workings of our political systems in Canada and the serious problems with our policing.
But whether the justice deals with all he saw and heard is a good question. His instructions are to deal with whether the federal government made proper use of the emergency measures act.
It would seem to be a matter of flipping a coin. If the coin says the use of the act was reasonable, the rest of the report is just legal verbiage and we can file it and forget it. If the coin says the act was not needed because of the precedent set by the actions of police during the G20 in Toronto in 2010, it would give conservative leader Pierre Poilievre something on which to campaign.
It would be safe to say that the justice must have made note of the failings of the public safety organizations from the Canadian Security Investigation Service (CSIS), Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) and municipal police services in general. They failed to serve and protect.
The actions of the RCMP and the OPP were political, specious and unworthy of those organizations. The lack of coordination between all the services was a disgrace. Instead of quick and decisive action, the ultimate cost of action increased every day.
And there should be a special chapter on CSIS. This vague and unsung organization appeared to Canadians as a meaningless bunch of paper pushers with no legitimate place among modern intelligence services.
But the most serious problem of all was the way we are running this country. We have inadequate politicians preaching their litanies of dogma instead of following the needs and concerns of their voters.
When Canada needed action, they dithered and argued. They belittled each other. They were not worthy of our approval.
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Copyright 2022 © Peter Lowry
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