Invoking Emergencies Act against Freedom Convoy cost taxpayers $73 million

Alex Dhaliwal
  |   April 17, 2024

The Liberal cabinet’s 2022 invocation of the Emergencies Act cost taxpayers more than $73 million. Final costs have yet to be finalized, according to Department of Public Safety records.

“Costs associated with fiscal year 2023-2024 are still to be determined,” the department wrote in an inquiry of ministry tabled in the House of Commons. 

A ministry response at the request of Conservative MP Ziad Aboultaif asked, “With regard to enactment of the Emergencies Act in 2022, what was the cost burden for the government?” 

The costs are $73,550,568 and counting, reported Blacklock’s Reporter.

According to Public Safety Canada, local law enforcement in Ottawa and Windsor received the vast majority of funding through grants.

“It should be noted additional funding allocated by the government to Ottawa and its partners as well as Windsor were not specifically as a result of the Emergencies Act invocation but meant to compensate both municipalities for the extraordinary expenses incurred during and after the protracted blockades,” reads the response to Aboultaif's inquiry.

Additional costs include $400,000 in charter flights for RCMP officers and $1.3 million worth to accommodate out-of-town constables for the three-week convoy gridlock.

Cabinet invoked the Emergencies Act February 14, 2022, until the 23rd. The Mounties expected protests to last at least another month, according to internal records.

“Intelligence information suggests that convoy protesters are beginning to weaponize themselves,” said a RCMP briefing note Truckers Convoy And Protective Services. Law enforcement never uncovered firearms or explosives from convoy protesters.

“Officers are constantly monitoring the shift in behaviour and will respond accordingly,” wrote staff. As many as 250 RCMP officers stood outside Parliament, reported Blacklock’s Reporter. 

“The RCMP also continues to have approximately 350 members deployed daily in support of our protective mandate,” reads Truckers Convoy.

“It could have been deadly,” then-public safety minister Marco Mendicino told reporters at the time.

According to a Toronto Star report, an unnamed police source claiming truckers hid loaded shotguns inside their vehicles. 

“Fears that there were weapons inside some of the trucks proved prescient,” reported the Star. “A police source said loaded shotguns were found.” 

The story quoted Mendicino: “It was nothing short of miraculous that nobody was seriously injured.”

Now-Immigration Minister Marc Miller, retweeted the Star report with a quote: “Was the Freedom Convoy really about vaccine mandates or something darker?”

The Ottawa Police Service later dismissed the story as false, reported Blacklock’s Reporter.

At a 2022 Commons public safety committee, officials testified neither loaded shotguns nor firearms had been uncovered in convoy trucks. “This is misinformation,” Conservative MP Dane Lloyd told the committee.

Alex Dhaliwal

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