Jagmeet Singh claims Freedom Convoy wanted to ‘overthrow’ the government

The Canadian Press / Patrick Doyle

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NDP leader Jagmeet Singh had a bozo eruption on Thursday after claiming the Freedom Convoy organizers wanted to overthrow the feds in a "fascist way."

"They wanted to overthrow a democratically elected government with a committee of their own choosing," claimed Singh during a Thursday media blitz.

"Their goal was not an innocuous goal. Their goal was to overthrow the government and to replace it in a fascist way without having any elections."

Singh's comments preceded the Public Order Emergency Commission (POEC) report, which uncovered that legacy media outlets spread disinformation about convoy protesters last year, including an arson hoax and a fake anti-Semitic poster.

The NDP leader condemned the federal Liberals for invoking the Emergencies Act, calling it a "failure on all levels of government to respond to this serious problem."

He also accused then-Ottawa mayor Jim Watson and Ontario Premier Doug Ford of not taking the protest seriously. According to Singh, Ottawa residents faced considerable harassment and intimidation for wearing masks.

"People faced the worst lockdowns they've ever experienced. The pandemic in Ottawa, the citizens faced the worst of it,” he added. 

“And because of the convoy, businesses were shut down, kids were struggling to go to school and people couldn't sleep at night. It was pretty horrible.”

POEC Commissioner Paul Rouleau admitted Friday that invoking the Emergencies Act was “regrettable” owing to several policing failures in their response to events during the convoy that “spun out of control.”

Singh highlighted reports that some police officers "colluded" with Freedom Convoy protesters. Convoy lawyer Keith Wilson said the organizers received leaked police intelligence from sympathizers within various forces on several occasions.

According to Singh, the convoy organizers had a "very clear goal" of overthrowing the federal government to replace it with a government sympathetic to their aims.

However, convoy organizer James Bauder wrote in a “memorandum of understanding” that the Senate and governor-general could join them in forming a committee to order the revocation of COVID mandates. 

Organizer Tom Marazzo also proposed that the convoy sit at a table “with the Conservatives, and the NDP, and the Bloc as a coalition” to reach a resolution.

Singh hoped the report would highlight how to avoid similar situations moving forward, which it did in a laundry-list of 56 recommendations.

"So that's something that I hope is addressed," Singh said. "And again, the ultimate failures that brought us to this point. What can be done in the future to prevent that from happening?" he said.

The NDP leader previously condemned the trucker convoy and other frustrated Canadians travelling to Ottawa to protest vaccine passports and other COVID mandates.

Singh claimed the intent behind the demonstration was to spread "false information" through "inflammatory, divisive and hateful comments."

However, GoFundMe records show his brother-in-law, Jodhveer Singh Dhaliwal, donated $13,000 to the Freedom Convoy.

Singh said he "unequivocally" disapproved of his brother-in-law's decision to donate and support the convoy’s "extremist and dangerous views.” 

"[I] ... disagree with him about this donation and told him so. I am against this convoy and against the dangerous and divisive rhetoric we're seeing coming from it," said Singh.

"I understand people are frustrated that we're still in this pandemic two years later. The best way to get out of this pandemic, and to keep ourselves, our families and our communities safe, is to get vaccinated and to listen to public health experts."

An anonymous NDP source said Dhaliwal didn't fully understand where the money would go at the time in which he made the donation.

"There was a misunderstanding. Once he understood the true nature of this organization, a process was started to return the donation," said the source.