LIVE UPDATES (Day 2): Public Order Emergency Commission investigates Trudeau's use of Emergencies Act
The public inquiry investigating Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's decision to invoke the Emergencies Act began yesterday. As part of the government's obligations following the invocation of the Act, a commission must be convened within 60 days and its subsequent report must be tabled in Parliament within 360 days after the Act is revoked.
This inquiry, deemed the Public Order Emergency Commission, was announced by Trudeau on April 25 after the Emergencies Act was revoked on February 23. The mandate delivered from the prime minister tasks the commission with handling the examination and assessment of the basis for the Trudeau government's decision to use the Emergencies Act, the circumstances leading up to the invocation and whether this was an appropriate and effective measure chosen by the government to address the Freedom Convoy.
A review of the legislative policy and regulatory framework will also be part of the commissions duties, which could feature potential amendments to the Emergencies Act. The full order in council relating to the Public Order Emergency Commission can be read here.
Ezra Levant is live tweeting the hearing today as it happens. Follow along below:
Ottawa mayoral candidate Catherine McKenney claims to have been unaware that a poster with a swastika sign calling to “gas the unvaccinated” was held up during the Freedom Convoy.
— William Diaz-Berthiaume (@wdiazberthiaume) October 14, 2022
FULL COVERAGE: https://t.co/YpdRc9YyMu pic.twitter.com/LVIGTxw30S
Witness Catherine McKenney just corrected the cross-examiner, after he referred to McKenney as "she."
— William Diaz-Berthiaume (@wdiazberthiaume) October 14, 2022
"My pronouns are 'they,'" McKenney stated.
FULL COVERAGE: https://t.co/YpdRc9YyMu
PM Trudeau asked if he'll resign if there was no justification found for use of the Emergencies Act after the inquiry:
— Efrain Flores Monsanto 🇨🇦🚜🚛 (@realmonsanto) October 14, 2022
"we're going to make sure Canadians see the situation we were facing, and how the tools we used were appropriate"https://t.co/NkdySDLg8s to follow the latest pic.twitter.com/ESTsyYd4GH
The https://t.co/OkH99BZwL6 is getting underway. The judge says the hearings are scheduled until 7 p.m. tonight. I have never heard of anyone in Ottawa working until that late on a Friday. And they might go Saturdays too. I find that encouraging for some reason.
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) October 14, 2022
“It was so much more fun in February” says one of Tamara Lich’s lawyers as they arrive for day 2 of the Emergency Act Commission.
— K2 (@kiansimone44) October 14, 2022
More at https://t.co/0CNKcjnNRs pic.twitter.com/TsPPooCYXQ
The first witness is Victoria De La Ronde. She's wearing a mask of course. She says she is psychologically traumatized by trucks. She says she hears "phantom horn blowing". I swear to god I'm not making this up. https://t.co/OkH99BZwL6
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) October 14, 2022
Victoria De La Ronde says her hearing is damaged from the trucks. Her proof is, she says, she now listens to music louder. She said she tried to hide from the horns by… sleeping on the floor. I’m deeply embarrassed for this kook. pic.twitter.com/92Q174HaEw
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) October 14, 2022
She says she was scared that a trucker would shoot a firework at her window. It never happened, but it might ave in a different, parallel universe. She says she has PTSD when she smells gas. CRAY ZAY. https://t.co/OkH99BZwL6
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) October 14, 2022
Now Zexi Li is testifying. She is a government bureaucrat and activist. I swear to God: she said that her animals were traumatized by the protest (she refuses to call it a protest; she calls it an occupation).
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) October 14, 2022
Dr. Dolittle says we needed to invoke martial law, for the critters.
Zexi Li says that a trucker told her to smile, and not wear a mask.
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) October 14, 2022
Thoughts and prayers, people.
This is why we needed martial law, riot police on horseback, and seized bank accounts. What a nut. https://t.co/OkH99ChFZe.
Ottawa resident testifying in the Emergencies Act Public Commission recounts how she was harassed for wearing a mask and told to smile more by the convoy protesters.
— Efrain Flores Monsanto 🇨🇦🚜🚛 (@realmonsanto) October 14, 2022
See the latest at https://t.co/NkdySDLg8s pic.twitter.com/Y07pTltfTY
Here's Zexi Li. She's not here as a witness. She's an actress in her own reality show. But she insists you be an extra in her dystopian movie. She insists you live under a dictatorship, with her as a little Eva Braun: https://t.co/sqWT96L6rA
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) October 14, 2022
Victoria De La Ronde is saying there was no grocery delivery to her building.
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) October 14, 2022
I know that's true -- I was downtown and Uber Eats couldn't get to me (a crisis, for sure). But it was police who closed the streets, not truckers. Police refused to let any vehicles into the downtown.
De La Ronde: "The sounds of the horns. The sounds of the people with lots of voices coming from all different places, all was disconcerting and completely eliminated my ability to negotiate my environment."
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) October 14, 2022
I swear she said that.
So we need martial law.
Zexi Li: "the snow was often coloured yellow or brown... on every corner"
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) October 14, 2022
I swear she said this. You really got to watch this. https://t.co/OkH99BZwL6.
This is Trudeau's case for martial law.
Someone peed in the snow -- and it definitely wasn't Ottawa's countless homeless.
Zexi Li: "it was like The Purge... that feeling of chaos gradually increased... I need a moment".
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) October 14, 2022
This is what wokeness has bred in us. You get status by being a victim, by being offended, by being offended.
Of course she works for the government.
Zexi Li: "They would target their honking... at me."
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) October 14, 2022
I've got to get one of those horns that could targeting the honking. That sounds pretty amazing.
Thang God we brought in martial law to stop targeted honking.
Zexi Li says she is so famous, such a local celebrity, that all the truckers knew who she was and were targeting her with their honking because she was so famous and amazing. "Because of my position".
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) October 14, 2022
She's now smiling and laughing as she talks about what a celebrity she is.
Zexi Li: "I know people who were pushed out of their homes because of ...the terror they felt." "Those real feelings that people had".
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) October 14, 2022
What the actual f*ck?
Fabulist.
Liar.
Drama queen.
Reality TV star.
Kook.
Trudeau Liberal.
Zexi Li: "my bathroom was quiet... I got some peace there."#kook#showboat#liar#extremist#bureaucrat#activist#Trudeau
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) October 14, 2022
Zexi Li: "I'm fast! I can move very fast! When they're bouncing their trucks and their cars, and roaring at me, the idea was to move quick! ...to stay safe."
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) October 14, 2022
Bouncing their trucks at her?
Lawyer: did you feel unsafe?
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) October 14, 2022
Zexi Li: Didn't say yes. Said: "they would try to convince you they were doing the right thing. I would try to plead with them!"
So she engaged in debate with them. Despite their targeting horn-honking and bouncing trucks.#liar #kook
Would you say you felt unsafe?
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) October 14, 2022
Zexi Li: I wouldn't say I felt unsafe. But I didn't feel safe.
(ok so how most people feel in public?)
De La Ronde: "someone kept jumping in front of me. That was a bit intimidating".
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) October 14, 2022
Who? What? When? Why? WTF?
"My big worry was that I would bump into and hurt them."
WTF?
Better invoke martial law.
De La Ronde and Li are obsessed with the honking. But the honking ended right away, after a local judge ordered the honking to stop. That was long before martial law was invoked.
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) October 14, 2022
De La Ronde just said she thinks she might have got Covid from the truckers.
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) October 14, 2022
She doesn't know, but she told the judge it could have happened.
Better seize some bank accounts and deploy some riot horses.https://t.co/OkH99ChFZe
Zexi Li loves the camera. She's having the time of her life. She's a reality TV star.
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) October 14, 2022
She said she was scared. But now she's sayingit was "important" for her to walk the streets and talk to people -- truckers, the homeless, cops, whatever.
She's a celebrity -- just ask her.
Zexi Li: "Egg throwing started to occur from my building." As in, her friends were throwing eggs down at the truckers.
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) October 14, 2022
Her neighbours "had their little retaliation in frustration, because what else could they do."
That's the only violence she's described. From her friends.
Zexi Li says police came to her building when her friends were throwing eggs down at the truckers. She said she was offended by the police coming to investigate.
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) October 14, 2022
She didn't condemn throwing things at the truckers.
She condemned the police for investigating it.#kook
Zexi Li: Ms. Ottawa Vocal Fry 2022.
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) October 14, 2022
De La Ronde: "I'm so happy to be in a country with freedom of expression and freedom to assemble... that sentiment started to crumble [because of the honking].
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) October 14, 2022
That's all it took to turn a liberal into a fascist: Some of that "targeting honking". What a little bully.
"A rolling thunder of horn blowing." I say again, the honking stopped within days, as soon as a judge ordered it. All long before Trudeau invoked martial law.
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) October 14, 2022
We've just spent half an hour listening to two hypochondriacs/Münchausen syndrome sufferers.
De La Ronde: the sound of "idling" was unbearable.
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) October 14, 2022
"I tried to wear earplugs but they kept falling out."
"Of course I slept with a mask on."
Slept with a mask on? Because of the truckers, or to ward them off? Or just her normal crazy day? Where did they find this kook?
I swear to god, they're now just playing recordings of horn-honking.
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) October 14, 2022
In January -- right before a judge ordered the horns to stop. It was two weeks later, long after the horn-honking was done, that martial law was declared.
Was it because of the honking weeks earlier?
Zexi Li took a picture of a car with its wheels off. The car was quickly removed. But to her, it was an ominous message.
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) October 14, 2022
Now they're showing a truck with an American flag (and a Canadian flag).
Nothing more terrifying than that. Better invoke martial law.
Zexi Li says a horn blew at 7 a.m. (she says 6:59 a.m.) and that made her very angry.
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) October 14, 2022
But she just said she stood around for an hour trying to catch someone blowing a horn when they weren't supposed to.
What? She's an officious intermeddler, a busy-body, a weirdo.
Zexi Li is showing a truck on a sidewalk. It's clearly running -- the lights are on. But she says it's parked on the sidewalk.
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) October 14, 2022
Whether or not it is: how is any of this -- a single word, from the past half hour -- a justification for invoking martial law?#kook #nut#woke
Now Zexi Li says someone backed his truck into her.
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) October 14, 2022
Then she said he "sort of" backed into her.
Well did he or didn't he?
Now she's saying he "aggressively opened his door".
Three versions in three minutes.#liar
Zexi Li: "He was yelling in the streets that the truck didn't move. These people were willing to do anything and say anything."
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) October 14, 2022
Except violence or threats of violence, apparently.
What a weirdo.
Brendan Miller of the @JCCFCanada is asking Zexi Li some basic biographical questions about her work for the government. Zexi Li says she doesn't want to answer them.
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) October 14, 2022
Miller: do you know certain left-wing politicians and activists?
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) October 14, 2022
Li: yes.
Miller is bringing out her political motivations and connections. She's a 22-year-old woke activist. She's an actress, a reality TV star. This is all a game to her.
Miller is asking Zexi Li about her collateral interests -- she's the lead plaintiff in a multi-million dollar class action suit against the truckers.
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) October 14, 2022
She stands to make money out of this -- like any reality TV star would.
Miller is quoting some of Zexi Li's public comments -- she's obsessed with "The Purge" movie. And the drama. And saying delightful and crazy things to an adoring press.
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) October 14, 2022
On the one hand, it's a disgrace that a woke activist like 22-year-old Zexi Li is given an hour of the https://t.co/OkH99ChFZe's time. But on the other hand, it's wonderful. If this is the best Trudeau has to justify martial law, they're doomed.
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) October 14, 2022
Zexi Li: "My witnessing of these crimes being committed." But she hasn't described any crime being committed.
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) October 14, 2022
Brendan Miller is asking about The Purge -- something she has said again and again, not only today but in the past.
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) October 14, 2022
But The Purge was a day where murder was permitted. Now Zexi Li says she didn't mean that part.
Brendan Miller notes that an anti-honking injunction was obtained in early February. Zexi Li: "there was a clear silence."
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) October 14, 2022
Brendan Miller: did you say to the protesters, "go back to wherever the fuck you are from?"
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) October 14, 2022
Zexi Li: "yes".
Sounds racist to me.
Brendan Miller asks if Zexi Li saw a crime or sedition or espionage or insurrection or knock down a building or anything like that. Or destroy buildings or property.
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) October 14, 2022
"Nope".
Brendan Miller mentions that Zexi Li was working with local politicians on her lawsuit.
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) October 14, 2022
I have to head back to our world headquarters now. But keep following the https://t.co/OkH99ChFZe hearings on our specialty website of that name. And my colleague @SheilaGunnReid’s Twitter feed! We will cover this daily for the next six weeks!
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) October 14, 2022
WATCH: I question Zexi Li, the key lady behind the no-honking injunction that took place during the Freedom Convoy, and witness in the Emergencies Act Inquiry, about her lies and the Emergencies Act.
— William Diaz-Berthiaume (@wdiazberthiaume) October 14, 2022
FOR MORE: https://t.co/YpdRcagab4 pic.twitter.com/0tNjGab8Ao
Catherine McKenney says Ottawa counsellor offices received high volume of emails about the honking situation while Freedom Convoy protesters were in the city.
— William Diaz-Berthiaume (@wdiazberthiaume) October 14, 2022
Catherine McKenney testifies there were many homophobic, transphobic slurs overheard in Ottawa during the Freedom Convoy.
— William Diaz-Berthiaume (@wdiazberthiaume) October 14, 2022
McKenney claims the convoy was so threatening that "safe walks" had to be organized.
MORE: https://t.co/YpdRcagI0C pic.twitter.com/l1KnfGn573
Catherine McKenney claims Ottawa citizens felt abandoned by the police while Freedom Convoy protesters were peacefully protesting COVID-19 mandates in the city.
— William Diaz-Berthiaume (@wdiazberthiaume) October 14, 2022
Follow our coverage: https://t.co/YpdRcagI0C
Mathieu Fleury and Catherine McKenney are talking about a comparison between the Freedom Convoy & the January 6 protests that took place in the United States.
— William Diaz-Berthiaume (@wdiazberthiaume) October 14, 2022
McKenney claims having heard comments that the protesters' intentions were similar.
FOR MORE: https://t.co/YpdRc9YyMu
It is now the 3rd time Mathieu Fleury has talked about what he calls "microaggressions."
— William Diaz-Berthiaume (@wdiazberthiaume) October 14, 2022
The commission's interrogation of Catherine McKenney and Fleury continues. No cross examination has yet occurred.
STAY IN-THE-LOOP: https://t.co/YpdRcagI0C