By Harrison Faulkner
Recap of day 4 of the Emergencies Act hearings
Ottawa mayor Jim Watson told the Public Order Emergency Commission that neither he nor the City of Ottawa requested the invocation of the Emergencies Act.
He was neither consulted on nor advised of the federal government’s intention of using the unprecedented measure, he said.
Watson and manager of Ottawa emergency services Kim Ayotte were the only two City of Ottawa officials to testify today.
While Watson didn’t ask for the Emergencies Act, he said he “very much supported” it afterwards.
“No one had raised the Emergencies Act with us,” Watson said. “When it was invoked and I was briefed on what its powers were, I thought this was a very positive step to getting this resolved once and for all.”
When asked about negotiations with Freedom Convoy leaders prior to the invocation of the Emergencies Act, Watson testified that he “couldn’t negotiate with these people (Convoy leaders) rationally.”
Convoy lawyer Brendan Miller pressed Watson on that accusation given that Watson had sent a detailed letter to Tamara Lich outlining the conditions that the protesters would need to meet in order to have a meeting with the mayor, and that members of his staff had been negotiating with Convoy leadership “in good faith.”
Watson ultimately agreed that the truckers held up their end of the deal to move trucks away from residential areas onto Wellington St.