LILLEY: What we can expect, and hope for, in the Emergencies Act report

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It’s all over but the waiting, and the hoping I suppose.

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On Friday, the Trudeau government will table the final report into their use of the Emergencies Act one year ago.

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Bill Blair, the minister for emergency preparedness, made that announcement on Twitter while also defending the government’s actions ahead of the report’s findings.

“We invoked the Emergencies Act to help bring last year’s illegal blockades and occupations to an end, protect communities and jobs, while respecting Canadians’ right to peaceful protest. Tomorrow at noon, I will table Justice Rouleau’s report in the House of Commons,” Blair tweeted.

So, what can we expect from Justice Rouleau?

Probably a little something for everyone, meaning he won’t claim the government broke the law, nor will he call for the prime minister to resign, something Trudeau opponents desperately want. He is also unlikely to whitewash this whole affair for the government and tell them they did everything by the book.

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It’s important to consider what the law requires Rouleau to do.

The Emergencies Act requires an inquiry “be held into the circumstances that led to the declaration being issued and the measures taken for dealing with the emergency.” Some Liberals have argued that this means Rouleau couldn’t possibly issue an opinion on whether the government’s actions were appropriate.

That is nothing more than wishful thinking and a reading of the act through rose coloured glasses. Of course, Rouleau can express an opinion on whether the government’s actions were appropriate and, in fact, they asked him to do so in the cabinet directive setting up the inquiry.

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The order in council issued last April laid out what the government expected including that, “the Commissioner to set out findings and lessons learned, including on the use of the Emergencies Act and the appropriateness and effectiveness of the measures taken.”

The government has specifically asked Rouleau to speak to whether using the act in the way they did, including freezing bank accounts, was appropriate.

It’s important though for people to realize that inquiries aren’t courts and regardless of what Rouleau finds, no one will face charges as a result. Mostly, as Rouleau said at the opening of the public hearings, he will be making recommendations.

“A commission’s recommendations may be modest or wide-ranging. They may be directed at a range of audiences, including government, public bodies and the private sector,” Rouleau said last October.

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“It’s also important to understand what commissions of inquiry do not do. They do not make findings of legal liability. They do not determine whether individuals have committed crimes. While inquiries seek to uncover the truth, they are not trials. Questions of civil and criminal liability are decided by courts and not commissions.”

Court cases are still underway challenging the government’s use of the Emergencies Act and soon enough, a judge will rule on that matter.

I would like to see Rouleau use strong language to condemn the government’s decision to justify its invocation of the act using a secret legal opinion, one they even refused to share with the inquiry, but that’s unlikely to happen. Mostly, we will see page after page reiterating what happened while making general and gentle recommendations to various levels of government on how to handle similar situations in the future.

During the inquiry, the Trudeau government failed to make the case that the use of the Emergencies Act was justified by the law as it was written. At best, they made an argument the act should be amended to include economic emergencies such as the blockade of the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor.

That’s not how the act is written at the moment and so what I hope for is that however gently, Justice Rouleau holds the Trudeau government to account for granting itself sweeping powers without meeting the legal requirements.

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