OTTAWA, ON – After four days of testimony from the Emergencies Act Inquiry, one thing is clear: it wasn’t that Doug Ford had zero tolerance for the occupation of Ottawa, it was that he had zero interest in helping.
“It is unacceptable for the Premier and the Solicitor General to have done nothing to resolve the situation when residents felt their City was unsafe, and businesses were forced to close and incur millions of dollars in losses,” said MPP John Fraser, Interim Leader of the Ontario Liberal Party.
To date, testimony from the Emergencies Act Inquiry has shown:
- Ford called meeting with local and federal representatives a “waste of time.”
- Ford neglected his responsibility to act for political reasons, according to the Prime Minister and Mayor of Ottawa.
- While the province promised to send 1,500 Ontario Provincial Police officers to help, the real number was “closer to 50 or 60.”
“To make matters worse, the government of Ontario did not apply for standing to participate in the Public Order Emergency Commission, while Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan did,” added MPP Fraser. “This was a total abdication of responsibility and transparency from Doug Ford.”
“Ford and Jones’ inaction caused the protests to last longer and spread to our borders,” continued MPP Fraser. “They must come clean about their decision to not act by testifying at the Emergencies Act Inquiry.”
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