The Department of Finance privately ridiculed its own inflated claims of economic hardship blamed on the Freedom Convoy, records show. Bloomberg News figures repeatedly cited by Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland were “too cute,” wrote the department’s director general of economic analysis..According to Blacklock's Reporter, Freeland in testimony last Thursday at the Public Order Emergency Commission repeated her claim a six-day blockade at the Windsor, ON. border crossing cost “0.1 to 0.2% of GDP,” as much as $500 million a day. “I really understood that what was happening was profoundly jeopardizing the Canadian economy,” she said..Freeland testified the figure was from “a Bloomberg economic analysis” she had cited in cabinet. The claim in fact was drawn from a February 10 Bloomberg News article that quoted bank economists as claiming the Windsor blockade was “potentially costing the Canadian economy as much as $500 million daily.”.“I feel that statement understated the possible impact,” said Freeland. However internal records show federal authorities knew THE actual impacts were much smaller and ridiculed the Bloomberg claim..Julie Turcotte, the finance department’s director general of economic analysis, dismissed the Bloomberg figure in a February 10 staff email. “Seems large to me?!” wrote Turcotte, adding the numbers were “of course too cute to be really backed by analysis and most likely overstated to make up for nice media attention.”.The Department of Transport in various memos said the impact of the Windsor blockade was modest. “The current net cumulative effect is relatively small,” Christian Dea, the department’s chief economist, wrote in a February 11 email..Actual losses due to the Ambassador Bridge closure at Windsor were no more than $45 million per day. “It is estimated that the cost to the Canadian economy of a full shutdown of the Bridge would likely be in the range of $45 million per day over the first week based on current mitigation efforts put in place by shippers and available alternative options,” said a February 11 memo Backgrounder On The Economic Impact Of A Road Blockade At The Ambassador Bridge..Commercial shippers that normally used the Ambassador Bridge diverted trucks to border crossings at Sarnia, Fort Erie and Queenston, ON., said the Department of Transport memo. Diversion of shipments was cited by the Canada Border Services Agency in disputing federal claims of billions in losses..The Privy Council Office in a draft February 20 memo wrote: “The total trade impact since January 28 has been $3.9 billion.” John Ossowski, then-president of the Border Services Agency, said the $3.9 billion figure was misleading..“I’d just caveat it a bit by saying ‘up to $3.9 billion in trade was disrupted’ as a significant volume of Ambassador Bridge volume used the Blue Water Bridge” in Sarnia, wrote Ossowski.
