A Liberal committee majority last night voted to conceal records detailing federal action against the Freedom Convoy. MPs and Liberal-appointed senators on the Special Joint Committee on the Declaration of Emergency voted six to five to block the release of uncensored documents..“We don’t have to discuss it further,” said Bloc Québécois MP Rhéal Fortin (Rivière-du-Nord, Que.), sponsor of a failed motion that federal agencies “be required to provide the committee with unredacted versions of those documents.”.“We need complete documents,” said Fortin. “If they can’t be completed there should be an explanation.”.According to Blacklock's Reporter, the committee last May 31 ordered the Department of Public Safety and other federal agencies to surrender “all security assessments and legal opinions which the government relied upon” in concluding the Freedom Convoy threatened public order..Documents subsequently released included hundreds of pages of censored records..One Liberal appointee on the committee, Senator Peter Harder (ON.), said legislators were unrealistic in asking to see classified records..“I think we should be realistic as to what our expectations ought to be,” said Harder..Harder said asking officials to come with unredacted documents was an "unusual" step..“Those documents by definition are secure and classified. I have no objection to having them come and speak to the redaction, but I can’t imagine they would come and table unredacted documents and I doubt they would be coming here to say, ‘We made a mistake.’”.“We’re talking about a lot of documents,” said Liberal MP Yasir Naqvi (Ottawa Centre)..“It is not something I would deem to be suitable or advisable,” said Liberal MP Arif Virani (Parkdale-High Park, Ont.)..Conservative MP Glen Motz (Medicine Hat-Cardston, AB.) said the public was entitled to see uncensored records explaining why cabinet invoked the Emergencies Act against political protesters..“We can certainly ask for unredacted documents,” said Motz. “That is certainly the expectation this committee had.”.New Democrat MP Matthew Green (Hamilton Centre, ON.) said the committee appeared to have been stonewalled..“It has been very difficult to get cooperative witnesses at this committee to be able to provide us with substantive answers and documents and many things this committee has been trying to get,” said Green..The joint committee is separate from an ongoing judicial inquiry, the Public Order Emergency Commission. New facts uncovered to date by the parliamentary investigation included testimony that Deputy Justice Minister François Daigle advocated use of the Emergencies Act based on “what I saw by watching TV,” and that Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland had no proof the Freedom Convoy was to blame for extraordinary economic losses.
