Defence Minister Anita Anand said the Canadian military was the "last resort" to deal with the Freedom Convoy, contradicting Justice Minister David Lametti's comments the army needed to be deployed to clear the protestors.."Any minister of national defence, in a democracy, would be loath to deploy the Canadian Armed Forces, except in the most dire of circumstances," Anand said at the Public Order Emergency Commission on Wednesday.."Our country's soldiers are not police officers. They are not trained in crowd control or protest management," she said. "Furthermore, the National Defence Act states the Canadian Armed Forces are the forces of last resort.".Anand's explanation came hours after text messages were revealed to the commission, showing the two members of cabinet floated the idea of deploying military tanks to deal with the trucker protests on February 2..READ MORE: Justice Minister Lametti discussed deploying tanks to Ottawa during Freedom Convoy."You need to get the police to move. And the [Canadian Armed Forces] if necessary," Lametti texted Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino just days after the Freedom Convoy arrived in Ottawa.."How many tanks are you asking for. I just want to ask [Defence Minister] Anita how many we've got on hand," Mendicino responded.."I reckon one will do," Lametti said..Lametti told the commission the text messages were meant to be "a joke between two friends." Anand concurred with, "I believe Minister Lametti mentioned that was made in jest.".During cross-examination, Lawyer Rob Kittredge asked if the messages about tanks were the kind of jokes that members of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's cabinet find funny.."My colleagues take their work extremely seriously," Anand responded. "I take no part of my role as minister of National Defence as something in jest, obviously.".Anand's testimony also revealed the Canadian Armed Forces' tow trucks were not suitable for removing the heavy trucks from the streets of Ottawa. ."The number of [tow] trucks that the Canadian Armed Forces had available to assist were very few in number," she said..In addition to a lack of available supply, Anand said military tow trucks are "typically used for very large-scale purposes," such as removing tanks from ditches. They believed those tow trucks could end up damaging city roads..Another concern was if army tow trucks were used to remove transport trucks, the subsequent deployment of Canadian Armed Forces personnel to the streets would unnecessarily escalate the situation.."We needed to make sure Canadian Armed Forces are not deployed in cases where we are addressing protest management, or anything related to that, given the potential for escalation," she said.
Defence Minister Anita Anand said the Canadian military was the "last resort" to deal with the Freedom Convoy, contradicting Justice Minister David Lametti's comments the army needed to be deployed to clear the protestors.."Any minister of national defence, in a democracy, would be loath to deploy the Canadian Armed Forces, except in the most dire of circumstances," Anand said at the Public Order Emergency Commission on Wednesday.."Our country's soldiers are not police officers. They are not trained in crowd control or protest management," she said. "Furthermore, the National Defence Act states the Canadian Armed Forces are the forces of last resort.".Anand's explanation came hours after text messages were revealed to the commission, showing the two members of cabinet floated the idea of deploying military tanks to deal with the trucker protests on February 2..READ MORE: Justice Minister Lametti discussed deploying tanks to Ottawa during Freedom Convoy."You need to get the police to move. And the [Canadian Armed Forces] if necessary," Lametti texted Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino just days after the Freedom Convoy arrived in Ottawa.."How many tanks are you asking for. I just want to ask [Defence Minister] Anita how many we've got on hand," Mendicino responded.."I reckon one will do," Lametti said..Lametti told the commission the text messages were meant to be "a joke between two friends." Anand concurred with, "I believe Minister Lametti mentioned that was made in jest.".During cross-examination, Lawyer Rob Kittredge asked if the messages about tanks were the kind of jokes that members of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's cabinet find funny.."My colleagues take their work extremely seriously," Anand responded. "I take no part of my role as minister of National Defence as something in jest, obviously.".Anand's testimony also revealed the Canadian Armed Forces' tow trucks were not suitable for removing the heavy trucks from the streets of Ottawa. ."The number of [tow] trucks that the Canadian Armed Forces had available to assist were very few in number," she said..In addition to a lack of available supply, Anand said military tow trucks are "typically used for very large-scale purposes," such as removing tanks from ditches. They believed those tow trucks could end up damaging city roads..Another concern was if army tow trucks were used to remove transport trucks, the subsequent deployment of Canadian Armed Forces personnel to the streets would unnecessarily escalate the situation.."We needed to make sure Canadian Armed Forces are not deployed in cases where we are addressing protest management, or anything related to that, given the potential for escalation," she said.
