Perrin Beatty, a former Conservative minister who wrote the Emergencies Act, privately warned the Liberal government "long-term issues” would follow its use of the law against the Freedom Convoy..“I am worried,” Beatty texted the finance minister..“I am worried as I know you are,” Beatty wrote in a February 22 message to Finance Minister Chyrstia Freeland. The texts were disclosed yesterday by the Public Order Emergency Commission, according to Blacklock's Reporter..“There are also lots of long-term issues we need to consider once this is over, including whether we need to take other measures that could obviate the need to use the extraordinary powers in the act in the future and how to repair holes in our political system,” wrote Beatty..“I am particularly concerned about the radicalization of people who would normally be law-abiding and focused on going about their daily lives.”.As defence minister, Beatty wrote the 1988 Act to replace the 1914 War Measures Act. Now aged 72, Beatty is CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce..Freeland yesterday testified she considered Beatty “someone whose collaboration I really value” but had no comment on his texts..“I fully understand we’re talking now about a very strong action we took which was polarizing for the country,” said Freeland..Beatty in March 29 testimony at the Joint Committee on the Declaration of Emergency said use of the act should be closely scrutinized..“Emergencies legislation is designed to be legislation of last resort,” testified Beatty..“It’s explicit on that. It is designed to be used when there is no other legal authority available.”.“Ask how we got to this point,” said Beatty. “The police were called upon to deal with a breakdown in our political system. We can criticize how they did their job, but it should have never been necessary for them to fill the breach in the first place.”.“Now that it has been used it becomes easier to invoke,” said Beatty. “You must not define down the threshold at which extraordinary powers are used to curtail civil liberties.”.“That it made law enforcement easier is clear,” said Beatty. “However the issue is whether the deliberately high threshold was met, not whether the powers given were useful.”.Cabinet invoked the Act February 14 to end the truckers’ blockade outside Parliament. Emergency orders were lifted on February 23 following 230 arrests and the freezing of $7.8 million in bank and credit union accounts held by Freedom Convoy sympathizers..“The issue is not whether it helped the police but whether the powers they already had could have resolved the problem,” said Beatty. “The concern is necessity, not efficiency.”
