Senior officials including police and a deputy minister of public safety drafted a memo that could have ended the Freedom Convoy, the Public Order Emergency Commission was told yesterday. But before it could be finalized, the Liberal government invoked the Emergencies Act..According to Blacklock's Reporter, the memo Proposal: Trucker Protest Engagement was dated February 11 and discussed at a “big meeting” of a cabinet committee on Feb. 12..“The deal would be: Leave the protest and denounce unlawful activity and you will be heard,” read the memo. The deal was drafted by RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki, then-Deputy Public Safety Minister Rob Stewart and Insp. Marcel Beaudin of the Ontario Provincial Police..Beaudin yesterday confirmed the memo’s existence but said he was never told what became of it..“I think the proposal was kind of dead in the water,” he said..Under the agreement a former cabinet minister or political aide in the Prime Minister’s Office would commit in writing to “engagement at a later date” once truckers left Ottawa. By Feb. 14, the Freedom Convoy organizers had already made a deal with the City of Ottawa to move 102 vehicles from residential streets to the downtown core..The memo continued: “Objective: De-escalate and encourage people to leave unlawful protest. Principles: coordinate effectively with police based on advice. Listen and explain the government’s position. NO negotiation.”.Brendan Miller, counsel for the Freedom Convoy, said yesterday the memo was discussed at a “big meeting” on Feb. 12. An email dated that day from Stewart said: “We have a big meeting this afternoon where this will be discussed.".Miller asked Beaudin if he knew the meeting would take place at 3:30 pm with cabinet, where the proposal would be discussed. Beaudin replied he was not aware..“It was. I can tell you that. And then they invoked the Emergencies Act," Miller said..“The recommendation was essentially the political branch of the Government of Canada would agree to a meeting with the protesters, but there would be certain conditions to that, and they would have to denounce anything unlawful and get out of downtown Ottawa,” said Miller..Cabinet never mentioned the existence of the memo in invoking the Emergencies Act. The act itself states it must only be applied if Parliament is confronted by a crisis “that cannot be effectively dealt with under any other law of Canada.”.“We are following the law,” Attorney General David Lametti told reporters when invoking the act. “We are acting within it.”
