During a phone call with Ontario Premier Doug Ford, the prime minister said the Freedom Convoy protestors at the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor were “not very smart people” who were “barricading” the province’s economy..According to documents shown at the Public Order Emergency Commission (POEC) Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also told Ford the police needed to "do their job" and didn't need more legal tools to clear out the protestors..The POEC is tasked with determining if the implementation of the Emergencies Act in response to the Freedom Convoy was justified..A readout of a Feb. 9 call between Trudeau and Ford showcased the tensions that existed between the federal and provincial government. At the beginning of the call, Ford accused the Ottawa Police Service and then-mayor Jim Watson of having "totally mismanaged" their response to the truckers, who had "entrenched" themselves in Ottawa..But Ford said the bigger issue was the border blockade on the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, which had cost $500-600 million in cross-border trade. Ford said he asked his attorney general to look at more legal tools to deal with the protestors..Trudeau responded they were not legal protests, as they were occupying and illegally parking on municipal streets.."You shouldn't need more tools, legal tools. They are barricading the Ontario economy and doing millions of damage a day and harming people's lives. They're harming people's lives at a time we're trying to draw in investments," he said.."A whole bunch of people are looking at this and saying we can't even clear up a protest on a bridge," Trudeau continued.."I always wonder if they are not very smart people trying to think about shaming Canada in all sorts of ways and hurting the economy and jobs getting back to the US, we've got to respond quickly to this.".Ford responded he was "just as frustrated" as Trudeau, but he couldn't direct the police..“I can’t call them and say get your asses in there and kicking ass. It’s up to the OPP,” Ford said. He later promised to be up the police’s “ass with a wire brush.”.Ford also told Trudeau tow truck companies did not want to help remove vehicles from the bridge. Trudeau accused the towing companies of “not doing their job” and said there needed to be a "serious reckoning afterward."."If you need tow trucks, we’ll get the US to help, and it’ll be embarrassing for us, but if the US is offering, we need to take it,” Trudeau said.
