Prime Minister Justin Trudeau considered the Freedom Convoy an international embarrassment, according to secret minutes of a cabinet meeting..One minister called it a “concentrated effort to make this country look bad,” while Ambassador Ralph Goodale complained from Britain there was “disbelief this is happening in Canada.”.“The prime minister confirmed he has been speaking with a number of international partners and they are all expressing concern about Canada and our ability to handle it,” staff wrote in censored 20-page minutes of a cabinet meeting from Feb. 12. Cabinet invoked the Emergencies Act the following Monday..According to Blacklock's Reporter, documents disclosed by the Public Order Emergency Commission detail complaints about the protest from the US Embassy and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. RCMP notes of cabinet remarks quoted Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan as calling the convoy a “concentrated effort to make this country look bad.”.The commission also released the text of a Feb. 13 staff email from Ralph Goodale, High Commissioner to the United Kingdom..“Hello from London,” wrote Goodale..“The convoy protests in Canada are getting some minor attention and the topic is being raised marginally in contacts with counterparts from other countries in London,” wrote Goodale..“Two themes: disbelief this is happening in Canada of all places, and no one wants this to become an unwelcome Canadian export as the protest spread elsewhere.”.Goodale complained British protesters briefly honked horns outside the Canadian Embassy in London..“A critical question is to what extent the protests in Canada reflect legitimate homegrown concern about the impacts of the prolonged lockdowns and how much of this activity is actually organized, animated, directed and financed by alt-right insurrectionists from the United States,” he wrote..“The disruptive events in Ottawa seem to have been extensively and meticulously pre-organized,” wrote Goodale..“Two consequences need to be watched very carefully — the negative economic and reputational impacts from trade disruptions, and the possible impression that Canadian police, security and intelligence systems are incapable of responding effectively to blatant large scale illegal conduct.”.Cabinet publicly made minor reference to the convoy’s impact on Canada’s reputation as a reason to invoke the Emergencies Act..“The core threat was to the Canadian economy, to our reputation,” Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland testified June 14 at the Joint Committee on the Declaration of Emergency..“Every single day that went on, that really was the blow to Canada’s reputation,” said Freeland. “It was a blow to every single Canadian who goes out and tries to get someone to invest in the country.”.“Why would demonstrations on Wellington Street have an impact on the Canadian economy?” asked Bloc Québécois MP Rhéal Fortin (Riviere-du-Nord, Que.)..“What is the link? I don’t see it.”
