Confusion about whether Emergencies Act was needed to compel tow trucks continues as OPP head testifies

Confusion and disagreements over whether federal emergency powers were needed to compel tow trucks to help clear the convoy protests in Ottawa in February continued on Thursday, as the Emergencies Act inquiry heard from the head of the Ontario Provincial Police.

OPP Commissioner Thomas Carrique sat down with the commission lawyers twice this summer ahead of his testimony. Summaries of those interviews were entered into evidence Thursday.

In August, he told the commission he did not need the Emergencies Act to compel towing companies to provide their services.

"The ability to compel tow truck drivers to provide service and to indemnify them was delegated by the RCMP Commissioner to [Commissioner] Carrique, but it was not used to compel them to provide service," said a summary of those interviews. 

"The ability to provide an indemnity for the provision of tow services was a useful tool."

WATCH | 'Some were reluctant': OPP commissioner on tow trucks

The matter of compelling tow trucks has become one of the linchpin issues facing the Public Order Emergency Commission inquiry, which is investigating whether the use of the Emergencies Act was justified.

One of the problems facing police during the occupation was moving the trucks and other vehicles that had entrenched themselves on Ottawa streets for weeks. At the time, towing companies expressed a fear that they would be targeted by protest supporters. At least one Ottawa tow truck operator reported receiving hundreds of calls — including death threats.

An Ottawa Police Service superintendent who helped oversee operational planning in the final days of the demonstration told the inquiry on Wednesday that officers did not need to rely on powers granted under the federal act to secure tow trucks.

Supt. Robert Bernier, who took over as the OPS event commander on Feb. 10, was organizing a police operation with the OPP and the RCMP.

He told the commission that the OPP had been able to secure 34 tow trucks with willing drivers by roughly Feb. 13 — before the act was invoked — as part of their plan to end the protest.

But a lawyer for the federal government pushed back on that assertion.

During cross-examination, Donnaree Nygard, a lawyer for the federal government, asked Bernier if he was aware that the commitment for the 34 trucks fell through.

"I was not informed of that," said Bernier.