Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland raised the lessening of COVID-19 restrictions during convoy protests of last winter, according to handwritten notes from a staffer in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
The notes from Brian Clow, deputy chief of staff to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, were entered as evidence at the Emergencies Act inquiry on Nov. 10.
During a meeting that took place between Feb. 6 and Feb. 8, attended by Clow and Trudeau’s Chief of Staff Katie Telford and possibly others whose names were not documented, Clow noted “KT: Mins & Deputies: need list of ideas.”
The initial KT presumably refers to Telford, and the note suggests that she was seeking input from ministers and senior officials about how to resolve the trucker-led protest that started on Jan. 28 in Ottawa.
Much of the notes for that meeting are redacted. One line of text next to Telford’s reported ask reads, “Not a lot of specifics of what we do...”
Below that line three names are listed: “Seamus,” “Chrystia,” and “Anita.” These likely refer to Minister of Labour Seamus O’Regan, Freeland, and Minister of Defence Anita Anand.
O’Regan’s reported suggestion is indiscernible in the notes.
The notes ascribed to Anand suggests that she was against getting the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) involved in resolving the protest.
“Anita – Not for CAF...,” the notes say.
For Freeland, the notes paraphrase her comment as: “lessen restrictions NZ, De.”
The notes don’t clarify whether she was suggesting that the federal government ease its COVID-19 restrictions or if she was merely raising cases of other countries such as New Zealand and probably Denmark who had recently done just that.
‘No to changing’
The same handwritten notes from Clow show that Trudeau was not considering making concessions to protesters a few days into the events.“No to changing government policy,” the notes say about a meeting attended by Trudeau likely on Feb. 3.
“Talking, sure, but this doesn’t get resolved this way,” Trudeau reportedly said.
The federal government invoked the Emergencies Act on Feb. 14 to clear convoy protests.
