Doug Ford Can Claim Privilege to Avoid Testimony at Emergencies Act Inquiry: Judge

Sylvia Jones, deputy premier and minister of health, shakes hands with Premier Doug Ford as she takes her oath at the swearing-in ceremony at Queen’s Park in Toronto on June 24, 2022. Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press

A federal court judge has ruled that Doug Ford, premier of Ontario, and Sylvia Jones, former solicitor general and now minister of health and deputy premier of Ontario, have parliamentary privilege and can refuse to testify at the Public Order Emergency Commission.

Ford and Jones were issued summonses on Oct. 24 to testify at the hearings into the federal government’s invocation of the Emergencies Act to end the Freedom Convoy protest in Ottawa earlier this year. They refused to attend voluntarily, and the matter ended up in court.

Both government officials were scheduled to testify this week, on Nov. 10, but instead asked the federal court to declare that the summonses were issued without jurisdiction.

Justice Simon Fothergill, in issuing his written ruling, said the summonses “were validly issued.” He stated, “The Commission cannot be faulted for seeking to marshal and present all relevant evidence within its statutory mandate.”

The judge said, “The Court’s role when examining a claim of parliamentary privilege is limited to confirming whether the privilege exists and applies in the circumstances.”

He added that both witnesses may “have valuable evidence to offer.”

Parliamentary Privilege Invoked

However, Fothergill ruled that as long as the Ontario Legislative Assembly remains in session, Ford and Jones “can resist the summonses by asserting parliamentary privilege and the Commission cannot take steps to enforce their attendance and compel them to give evidence.”

The premier and the top minister, stated the judge, “have a lawful excuse for not complying with the summonses issued by the Commission. The Commission cannot take steps to enforce their attendance and compel them to give evidence.”

Both government officials invoked their parliamentary privilege to avoid testifying. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Attorney General David Lametti have waived their privilege and are scheduled to give evidence sometime before the commission wraps up hearings.

Fothergill noted in his decision that two provincial officials are scheduled to testify before the Commission—Mario Di Tommaso, deputy solicitor general, and Ian Freeman, a former deputy minister—but neither is part of the legislature.

Lawyers for the Commission argued it was “in the public interest to gain insight into the political choices that were made when faced with the events of early 2022.” The Ottawa Coalition of Residents and Businesses, the Canadian Constitution Foundation, and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association also supported the summonses for Ford and Jones to testify.

At a news conference on Nov. 7, after the decision in his favour, Ford said, “This is a federal inquiry based on the federal government calling for the Emergencies Act. This is a federal issue.”

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.