Ontario Premier Doug Ford did not show up for question period at the legislature Tuesday after it emerged that he’s challenging a summons to testify at the Emergencies Act inquiry in Ottawa.
Ford and former solicitor general Sylvia Jones are fighting the call to appear at the Public Order Emergency Commission, with a government spokesman saying the province will be seeking a judicial review to set aside the summons.
Government House Leader Paul Calandra said the premier was too busy to show up for question period on Tuesday.
“The premier is out today making an announcement and giving a speech,” Calandra said after question period.
Jones was also not at question period, the first one since the legislature resumed following a six-week break.
Ford and Jones, who is now the minister of health, were summoned Monday by the Public Order Emergency Commission to testify at the inquiry.
The public probe is examining the federal government’s decision to invoke the Emergencies Act three weeks into the so-called Freedom Convoy protests that occupied downtown Ottawa and stopped incoming traffic at the border in Windsor, Ont.
Calandra reiterated, to both reporters and in question period, that the province believes the inquiry is a policing matter and not a political one.
“This is a federal inquiry into the federal government’s use of the Emergency Act,” he said, adding that two senior provincial bureaucrats will testify.
The province has also provided hundreds of pages of documents to the inquiry.
Last week Ford told reporters he had not been asked to appear at the inquiry, but lawyers for the commission say the premier and Jones refused repeated requests to appear voluntarily.
Joel Harden, a New Democrat who represents a riding the protests descended upon last winter, said the premier must testify at the inquiry.
“I’m not persuaded with the premier saying, ‘It’s not my problem.’ It is your problem, you’re the premier of the province,” Harden said.
“We don’t want any kind of convoy movement coming to any one of our cities in Canada again, but we have to actually get the best evidence–they have to be in Ottawa, they have to testify. Running and hiding and not facing the music is not appropriate.”
The province said they are seeking a stay in the judicial review “under the grounds the summons are inconsistent with the members’ parliamentary privilege.”
Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner said Ford owes it to Ontarians to appear before the inquiry and he should follow the lead of federal politicians who are waiving confidentiality to testify at the proceeding.
“I think the premier has an obligation to the people of Ontario to show leadership, to be clear and honest about the decisions his government took, and the last time I checked, Ottawa and Windsor are located in Ontario,” Schreiner said.
By Liam Casey
