Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson said on Saturday that he wants to sell the trucks confiscated from the protesters who took part in the “Freedom Convoy” against vaccine mandates.
Watson made the remarks in an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). He claimed that Canada’s “Emergencies Act,” which gives the government more power to respond to an “urgent and critical situation” that “seriously endangers the lives, health or safety of Canadians and is of such proportions or nature as to exceed the capacity or authority of a province to deal with it,” gives the city of Ottawa the authority to sell the trucks.
In the interview, Watson also said that the Freedom Convoy hurt small businesses in the nation’s capital and “disrupted the city.”
“That’s one of the reasons why, under the Emergencies Act, that I’ve asked our solicitor and our city manager, how can we keep the tow trucks, and the campers, and the vans and everything else we’ve confiscated, and sell those pieces of equipment to help recoup some of the costs that our taxpayers are absorbing? That’s one of the provisions of the Emergency Act and we have been a beneficiary of the Emergency Act,” Watson stated in the interview.
“I asked the Members of Parliament to consider, it’s [the Emergency Act] helped us a lot, things like confiscating vehicles,” he added. Watson continued, saying that lawmakers need a better plan going forward to “protect our residents” better than they have this past month.
Mayor of Ottawa, Jim Watson, in an interview with the state broadcaster(cbc) praises Trudeau's use of the Emergencies Act, and is looking into selling confiscated convoy protesters trucks and RVs.https://t.co/cTm6cKHpsA pic.twitter.com/zS3em5TAjf
— Efron Monsanto ???????? (@realmonsanto) February 20, 2022
Last week, as Matt covered, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act, which also allows the government to seize the bank accounts of residents suspected of helping the protesters without a warrant. Before Trudeau invoked the Act, reports circulated that he would consider deploying the military to remove the truckers.
The convoy spread to other parts of the country, including the Ambassador Bridge connecting Michigan and Ontario. Protesters were removed from the bridge during Super Bowl LVI. As I reported, Mayor Drew Dilkens of Windsor, Ontario said in a press conference this month that Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, offered to send over “heavy equipment” to help remove trucks blocking the bridge.
As Matt noted, the Canadian truckers have reportedly inspired American truckers to have a cross-country Freedom Convoy ending in Washington, D.C. in the coming weeks.