Author of Emergencies Act calls for “extraordinary accountability” from feds

https://tnc.news/2022/05/10/author-of-emergencies-act-calls-for-extraordinary-accountability-from-feds/

The author of the extraordinary law used by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to crack down on Freedom Convoy protesters in Ottawa is once again raising concerns about government accountability.

Former defence minister Perrin Beatty penned the legislation as a replacement for the War Measures Act in the late 1980s.

When drafting the law, Beatty included a requirement that a mandatory public inquiry be called within 60 days of the Emergencies Act being used and revoked.

“This was one of the problems back in the time of the War Measures Act, where the government said in essence, `if only you knew what we knew, you’d support the invocation of the act.’,” Beatty told the Globe and Mail.

“That was very much in my mind at the time that we brought in the new act. To ensure public confidence, you had to have the greatest level of transparency possible.