Ottawa police, mayor 'totally mismanaged' Freedom Convoy, Ford told Trudeau

Ontario Premier Doug Ford told Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that Ottawa police “lost command” of the situation during the 'Freedom Convoy’ occupation, according to new evidence released at the Emergencies Act public inquiry.

A transcript of a call on Feb. 9 between the prime minister and the premier show that both had concerns over the response to the protest in Ottawa.

“I’ll say that the police chief and Ottawa Mayor totally mismanaged this," Ford told Trudeau according to the call transcript. "The Toronto PD and Toronto Mayor did a great job."

“The problem is, if I can be frank, I’ve spoken to senior police officers, he’s lost command and police officers are going off sick daily. They’ve lost command,” Ford said.

Trudeau replied: “There are PDs that know how to handle this like Quebec and Toronto – so let’s make sure the other PDs know how to respond. We can't continue to get outflanked."

When asked about the premier’s comments on Tuesday, Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson said the premier was slow to get OPP officers to Ottawa.

“One of my frustrations was dealing with Doug Ford," Watson said, adding that the premier should testify at the inquiry.

A federal judge ruled on Monday that Ford and Ontario Deputy Premier Sylvia Jones don’t have to testify despite being summoned by the commissioner, citing parliamentary privilege.   

During the call with the Prime Minister, Ford also made it clear that clearing protesters from the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor was a priority.

“The bigger one for us and the country is the Ambassador Bridge and the state ground there,” he said. 

At the time, demonstrators blocking the key border crossing halted hundreds of millions of dollars in trade per day and stopped essential workers from travelling between Windsor and Detroit.

According to the call transcript, Trudeau told Ford the police “shouldn’t need” more legal tools to clear the blockades at Windsor. 

“This is critical, I hear you,” said Ford. “I'll be up their a-- with a wire brush."

The call was made five days before the federal government invoked the Emergencies Act. The Ambassador Bridge blockade was cleared just hours before Trudeau brought in the emergency powers on Feb. 14.

Trudeau also told Ford that external police forces—the OPP and the RCMP—would be needed to make a plan to deal with the protesters.

"On Ottawa—it'll go through stages of OPP to RCMP and we'll have a plan," he said. "City of Ottawa has been struggling but as soon as OPP leans in a bit more, we'll have more clarity on things.

"If the Ottawa residents have to go through another weekend like the past few weeks, it won't go well."

The public inquiry into the unprecedented use of the act has scheduled public hearings in Ottawa until Nov. 25.