Should the federal government cover more protest policing costs?

A small group of 'Freedom Convoy' demonstrators gathers on Parliament Hill on Feb. 14, 2023, the 1-year anniversary of the invocation of the Emergencies Act during the original convoy protest. (Dave Charbonneau/CTV News Ottawa)

The city of Ottawa stepped up police and bylaw presence in the downtown core Tuesday because of the potential of "convoy-related activity" on the anniversary of the invocation of the federal Emergencies Act.

However, no major protest materialized. Ottawa police say a "small number" of vehicles moved through the city Tuesday morning without incident and only a handful of people gathered on Parliament Hill to mark the occasion. Still, police said their increased footprint would remain in place. It's unclear when the extra officers will stand down.

The city of Ottawa told CTV News Tuesday that staff are preparing information for Wednesday, which will likely include information on duration of the increased enforcement.

Rideau-Vanier Coun. Stéphanie Plante raised the question of how this would be funded at a city committee this week.

"Anytime we have one of these disruptions or potential disruptions, what is this costing us as a city?" she said in an interview on Newstalk 580 CFRA's Ottawa Now with Kristy Cameron Tuesday afternoon. "What is this costing us in bylaw, in ambulance, in fire? Every time we do that, that's people working overtime, people not ticketing cars that are at meters."

Plante said she believes that when a large demonstration protesting the federal government arrives and requires extensive emergency resources, the federal government should pick up the tab.

"I want to make sure that when we do have to mobilize this massive amount of resources for something that's protesting, essentially, the federal government… that we can have some sort of revenue generation from the federal government on that because it is taxing."

Plante said she still believes stepping up police and bylaw downtown for potential convoy events is a good idea for the time being because it shows the city is taking the possibility of a repeat of last year's demonstration seriously.

When asked about the cost, Mayor Mark Sutcliffe said he didn't have any figures to provide Tuesday, but said there are discussions with the federal government about it.

"There are a lot of different conversations happening with the federal government," he said. "This is something I've been talking about since I was a candidate for mayor… I think the city of Ottawa needs a different deal with the federal government going forward that recognizes that we have a city police department… that is being asked to do the job of policing the nation's capital."

He said there is a process in place to seek funding from the federal government, but he wants to see a more stable source of revenue.

"I don't think that's the way it should work going forward," he said. "We need to have more stable funding from the federal government that recognizes that these events, these threats are more common than they have been in the past."

Sutcliffe said he is confident that the city and the federal government can reach a new agreement about how protest responses are funded.

The funding additional police for convoy demonstrations has been an issue since the "Rolling Thunder" event last May, which was the first big post-convoy event. It drew significant crowds and cost about $3 million to police, officials said at the time. Events in late January, to mark the anniversary of the arrival of the convoy, and on Tuesday were much smaller, and it's not yet known how much these events have cost the city.