'Show me the Mounties:' Ottawa mayor pleaded for more resources as protesters dug in, inquiry hears
During a phone call, Trudeau accused Premier Ford of 'hiding from his responsibility'
Outgoing Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson says the city did not have the police resources it needed to handle last winter's anti-COVID-19 restriction protests — and it wanted swifter help from other levels of government.
Testifying before the Public Order Emergency Commission — which is looking into whether the federal government's use of emergency powers to end the protests was justified — Watson said the response from both levels of government left him impatient.
"We needed help," he told the commission Tuesday. "We lost control in the red zone."
Watson, who is not seeking re-election in the upcoming municipal election, said he began pressing the federal government for more police resources after the first weekend of the Freedom Convoy protest.
What started as a demonstration against COVID-19 vaccine mandates quickly took on an anti-government character. The Ottawa protest saw trucks and other vehicles block main arteries of the downtown core. The first week was also marked by incessant honking.
In a call between Watson and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Jan. 31 — a summary of which was tabled before the commission — Watson is quoted as saying that "these people have had their time and need to move on. We have been trying to get this across to the chief of police."
"They are just doing themselves a disservice," Watson goes on to say in the readout of the call. "Chief of police [Sloly] spoke to [RCMP Commissioner] Lucki and we need a few more [resources.]"
"That's for sure," Trudeau replied. "The remainders will have no choice but to incite as a counterbalance, so we all have to be careful."
The commission has heard that Peter Sloly, the chief of Ottawa police at the time, was looking for an additional 1,800 bodies to help police the crowds: 1,000 regular officers, 600 public order officers, 100 investigative officers, 100 civilian staff and other support officers in cyber investigative services and digital forensics.
Watson told the commission that Sloly also mused about asking gas stations to restrict sales of gasoline to fill jerry cans.
While at one point the RCMP promised to send 250 officers, both Watson and his chief of staff Serge Arpin, who testified on Monday, said many of those officers had been assigned to protective services for Trudeau and the Governor General and were not actually available to Ottawa police.
"This doesn't help our foot soldiers with OPS [Ottawa Police Service]," said Watson according to a transcript of a Feb. 7 call between himself, Sloly and federal cabinet ministers Marco Mendicino and Bill Blair. A transcript of the call was presented to the commission.
"We are filled with angst."
In a transcript of a call with the same people the next day, Watson repeated his request for more officers.
"Show me the Mounties," Watson said, according to the transcript.
"We need to come out of the meeting with a down payment on resources. If we don't have more officers, this will go on for a long time. It's hard for me to blast the province when I don't have a commitment from the feds."
During that call, Sloly expressed concerns about some elements of the protest.
"Public safety risk is higher on Rideau [Street]. It's being contained by a [Quebec] criminal organization and they are radicalized elements as well," he said.
"If we had resources tonight we could move on that tonight."
'Nasty people out there' — Watson
The mayor also said he sought more help from the province.
In a Feb. 7 letter to Sylvia Jones, the provincial solicitor general at the time, Watson asked Queen's Park to help fill Ottawa's request for 1,800 officers and called the situation in Ottawa "tantamount to psychological warfare."
Watson told the commission it was frustrating that Premier Doug Ford wouldn't participate in a meeting between the three levls of government to discuss the situation in his city.
WATCH | Outgoing Ottawa mayor calls invocation of Emergencies Act 'a very positive step':
"He felt it would be a waste of time. When he said that I was quite frustrated with him. He said, 'Look, what's it going to accomplish, a bunch of people sitting around a table talking and making decisions?'" Watson told the commission.
"I said, 'that sounds like a cabinet meeting.' He didn't like that."
During a Feb. 8 call with Trudeau, Watson suggested Ford was staying away "because of politics" and called Jones's claim that Ontario was providing 1,500 officers "disingenuous."
"We are fighting a losing battle, it's like whack-a-mole," said Watson, according to a readout of the call.
"Nasty people out there that just don't represent Canada."
Trudeau accused Ford of 'hiding from his responsibility'
On the call, Trudeau commiserated about Ontario's response.
"Doug Ford has been hiding from his responsibility on it for political reasons," Trudeau said, according to the readout.
"And [it's] important that we don't let them get away from that."
In a statement Tuesday, Zachary Zarnett-Klein, spokesperson for the Ontario solicitor general's office, stood by the provincial government's approach to the protest last winter.
"As we reiterated throughout, politicians do not, and should not, direct specific police operations. During the occupation, our government remained focused on providing the tools our policing partners needed to bring the situation to an end," he said.
"Prior to any declaration of emergency, we had already frozen convoy funds from the Give Send Go platform. The Ontario Provincial Police also provided officers to support the Ottawa Police Services."
WATCH | Ottawa councillor says Premier Ford should testify:
Ford is not scheduled to testify at the commission. On Monday, he said he supported Trudeau's decision to invoke the Emergencies Act in February.
Zarnett-Klein said the Emergencies Act commission has interviewed senior Ontario officials who are available to be called as witnesses over the next five weeks.
During his testimony, Watson said all three levels of government need to take responsibility for their responses to the protest.
"There was no question, when you look back in hindsight at what happened. There were several failure points along the way, whether it was the city, provincial or federal governments," he said.
"We appreciate federal and provincial government support. We wanted it sooner because this thing should not have lasted three weeks."
Watson said he wasn't consulted by the federal government before it invoked the Emergencies Act on Feb. 14.
"No had raised the Emergencies Act with us, but when it was invoked and I was briefed on what its powers were, I thought this is a very positive step to getting this situation resolved once and for all," he said.
"I very much supported it."
Brendan Miller, a lawyer representing some of the key convoy organizers, asked Watson why he didn't go directly to the Ontario Provincial Police or the RCMP for police support.
Watson said it's a convention that politicians don't direct the police.
Inquiry heard of early warning to jam city
Before his appearance before the commission, Watson — like other witnesses — sat down for an interview with the commission's lawyers.
"In Mayor Watson's view, the City and police had the tools to deal with the situation but not the required law enforcement resources," says a summary of that interview, entered into evidence Tuesday.
"In hindsight, removing the protesters early, before they got entrenched, might have ended the protests earlier."
On Monday the inquiry also heard that the city and police were operating on an assumption that the protesters would pack up after the first weekend — despite having received an early warning that they planned to stay.
In an email presented to the commission on Monday, Steve Ball, president of the Ottawa-Gatineau Hotel Association, told the mayor's office on Jan. 25 — a few days before trucks began rolling into the capital — that someone from the Canada United Truckers Convoy had reached out looking to book hotel rooms for at least 30 days.
Watson said that while he was aware of that email, he wasn't that concerned about it.
"I don't think most took it seriously for the simple reason there was no followup. It was simply asking about rooms," he said. "It didn't really go anywhere."
Some online posts also indicated that at least some of the protesters intended to stay and disrupt the city in a bid to force the government to agree to their demands.
According to his interview with the commission, Watson maintained that "no one knew that they would stay for an extended period."
The mayor said that, in retrospect, police should have closed Wellington Street.
The Public Order Emergency Commission is holding hearings for six weeks, sitting every day from 9:30 a.m. ET until 6 p.m. or later, as required.
Officials from the Ottawa police and the Ontario Provincial Police are expected to testify later this week.
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