As Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland says, Brian Deese is a hard man to get.
So when U.S. President Joe Biden’s senior economic adviser asked for a call with her on Feb. 10 about the ongoing border lockdowns, Freeland said, she knew the stakes were high.
“I sensed a dangerous time for Canada,” the deputy prime minister said Thursday ahead of the Emergency Law inquiry.
“That conversation was pivotal for me. And it was a moment when I realized that as a country, somehow, we had to find a way to end this.”
Freeland will appear before the Public Order Emergency Commission as it reviews the government’s decision to invoke the Emergency Act on February 14 to quell protests against public health measures in Ottawa and deter border blockades.
Brian Deese, director of the National Economic Council, speaks during a press conference in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, July 26, 2022. (Yuri Gripas/ Bloomberg)
At various times in early 2022, protesters blocked border crossings in Windsor, Ont., the small town of Coutts, Alta., Emerson, Man., and the Pacific Highway in Surrey, B.C.
Freeland said that after her call with Deese, director of the US president’s National Economic Council, she knew the lockdowns had set a “flashing amber light” south of the border about supply chain vulnerabilities. supply with Canada.
He said he was concerned that the blockades would tip the balance in favor of Democrats and Republicans who support a protectionist trade stance.
“It wasn’t just the immediate damage, it wasn’t just the immediate damage. It wasn’t, ‘Oh, you know, this plant loses four days of operation,'” Freeland said Thursday.
“The danger was that we were in the process, as a country, of doing long-term and possibly irreparable damage to our trade relationship with the United States.”
The government cited the risk to Canada’s economic security when it invoked the Emergency Act last winter.
LOOK | Deputy Prime Minister explains discussions with White House official
Deputy Prime Minister explains text discussions with White House official
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland told the inquiry that she and White House economic director Brian Deese discussed how the trade damage caused by the self-described “freedom convoy” would not be felt only temporarily.
Transport Canada estimates that the blockade at the Ambassador Bridge, a key trade corridor, halted about $2.3 billion in trade.
The commission has already heard that during the convoy protests, the federal government was trying to convince the U.S. to scrap a plan that would have excluded electric vehicles assembled in Canada from a proposed consumer tax credit, which would have given businesses an advantage who manufacture electric cars. on American soil.
Freeland called it “life or death” for Canada’s auto industry.
“This would have been a disaster for us,” Freeland said, describing what he believes would have happened if the Biden administration had not expanded the tax credit to cover electric vehicles produced across North America.
CEOs warned Canada was seen as a ‘joke’
In a phone call with Canadian bank CEOs, Freeland was repeatedly told that Canada’s international reputation was in jeopardy.
A reading of the Feb. 13 call was presented Wednesday.
One person on the call, whose name was redacted in the document provided to the commission, said Canada had been labeled a “joke” by US investors.
“I had one investor who said, ‘I’m not going to invest a red cent in your banana republic in Canada,'” the speaker said. “This adds to an already difficult investment outlook.”
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland appears as a witness at the Public Order Emergency Commission in Ottawa, Thursday, November 24, 2022. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)
Another speaker expressed concern about how the government plans to address the lockdowns.
“I am very concerned that the banking system is seen as a political weapon of the government,” said the business leader, whose name was also redacted.
“We cannot politicize the banks.”
Speakers also questioned Canada’s relatively strict pandemic measures, which at the time were the strongest in the OECD.
Freeland assured the speakers on the call that he would take the necessary steps, saying that “all options are on the table.”
“I am very determined to end this occupation of our democracy,” she said.
Freeland faces questions about frozen accounts
Freeland also answered questions about the economic impacts of the protests and the decision to give authorities emergency powers to freeze the finances of those linked to the protests.
Data presented to the inquiry last week suggested that approximately 280 bank accounts with around $8 million in assets were frozen as a result of the emergency measures.
Freeland defended the move, saying the government wanted the protests to end peacefully and that the economic measures acted as an incentive to leave protest areas.
“I said, ‘We really have to act, something has to be done.’ And I remember a colleague saying to me, ‘My nightmare is blood on a child’s face.’ And I remember that very clearly, because that worried me,” he said.
LOOK | Freeland says US incentives on electric vehicles and batteries would have been ‘a disaster’ for Canada
Freeland says US incentives on electric vehicles and batteries would have been ‘a disaster’ for Canada
During testimony at the Emergency Act inquiry, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland spoke about integrated supply chains between Canada and the US, saying that incentives that encouraged American-made electric vehicles and batteries they would have been bad for Canada’s economy.
Last week, Brendan Miller, a lawyer for some of the protest organizers, argued under cross-examination that the order to freeze the accounts was an act of overreach and that stopping fundraising on crowdfunding platforms violated the right of Canadians to freedom of expression.
Several members of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s staff are also scheduled to testify Thursday, including his chief of staff Katie Telford. He will be joined by Deputy Chief of Staff Brian Clow and Trudeau’s Policy Director John Brodhead.
The three staff members will offer a rare insight into the inner workings of the prime minister’s office and are likely to face questions about the deliberations that went into invoking the Emergency Act.