Judge Simon Fothergill said a summons issued to Prime Minister Doug Ford and Deputy Prime Minister Sylvia Jones by the Public Order Emergency Commission is valid, but the couple can resist the summons by invoking their parliamentary privilege. “The subpoenas issued by the Commission to (Ford and Jones) are valid,” Fothergill wrote. “However, as long as the Legislative Assembly of Ontario remains in session, the applicants may resist the subpoenas by invoking parliamentary privilege and the Commission cannot take steps to compel their attendance and to compel them to testify.” Parliamentary privilege is part of the Constitution but has its roots in the English House of Commons. It was designed to protect the House and its members from interference by the King and the House of Lords, says the Canadian House of Commons website. When implemented, it gives MPs immunity from scrutiny by the courts, experts say. The Public Order Emergency Committee is looking into the federal government’s use of the Emergency Act to end the so-called Freedom Convoy protests last winter in Ottawa and Windsor, Ont. Commissioner Paul Rouleau called Ford and Jones to testify at the inquiry because he wanted to know their roles in the crisis that left downtown Ottawa occupied for weeks and traffic blocked from entering Canada at the country’s busiest border crossing. Ford’s office declined to comment after the decision was made. At a news conference earlier Monday, Ford reiterated earlier comments that the investigation is a federal matter, not a provincial one. “This is a federal investigation based on the federal government calling for the Emergency Act,” he said. “This is a federal issue.” Ford and Jones had applied for a judicial review and asked for the subpoena to be suspended. They argued that the subpoena should be quashed because they have immunity from testifying due to parliamentary privilege which allows them to focus on their duties at Queen’s Park. The commissioner had argued that Ford and Jones had “overstated” the extent of parliamentary privilege. “There is no general privilege to refuse to testify; it is only a temporary privilege,” the commissioner argued in court documents. The Federal Court judge said the commissioner had jurisdiction to issue the summons for Ford and Jones, which the province argued it did not. “The matters on which the Prime Minister and the Minister have been called to testify fall within the Commissioner’s terms of reference and it appears that both witnesses may have valuable evidence to offer,” Fodergill wrote. Fodergill heard the evidence last week in an Ottawa court. This report by The Canadian Press was first published on November 7, 2022.
