Senator Gold: The answer is yes.

Senator Gold: There were several aspects to your question, so I’ll try to give you a clear answer.

First, there’s a wide range of measures that should be seen as a set of measures authorized through the proclamation of a state of emergency and that, combined, made the difference here in Ottawa and are making a difference in keeping us protected now.

Without the proclamation, there is a whole swearing-in process to bring in, for example, 1,000 officers from the Sûreté du Québec, and to give them the authority to enforce the law here in Ottawa. That takes time. There was a crisis. The city had been taken hostage.

Therefore, one aspect of the highly targeted measures was to temporarily eliminate the swearing-in requirement so that we could bring in police officers from across Canada who would be able to immediately get to work. Without getting into what the Ottawa police were capable of doing before and what they would have had the time to do, it was quite clear that they did not have the means to ensure that the various police forces could work together in downtown Ottawa and on Parliament Hill.

We therefore had to make changes to the leadership, and we had to use the proclamation to allow for a coordinated police effort and an adequate number of police officers to put an end to the blockade.

Other means were also used. The impact of the financial measures, which were another important tool, must not be understated. It’s important to note that despite a state of emergency being declared in Ottawa and across Ontario, there was no way to protect Parliament Hill or downtown residents until these measures were brought in. I also mentioned the other tools — and I don’t want to take up too much time, as I’m sure there will be more questions — but it would have been impossible to get the trucks out without the measures that were brought in.

While it’s true we can always ask “what if?” and think about what could have been, I’m here to tell you and to try to convince you that the government not only took the exercise seriously, but it also met the requirements of the law to conclude, on reasonable grounds, that a public order emergency existed and these measures were necessary.

That is the government’s position, and I think it has been clearly demonstrated by the facts on the ground.

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