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EDMONTON, Alberta (LifeSiteNews) – After a judge exonerated Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for using the Emergencies Act (EA) to decimate the Freedom Convoy last year, the government of Alberta said the use of the EA set a “dangerous precedent” that the province will continue to fight via a multiple party lawsuit.

In a statement this past Friday, Alberta Minister of Justice Tyler Shandro said that “Alberta’s government maintains that the federal government’s consultation with provinces was inadequate and that unnecessarily invoking the Emergencies Act set a dangerous precedent.”

“The decision to invoke the act violated the constitutionally guaranteed rights of Albertans and gave the federal government the ability to seize property without due process of law,” Shandro said.

Last Friday, Liberal-friendly Justice Paul Rouleau ruled in favor of the Trudeau government’s use of the EA to crush the Freedom Convoy in February 2022 after releasing the final report of the Public Order Emergency Commission (POEC).

“The decision to invoke the Act was appropriate,” the judge concluded.

Shandro noted that the conclusion from the POEC will not change the province’s intervention in lawsuits fighting Trudeau’s use of the EA.

“The conclusion reached by the inquiry does not affect Alberta’s decision to participate in legal challenges initiated against the federal government by the Canadian Constitution Foundation and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association last year,” Shandro said.

“The 56 recommendations in the report show that there were many issues with the way the federal government used the Emergencies Act. My department will be reviewing the report and its recommendations, and I call on the federal government to do the same.”

Shandro said that one thing is “clear” from the POEC report, and that is the federal government must involve “provinces and territories in the decision-making process for future emergencies.”

“Matters like infrastructure, policing and the economy have provincial impacts and Alberta must have a seat at the table when decisions are being made that affect our province and our people,” he added.

“I will continue to be a voice for the priorities, interests and concerns of Alberta and to protect Albertans’ freedoms from federal government intrusions.”

In May 2022, then-Alberta Premier Jason Kenney announced that his government was given intervenor status on legal cases with the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and the Canadian Constitutional Foundation fighting Trudeau’s use of the EA to stop trucker Freedom Convoy.

For three weeks in February 2022, the Freedom Convoy took to the streets of Ottawa to demand an end to all COVID mandates.

Trudeau enacted the EA on February 14 and then revoked it on February 23 after protesters had been cleared out.

The POEC was tasked last fall with determining whether the Trudeau government was justified in using the EA to crush the Freedom Convoy.

It conducted a thorough monthlong public hearing from October 13 to November 25, calling forth dozens of witnesses, including Trudeau, many of his cabinet ministers, as well as Freedom Convoy leaders such as Tamara Lich, who was jailed for weeks.

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