OTTAWA, Ontario (LifeSiteNews) – Records show that Ottawa’s Mayor Jim Watson had a private phone call with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau right before Canadian officials attempted to shut down the Freedom Convoy’s GoFundMe webpage.
Blacklock’s Reporter reported that aides from Trudeau’s cabinet members were in “regular contact” with top Ottawa city officials, right during the time Watson wrongly blamed the Freedom Convoy for acts of arson.
Canada’s Department of Public Safety said in a report titled Emergencies Act Consultations that “The Prime Minister spoke to the Mayor of Ottawa on January 31.” There were no details about what was discussed on the call. According to the House of Commons public safety committee, on February 1 Watson asked “our city solicitor” about the $10.1 million raised Freedom Convoy raised on GoFundMe.
The reasoning for the January 31 call between Watson and Trudeau was not disclosed; however, the leaders both spoke again on February 8. This is two days after Watson declared a state of emergency in Ottawa.
According to the Emergencies Act Consultations report, Watson also spoke with Canada’s Minister of Public Safety Marco Mendicino on February 7, 8, and 10.
Watson is a former Liberal Party of Ontario provincial cabinet Minister and is as a long-time Liberal planner.
On February 2, unnamed city officials shared “reports of violence” directly with GoFundMe, says Blacklock’s Reporter, with Watson himself attending meetings with the crowdfunding sites executives on February 3.
In March, it came to light that Watson had apparently told GoFundMe executives that the protestors were committing violent acts, leading to the cancellation of the truckers’ GoFundMe on February 4.
Many mainstream media outlets along with Watson and even a Liberal MP alleged that the Freedom Convoy protesters were somehow connected to an arson incident in Ottawa.
Watson even directly blamed the truckers for the arson, saying during a February 7 council meeting that the attack “clearly demonstrates the malicious intent” of the truckers.
But to date, earlier suggestions that violent acts were committed by Freedom Convoy protesters have proven to be false.
Just recently Ottawa Police revealed that a second man charged in a deliberate arson attack that occurred near Canada’s parliament in Ottawa in February did not have anything to do with the Freedom Convoy.
The general counsel for GoFundMe Kim Wilford had earlier told the House of Commons public safety committee that they “received credible consistent information from members of law enforcement and members of the Mayor’s Office,” that “there were issues around violence, harassment, damage and at that point we reassessed the campaign.”
Wilford, who said “I did speak to the Mayor myself,” said that the claims themselves were enough “to remove this [the Freedom Convoy’s GoFundMe] from our platform.”
The group subsequently started a GiveSendGo page. However, both Canadian and U.S. mainstream media outlets came under fire for using hacked information from the truckers’ GiveSendGo list to dox donors who contributed to the cause.
Government officials in Canada attempted to freeze donations on GiveSendGo.
Trudeau enacted the Emergencies Act (EA) on February 14, claiming it was needed to deal with the Freedom Convoy protesters, who were demanding an end to all COVID mandates. Trudeau revoked the EA on February 23 after the Freedom Convoy protesters were forced out by police.
Trudeau had made claims that the Freedom Convoy protesters were funded by foreign entities with ties to terrorist-linked financing. This reasoning was used as justification for Trudeau to use the EA against the Freedom Convoy.
The vast majority of donations made to both GoFundMe and then later to GiveSendGo came from Canadian donors, records show.
The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) is suing the federal government for its abuse of the EA, which was used to quash the Freedom Convoy.
Civil liberties groups have also demanded a public independent inquiry into Trudeau’s use of emergency powers against the Freedom Convoy.