Ford summoned to testify at Emergencies Act inquiry

Ontario Premier Doug Ford and former solicitor general Sylvia Jones have been summoned to appear as witnesses at the public inquiry examining the federal government’s use of the Emergencies Act.

Commission lawyers said the summons was issued Monday after both Ford and Jones, who is now the health minister, refused multiple requests to appear.

“It was our hope that Premier Ford and Minister Jones would agree to appear before the commission voluntarily,” reads a letter sent Monday by commission lead lawyers Shantona Chaudhury and Jeffrey Leon.

“However, given that the repeated invitations were all declined, the commission has issued summons this day to Premier Ford and Minister Jones pursuant to section 4 of the Inquiries Act.”

The letter was written in response to a request for Ford and Jones to appear made last week by three lawyers for parties involved in the inquiry, including the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and a group of Ottawa residents affected by the convoy.

Chaudhury and Leon said in the letter that Ford and Jones also had “refused” multiple times to be interviewed privately by commission lawyers before the public hearings began.

Related: Ottawa mayor, PM accused Ford of shirking responsibility on ‘Freedom Convoy’ response

Last week Ford told reporters at an unrelated event in Ottawa that he wasn’t appearing at the inquiry because “I have not been asked.”

In that same conversation on Oct. 17, Ford said the Ontario Provincial Police did an “incredible job” helping Ottawa police and RCMP clear protesters. He also said he stood “shoulder to shoulder” with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau throughout the convoy and the decision to invoke the Emergencies Act.

Andrew Kennedy, a spokesman for Ontario’s Attorney General, says in a statement the province is going to challenge the summons in court.

“The government will be seeking a judicial review to set aside the summons and receive a stay under the grounds the summons are inconsistent with the member’s parliamentary privilege,” Kennedy said.

“We believe that questions about Ontario’s institutional response will be sufficiently addressed by the testimony from the two senior officials already selected by the commission.”

The public inquiry, which began earlier this month, is tasked with investigating the Trudeau government’s decision to invoke the Emergencies Act in February as the “Freedom Convoy” paralyzed the national capital’s downtown core.