Doug Ford, Sylvia Jones won’t have to testify at Emergencies Act inquiry

A Federal Court judge has ruled that Ontario Premier Doug Ford and former solicitor general Sylvia Jones will not have to testify at the Emergencies Act inquiry in Ottawa due to parliamentary privilege.

In his decision on Monday, Justice Simon Fothergill said the summons from the Public Order Emergency Commission, which has been running the inquiry, was valid but that Ford and Jones have a constitutional right to claim privilege in this case.

“The summonses issued by the Commission are valid. However, they cannot be enforced so long as the Premier and Minister continue to resist them by asserting parliamentary privilege,” the ruling states.

“The Applicants are entitled to a declaration that, so long as they continue to assert a valid claim of parliamentary privilege, they have a lawful excuse for not complying with the summonses issued by the Commission. The Commission cannot take steps to enforce their attendance and compel them to give evidence as contemplated by s 5 of the Inquiries Act.”

Parliamentary privilege prevents MPPs from being compelled to testify in any proceeding while the legislature is in session and for 40 days before and after each session. Ford and Jones were asked to testify on November 10.

“Parliamentary privilege protects the operation of the legislature from outside interference, where such interference would impede the fulfilment of its constitutional role. The decision to waive privilege falls within the exclusive jurisdiction of the legislature, which is ultimately accountable to the electorate and not the courts,” the court ruled.

Lawyers for Ford and Jones, who is now the health minister, were in court last week arguing there would be irreparable harm to the rule of law if they were compelled to testify at the the inquiry, citing parliamentary privilege.

However, lawyers for the Public Order Emergency Commission argued evidence of the harm was speculative at best.

Last month, Ford and Jones were summoned to appear at the public inquiry, examining the federal government’s use of the Emergencies Act to end the “Freedom Convoy” protests in Ottawa and Windsor last winter.

Commissioner Paul Rouleau summoned the two to testify because he wanted to know their role in the crisis.

Ford and Jones filed an application for a judicial review and sought a stay of the summons.

With files from Cormac Mac Sweeney and CityNews staff; and The Canadian Press