Thank you very much, Chair.
I'm just wondering if there were lessons learned from various police departments or agencies that were in Ottawa about how they should respond to similar events.
Going back to Senator Boniface's comment, I think a lot of people are asking why three weeks. We all watched the convoy coming to Ottawa from all parts of Canada. Three weeks is a long time when you're watching this day after day. Then we have police saying, “We had everything ready to go, but the Emergencies Act came out, so we didn't really get to implement it. If the Emergencies Act hadn't come out, then we would have done it in the next day or two.” But it had already been ongoing for three weeks, three weeks of torture for downtown Ottawa residents.
It's hard to explain to people. You were ready to go in three weeks plus two days without the Emergencies Act, so how do you rationalize that to Canadians who are watching when you say you didn't need it and you did need it? We've heard the Ottawa police chief say that the Emergencies Act certainly made it easier, and you also implied that in your comments.