Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Maybe I'll turn to Ms. Dickson.
There has been a lot of discourse over the last number of weeks about whether this was a peaceful protest, a legitimate assembly of people, or whether it was an illegal occupation.
We have clearly established that the laws are on the books and there was a question of whether they could be adequately enforced. I hope all committee members would agree with me that it's illegal for me to just park my vehicle and impede traffic and that it's illegal to harass citizens, to hurl verbal abuse, etc.
Ms. Dickson, what I want to focus on is the Conservative government of Premier Doug Ford, because when he invoked the state of emergency in Ontario on February 11, he specifically referenced it being an illegal occupation. That was on February 11, three full days before the federal declaration of emergency.
Can you inform the committee on what basis the Premier of Ontario declared this to be an illegal occupation? Was he referencing at that time specific provincial laws that were being broken?