Alberta official says Emergencies Act may have acted as a deterrent in Coutts, but wasn't needed

An Alberta official who oversees the public security portfolio says the federal government's invocation of the Emergencies Act may have acted as a deterrent for protesters near the Coutts border crossing, but said he doesn't think it was needed.

Marlin Degrand, assistant deputy minister of public safety and emergency services, is testifying before the Emergencies Act inquiry Thursday about the blockade in a southern Alberta village.

Between Jan. 29 and Feb. 14, protesters against COVID-19 restrictions used large trucks and other vehicles to block commercial traffic to and from the U.S. at the crossing near Coutts, Alta.

Around dawn on Feb. 14, hours before the federal government announced it was bringing in emergency powers,the RCMP executed search warrants in Coutts, arresting more than a dozen protesters and seizing a cache of weapons, body armour and ammunition.

Degrand sat for an interview with lawyers from the Public Order Emergency Commission in August. A summary of that conversation was made public Thursday.

"While Mr. Degrand acknowledges that the Emergencies Act may have had a deterrent effect on protesters, the Alberta government's position was that the Emergencies Act was not necessary as the Coutts border blockade was resolving prior to its invocation," said the interview summary.

"Alberta objected to its invocation on this basis."

Degrand told the commission the province's authorities were sufficient and were shown to be sufficient.

He also said the province was worried bringing in the never-before-used legislation would further inflame protesters.

Fort McLeod Coun. Marco Van Huigenbos, one of the movement's spokespeople, said the remaining protesters left after the discovery of weapons.

Four men arrested in the Coutts raid — Jerry Morin, Chris Lysak, Chris Carbert and Anthony Olienick — are accused of the most serious charge to come out of the protests: conspiracy to murder RCMP officers. 

"For me, it became very clear that every objective we were looking to achieve was no longer possible and our message had been lost," Van Huigenbos told the commission earlier this week.

Degrand's testimony touched on an issue the commission has heard many times before: securing tow trucks.

The Alberta bureaucrat said the RCMP advised him that tow truck operators were reluctant to help police clear the blockade.