NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh claimed Thursday the organizers of the Freedom Convoy wanted to overthrow the federal government in a "fascist way."."They wanted to overthrow a democratically elected government with a committee of their own choosing," Singh claimed during a Thursday press conference.."Their goal was not an innocuous goal. Their goal was to overthrow government and to replace it in a fascist way without having any elections.".Singh's comments were in response to a question about the Emergencies Act report, set to be released Friday. Singh said the fact the act needed to be invoked to deal with the Freedom Convoy meant it was a "failure on all levels of government to respond to this serious problem.".The NDP leader accused then-Ottawa mayor Jim Watson and Ontario Premier Doug Ford of not taking the protest seriously. According to Singh, Ottawa residents were harassed and intimidated for wearing masks.."People face the worst lockdowns they've ever experienced. The pandemic in Ottawa, the citizens faced the worst of it. And because of the convoy businesses were shut down, kids were struggling to go to school and people couldn't sleep at night. It was pretty horrible," he said..Singh said he hopes the Public Order Emergency Commission, tasked with determining whether the Liberal government was justified in its invocation of the Emergencies Act, will be able to identify how a similar scenario can be prevented in the future..Singh also highlighted reports that some police officers "colluded" with Freedom Convoy protestors. Convoy lawyer Keith Wilson said the organizers received leaked police intelligence from sympathizers within various forces on several occasions..According to Singh, the convoy organizers had a "very clear goal" of overthrowing the federal government and replacing it with their own. This, combined with the sympathy some police officers showed for the movement, was "pretty serious.".Canada Unity and convoy organizer James Bauder wrote in a “memorandum of understanding” the Senate and governor general could join them in forming a committee to order the revocation of COVID-19 restrictions and vaccine mandates. Then at a press conference during the protest, organizer Tom Marazzo proposed the organizers and their supporters could sit at a table “with the Conservatives, and the NDP, and the Bloc as a coalition.”."So that's something that I hope is addressed," Singh said. "And again, the ultimate failures that brought us to this point what are what can be done in the future to prevent that from happening?" he said.
