Attorney General Arif Virani and Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc repeatedly refused to disclose to a joint committee reviewing the Emergencies Act invocation what legal decision justified the government’s response to the Freedom Convoy.

Addressing the Special Joint Committee on the Declaration of Emergency, both men cited solicitor-client privilege when asked for the legal opinion the government relied on to invoke the act.

“You would appreciate that it is not the contents that we’re trying to protect,” Mr. Virani told MPs and senators on Feb. 27. “What is critical in protecting solicitor-client privilege is a relationship that has existed for hundreds of years.”

The committee, which was established by law to review the invocation of the Emergencies Act on Feb. 14, 2022, sought to hear from the attorney general and the public safety minister on the decision to use the act in response to the trucker protest against COVID-19 vaccine mandates.