Federal officials feared United We Roll protesters 'overthrowing' PM
Significant security precautions were taken by the Privy Council Office over concerns that protesters at the Feb. 19 United We Roll demonstration might force their way into Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office, Blacklock’s Reporter says. However, concerns about the size of the protest were overestimated. Records reveal staff expected “as many as four hundred trucks” as well as up to 25,000 protesters to show up to Parliament Hill. In reality, a small fraction of that figure showed up in Ottawa and protesters demonstrated peacefully with their legally obtained permits. “I worry about the rising tide of incitements to violence, when people use terms like treason and traitor in open discourse,” then-privy council clerk Michael Wernick said in a Feb. 21 testimony at the Commons justice committee.
