OTTAWA — The federal government spent at least $3.7 million on outside lawyers for work related to its controversial use of the Emergencies Act to quash last year’s so-called “Freedom Convoy” protests, the justice department says.
In response to a formal written question that Conservative MP Dane Lloyd submitted in Parliament, the government revealed this month it had spent $3,756,458.66 as of May 4 to hire private lawyers for this work, which does not include money spent on the high-profile judicial inquiry into the unprecedented use of the Emergencies Act.
But the federal justice department is appealing to solicitor-client privilege — the principle that matters between lawyers and their clients should be secret — in refusing to provide further details about how this money was spent.
That includes the nature of the work these lawyers did for the government, the rates at which they were paid, and who they are. At least six of their names, however, are already public, including those who appeared during last year’s televised judicial inquiry into the use of the Emergencies Act.
The disclosure of private legal fees comes after the government came under scrutiny in recent months for how much it pays outside consulting firms like McKinsey & Company.
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