Daniel Chomski
Daniel Chomski spoke 26 times across 2 days of testimony.
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Daniel Chomski, Counsel (Ott)
Good afternoon. My name is Daniel Chomski, and I’m counsel to the City of Ottawa. My questions are going to be mostly for you, Deputy, and what I want to focus on is the period between February 4th sort of when you started to speak to other provincial departments about what ended up being called the strategic enforcement strategy and leading up until the emergency that was called by the province on the 11th, okay?
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Daniel Chomski, Counsel (Ott)
Now, as you alluded to earlier today, your department raised a number of detailed questions about commercial vehicle operators registration. Is that correct? With the provincial government of Ontario.
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Daniel Chomski, Counsel (Ott)
Okay. And you gathered information about how CVOR, as it’s known in its acronym, works?
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Daniel Chomski, Counsel (Ott)
Then the system that underlies it.
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Daniel Chomski, Counsel (Ott)
Right.
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Daniel Chomski, Counsel (Ott)
And the DG level. Okay. And -- but you’re aware that the CVOR program monitors and evaluates operator safety records, driving infractions and that there’s a carrier record.
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Daniel Chomski, Counsel (Ott)
Okay. Thank you. So after you had these detailed conversations or your Deputies did and -- your Assistant Deputy Ministers did and you did as well, I believe you came up with something called the maximum enforcement strategy. Is that correct?
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Daniel Chomski, Counsel (Ott)
Okay. And I understand that as part of that -- and it was detailed in an earlier email to your Minister -- the registrar would communicate -- and this being the Motor Vehicle -- the Registrar of Motor Vehicles in Ontario, would communicate to owners, CVOR -- owners that have the CVOR certificate and they would -- to suspend CVORs for any vehicle participating in blockades and demonstrations by a particular date. Is that correct?
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Daniel Chomski, Counsel (Ott)
For sure.
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Daniel Chomski, Counsel (Ott)
So I’m talking the ordinary course of events. So before the emergency was declared in Ontario, you had gathered information from the Province of Ontario, particularly the Ministry of Transportation; correct?
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Daniel Chomski, Counsel (Ott)
Okay. And at some point, your department, and you were of the opinion that you could issue notice to holders of CVORs, saying that “We could suspend your certificate in the event that your vehicle is participating in a blockade or demonstration and would not leave by a certain date”?
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Daniel Chomski, Counsel (Ott)
That’s correct, yeah.
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Daniel Chomski, Counsel (Ott)
Okay. So before the Emergency Declaration, then, I’m just going to take you back to the maximum enforcement strategy.
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Daniel Chomski, Counsel (Ott)
And from what I can glean from the documents, both in the emails, and that were part of the strategy itself, communications was a big part of it, was it not?
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Daniel Chomski, Counsel (Ott)
And part of it would be communicating offences that the government could enforce.
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Daniel Chomski, Counsel (Ott)
Okay. And it was your belief or your department’s belief that this would be a deterrence.
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Daniel Chomski, Counsel (Ott)
Right, okay. And I’m going to take you to a document, and this document is actually going to relate to after the time period of which the Emergency Order in Ontario is brought into force. And so we’re talking about February 11th; that’s when the Order was brought into place, was February 11, 2022. And now, you’ll know that’s in place. Now, it granted the Registrar of Motor Vehicles the power to make an order suspending or cancelling plate permits, driver’s licence, and Commercial Vehicle Operator Registration certificate, so again, the CVOR. You’re aware of that?
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Daniel Chomski, Counsel (Ott)
Okay. Now, I’d like, Mr. Clerk, if you could please bring up document ONT00000403? (SHORT PAUSE)
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Daniel Chomski, Counsel (Ott)
Just leave it right there, Mr. Clerk. Thank you. And you’ll see -- you’re not on this email chain, but -- if you could just scroll to the top -- it’s an email, actually, to Michael Beaton from a Ministry of Transportation of Ontario civil servant. And you’ll see at the top there -- Michael Beaton is the Chief of Staff to the Minister of Transport. And you’ll see at the top, it says, “Hi MO”; I think we can all agree is the Minister’s office?
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Daniel Chomski, Counsel (Ott)
Okay. And it goes on to say: “[I] Wanted to provide you with a quick update on the situation in the City of Ottawa. Also providing some general background information on the barricade in Windsor (further to our email last night). As well as an update on a CVOR warning letter.” And if you could just please scroll down? And you’ll see at that header there it says, “CVOR Warning Letter”; you see that?
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Daniel Chomski, Counsel (Ott)
Okay. And it says: “FYI - TSD has created a warning letter for CVOR holders as another tool that can be used at the frontlines for the convoy [or] protest.” I’ll read the second bullet: “The police are aware of this strategy and supportive of the approach. The police command centre in Ottawa will be providing a list of the carriers that they want MTO to send letters out to. All of this...” And this is the important point: “All of this will be tracked and can be reported on.... The other option of suspending plates/licence/CVOR remains, this will just give enforcement additional tools to manage the situation as they see fit.” Now, this letter is similar to a letter that your department had proposed could have been used before the Emergency Order; correct?
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Daniel Chomski, Counsel (Ott)
Okay. And so, again, just so I completely understand you, the idea would be you would issue a warning saying, “There could be potential infractions coming if you don’t leave”?
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Daniel Chomski, Counsel (Ott)
Okay. And did the Government of Ontario ever tell you why they did not issue any warning letters before they brought in the Emergency Order?
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Daniel Chomski, Counsel (Ott)
Okay. But, specifically, you weren’t aware of any impediment that would have prevented them from issuing letters of a similar nature before the Emergency Order was brought in?
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Daniel Chomski, Counsel (Ott)
Okay. Thank you very much, Deputy, those are all my questions.
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Daniel Chomski, Counsel (Ott)
Dan Chomski for the City of Ottawa and we have no questions for the Minister.