Process Nerd: Ontario Premier Doug Ford is absolutely within his rights not to appear before the Public Order Emergency Commission. But just because he can exercise the privilege doesn’t automatically mean he should.
People wave flags as a truck participating in the ‘Freedom Convoy’ makes its way along Highway 416 in Ottawa on Jan. 28, 2022.
Let’s forgo the suspense and answer the question posed by the headline right away: yes, Ontario Premier Doug Ford is absolutely within his rights — legally, procedurally and constitutionally, at least — to argue that parliamentary privilege protects him and his former solicitor general from being summoned to appear before the Public Order Emergency Commission.
As a sitting member of the provincial parliament, he cannot be compelled to appear before any court, as that would infringe on the right of the house — in this case, the Ontario legislature — to command his attendance while the legislature is in session, as well as his right as a member not to be prevented from taking part in any and all proceedings.
Indeed, as then-House Speaker John Fraser put it in a 1989 ruling on the subject: “The right of a member … to refuse to attend court as a witness during a parliamentary session, and during the 50 days preceding and following a parliamentary session, is an undoubted and inalienable right supported by a host of precedents.”