OTTAWA—The Liberal government took unprecedented measures to slow the spread of COVID-19 in Canada Monday, largely shutting the country’s borders to international travelers, but it stopped short of doing what Ontario did on Tuesday morning: declaring a state of emergency.

The federal government has exceptional powers it can invoke in exceptional times. The Emergencies Act gives Ottawa the power to ban public gatherings, strictly limit travel, even temporarily take over private infrastructure and force workers to provide essential services in times of emergency.

A senior Liberal source told the Star Monday the government is not currently discussing invoking emergency powers. But with the COVID-19 pandemic leading other states to take ever-more drastic action, the Emergencies Act is one unused option in Ottawa’s arsenal in the fight against coronavirus.

The federal government has invoked emergency powers three times in Canada’s history: during the First World War; the Second World War; and, controversially, the October crisis of 1970. In 1988, the War Measures Act was replaced with the Emergencies Act, which has yet to be used.

“It can do things like regulate … travel to and from a specific area, if that’s necessary to protect health. It could (allow the government to) evacuate persons and remove personal property from a specified area, it can requisition any property,” said Leah West, a Carleton University professor and former Department of Justice lawyer, in an interview Monday.

“It can also basically say a certain class of people that have capacity to render essential services, as long as they’re competent to do so, they have to render those services.”

For instance, West said, the government could press retired nurses or nursing students into service to help deal with the public health emergency.

But West said she doesn’t believe the government will invoke emergency powers — at least not yet.

“I suspect the government will hold off on declaring a public welfare emergency until they need to take measures like requisitioning private property to serve as, for example, makeshift hospitals, or taking control of goods and services,” West said.

Conservative leadership candidate Erin O’Toole has called on the government to invoke the Emergencies Act, saying Canada needs to be on a “war footing” to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

But granting the federal government emergency powers, even in the midst of a global emergency, would not be without controversy and complications.

The Emergencies Act can grant the federal government “special temporary measures to ensure safety and security” during national or international emergencies.

“(The War Measures Act) was criticized for granting to the government invoking it while providing minimal parliamentary control, excluding judicial review … The Emergencies Act attempts to overcome these shortcomings,” reads a 1988 Library of Parliament analysis.

The legislation includes different types of emergencies — war, or the threat of war, and “public order” emergencies that rise to the level of an urgent national security concern. But COVID-19 would fall under a “public welfare emergency,” which includes disease, natural disasters or environmental devastation.

Ottawa can’t declare an emergency unilaterally. The province or provinces under the emergency would need to admit that the situation is beyond their control to manage before Ottawa could grant itself exceptional powers, including:

Prohibiting travel (including within Canada)

Requisitioning property — for instance, converting an arena into a temporary hospital or emergency shelter

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Directly administering essential services

Making emergency payments

Unlike the War Measures Act, the decision to declare a national emergency is still subject to parliamentary scrutiny. If the Liberals were to declare an emergency, the declaration would be debated by MPs and senators.

Once invoked, however, the government would have immediate access to emergency powers.

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