I had never heard of Janice Charette prior to her getting appointed to be the chief trade negotiator for Canada in upcoming negotiations with the U.S. Here’s a summary of her track recard:
The most significant and widely discussed controversy involves Charette’s recommendation to invoke the Emergencies Act for the first time in Canadian history to address the Freedom Convoy protests against COVID-19 mandates in Ottawa in early 2022. As Clerk, she advised the government on this, and Prime Minister Trudeau later stated that her formal recommendation as the top public servant played a major role in his decision to proceed.
The invocation was later ruled unreasonable and beyond legal authority (“ultra vires”) by a Federal Court, which found it infringed on Charter rights (freedom of expression under section 2(b) and unreasonable search and seizure under section 8).
I’m sure we’re in the best of hands.



