44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 7, 2022 11:00AM
- Feb/7/22 11:49:55 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, I thank the leader of the NDP for proposing this debate.
I want to start by saying how sorry I am to the people of Ottawa and the businesses of Ottawa for what they have experienced over the last 10 days. Nobody deserves to experience what they have experienced.
There are those who say this convoy is about freedom. I certainly agree that after two years of a pandemic, most Canadians yearn for freedom, but most Canadians also agree that freedom comes with obligations. Those obligations include protecting the most vulnerable in our society. This means we all need to get vaccinated, because without getting vaccinated, new variants will continue to emerge and our hospitals will be overburdened. This means we need to wear masks indoors, because we know that the virus spreads more quickly in poorly ventilated or crowded indoor settings.
When someone calls for all mandates to be terminated, they are going against science, but it does not mean that other restrictions should not be constantly reconsidered. There are many in this country who are double-vaccinated and boosted. They have done everything right over the last two years and believed they were seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. Then omicron hit us in December. Our health care system, which lacks adequate surge capacity, was about to be overwhelmed, and politicians had to act.
These restrictions involved a travel advisory and added testing upon return at the federal level, but the vast majority of these restrictions were imposed by provinces, including by Conservative provincial governments. Everybody was trying to do their best, using their best judgment, but that does not mean everyone agreed with the decisions, and they all merit debate.
I can fully understand why parents are confused and upset when their kids are having their schools closed and the kids' mental health is being so deeply impacted. I can understand why some business owners cannot understand why their businesses are closed while other comparable businesses are open. I have a friend who runs a gym and a friend who runs an adult basketball league. They have been constantly closed over the last two years. Given how important working out is to physical and mental health, it is hard for me to explain to them why this is the case.
Believe me, I get it. There need to be reasonable conversations about why vaccinated people and business owners are subject to restrictions, and we need a plan that provinces and the federal government agree upon to talk about how other restrictions will be relaxed.
Let me be clear that these frustrated Canadians are not represented by the protests currently going on in Ottawa and other cities. Demonstrations are important expressions whereby citizens make their views known. They typically involve local residents receiving a municipal permit, making their case and then leaving after a reasonable period of time. They involve a careful choice of location, and normally organizers go out of their way to not disrupt the lives of people and businesses. This is a constitutionally protected right that we need to respect, whether or not we agree with the cause.
While legal, peaceful assembly is a constitutionally protected right, a blockade of a city is not. The rule of law still exists in Canada. Honking all night long and keeping people awake, setting off fireworks and refusing to follow local rules related to wearing masks in indoor settings are not part of a normal, peaceful protest. Harassing citizens and journalists is not part of a normal, peaceful protest. Desecrating monuments is not part of a normal, peaceful protest. Targeting health care workers is not part of normal, peaceful protest. Stealing from food banks is not part of a normal, peaceful protest.
Let me say loudly and clearly that flying Confederate flags is not part of a normal, peaceful protest. Waving swastikas, wearing yellow stars and having the nerve to compare one's situation to Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust is not part of a normal, peaceful protest.
My colleague from Hull—Aylmer spoke beautifully about what it meant to him as a Black Canadian to see people waving the Confederate flag. As a proud Jewish Canadian, seeing some fellow Canadians waving flags with Nazi symbols and wearing and selling the Star of David that Jews were forced to wear to separate them from the rest of society in the Nazi era made me more sad and angry than I have ever been as a parliamentarian.
I heard from constituents of mine who are Holocaust survivors, and the pain and anguish this has caused them cannot even be described in words. What kind of people would do this? The organizers of the convoy have made clear what their goal is: Their goal is the removal of the duly elected government. Their goal is the abolition of all mandates and restrictions, whether scientifically validated or not. The convoy has some organizers who have social media histories of white nationalism and bigotry.
Who is supporting the convoy? Well, it is supported by Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Ted Cruz, Matt Gaetz, Paul Gosar and Marjorie Taylor Greene. I think my colleagues know that I believe we can disagree without personalizing things, but these politicians are different because they are actually attacking American democracy.
The hallmark of democracy is that the loser concedes an election, but in this case, these politicians have propagated the false and laughable claim that Donald Trump won the 2020 election, even though these claims were laughed out of almost every court to which they were brought. Indeed, Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, had his law licence suspended for communicating demonstrably false comments to courts in his capacity as Trump's lawyer.
I personally have no issue with Americans commenting on Canadian politics, in the same way that I reserve my right to complain about laws in U.S. states that make it more difficult for minorities to vote and that stop women from having safe and accessible abortions. However, what we do not need is further disinformation in Canada. People already have enough disinformation about vaccines. The last thing they need is disinformation about our democracy. The presence of Trump 2024 signs at this blockade is of deep concern.
What do we need to happen? People are frustrated and they want action. I want to thank the men and women of the Ottawa Police and the Parliamentary Protective Service, as well as the OPP, the RCMP and other forces who have done their best. Even though this is under the jurisdiction of the City of Ottawa, nobody wants to hear about jurisdiction.
We have a huge problem. Citizens' lives are being disrupted. They do not want to hear excuses from others that this is not their jurisdiction. They want all governments to work together to have this convoy leave Ottawa. They want a safe, peaceful and respectful end to this blockade.
I was very pleased to hear the announcement today that all levels of government will work together. May I suggest that they also need to communicate together. All of us need to see a daily press conference with all three levels of government and the operational leaders at the police level so Canadians know exactly what is being done to protect the rule of law and re-establish order in this city. We need to solve this issue and end these blockades.
Once that is accomplished, what do we need to do?
We need to have a parliamentary committee study exactly what happened with this convoy. How did a convoy end up being allowed to park trucks across from Parliament Hill? What security changes are needed? What legislative changes are needed to ensure that local police forces can request federal assistance more easily? Should there be federal responsibility for policing in downtown Ottawa that currently does not exist?
We need to understand how this convoy was financed, and whether there are countries seeking to cause trouble in Canada by financing illegality. It is one thing to receive donations from the United States, but if U.S. donations can come in this case, it would be equally easy for our adversaries, such as Russia and China, to send funds. What legislative changes, if any, are required to protect our democracy?
The member for New Westminster—Burnaby has brought forward a private member's bill to make the use of racist symbols and emblems, such as the swastika and Confederate flag criminal, subject to carve-outs. This is indeed a subject we need to tackle quickly.
While this has been a very unhappy experience, I encourage members to learn from what happened and use the experience to ensure that this cannot happen again. We must take steps to enhance and protect our democracy.
1474 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Feb/7/22 11:59:29 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, first, if somebody had an adverse reaction to the vaccine, there is an exemption they can procure to not be fully vaccinated. I do not know the situation exactly of the member's constituent, but if she truly had a negative reaction to the vaccine and her physician advises her against it, then she can procure an exemption in most provinces.
Second, as I stated, I believe that vaccine mandates are important. I believe that public health rules, such as wearing masks indoors, still have to be followed, but that does not mean that we do not have to look at all restrictions for vaccinated people. This includes, for example, whether we still need a travel advisory, and whether we need more testing in addition to PCR testing when people leave their destination and more testing when they arrive. All of these need to be reconsidered in the light of new facts. We all need to do that at the provincial and federal levels.
166 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Feb/8/22 12:01:25 a.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, I could not agree more with my admirable colleague.
In my speech, I suggested, as did she, that we not only have a liaison between the three levels of government, but that these three levels hold daily briefings where they would communicate about what actions they are taking with police to bring this situation to an end.
These people must leave Ottawa as soon as possible, and we must work together to make that happen.
77 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- menumenu
- notificationsnotifications
- home
- mailmail
- searchsearch
