44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 7, 2022 11:00AM
- Feb/7/22 2:29:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the community expects the law to be obeyed and public safety to be upheld. The federal government has been there from day one to support the City of Ottawa and the Ottawa Police Service, and the RCMP has provided officers and other additional resources.
It is important to note that operational decisions are made by the police, independent from the government. The federal government will continue to work in close collaboration with the city and the police until Ottawans feel safe.
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- Feb/7/22 2:30:38 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, perhaps my hon. colleague missed the news that the RCMP has sent more than 275 additional officers. These officers will support and assist the Ottawa Police Service. This is just one example of the concrete solutions and support the federal government and the RCMP have offered the Ottawa Police Service.
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- Feb/7/22 2:31:50 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, since the beginning of this convoy, the government has been there to support police services in Ottawa and provide additional resources.
The RCMP announced that it would send 275 officers, which is why we have seen a lot of progress in the past 12 hours. We will continue to be there for the people of Ottawa and for the City of Ottawa to help put a quick end to this convoy.
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- Feb/7/22 2:33:18 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, since the beginning of this convoy, the federal government has done everything in its power to assist the City of Ottawa, as well as the police services, by providing additional RCMP resources. I want to pause to thank them for their service on the ground.
We will continue to offer whatever support we can to ensure that Canadians feel safe when they leave their homes. Of course, we have to respect the operational independence of police services, which are responsible for upholding the law.
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- Feb/7/22 7:00:38 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, at the outset I would like to indicate that I will be sharing my time with the Prime Minister.
I want to thank the member for Burnaby South for his motion, and all of my colleagues who are participating in this important debate tonight.
The situation in Ottawa began as an interruption and has now become a sustained convoy and blockade. During the course of the last number of days, we have seen far too many examples of intimidation, harassment, violence and hate. The residents here have effectively been held hostage in their own city, and many of them, especially young women, feel unsafe. They have been blockaded by an angry, loud, intolerant and often violent crowd.
Of course all members in this House support the right to peaceful protest, and it is indeed one of the pillars of our democracy, but peaceful protests do not make people afraid to leave their homes. This convoy has done that, and in doing so has crossed the line.
From day one, the federal government has been there to support the City of Ottawa and the OPS. As the situation evolved, the RCMP approved the successive requests for additional resources. Based on my calls with Mayor Watson last week and today, I can confirm that the RCMP received and approved a request for additional officers.
More officers were made available after another request was made this weekend. Since Saturday, more than 275 RCMP members have been mobilized to serve under the command of the Ottawa Police Service, or OPS. The RCMP is in talks with the OPS, as well as the Ontario Provincial Police, or OPP, and other law enforcement partners. It will assess and adapt its support as the situation evolves.
I insist on receiving operational updates throughout the day, on top of daily briefings with the commissioner and my representatives to ensure that we end this convoy and restore law and order. I am speaking with my provincial and municipal counterparts and have spoken with Minister Jones, the Solicitor General of Ontario, and, of course, with Mr. Watson, the mayor of Ottawa.
While the situation remains very concerning on the ground, we have seen progress made over the last number of hours. We have seen charges laid. We have seen investigations ongoing. We have seen the cutting off of propane and fuel to participants in the convoy. We are seeing structures removed. We are seeing the dispersing of crowds safely and respectfully with the excellent performance of our law enforcement. Hundreds of charges will continue to be laid where appropriate, and those decisions will be made independently by our police services.
In the weeks that follow, we will need to be very clear that we cannot find ourselves in a similar situation again. We must also be clear that we cannot expect to yield to the reckless forces that are outside as a way of imposing reckless change in public policy through disruptive activities like the blockades we are seeing, the bringing in of heavy equipment and scaring and intimidating tactics.
For now, however, we must continue to work together and assess what needs to be done. I have been asking for operational updates through the day, as well as daily updates, to make sure that my partners and I are doing everything we can to help restore the rule of law. I am confident that today's announcement of a table being convened between all levels of government will help to make sure those on the ground have all the tools and resources they need to get the job done and see the situation defuse.
Colleagues, the pandemic is approaching its second anniversary in Canada, and I want to assure every member in this House and all Canadians that we all want to get back to normal life. That day is coming. Canadians have been united and have persevered through it all. Our government has taken a responsible, evidenced-based approach, using science and using good-faith efforts day in, day out to protect one another. It is because Canadians have chosen this path that thousands of lives have been saved.
We cannot allow an angry crowd to reverse the course that is saving lives in this final stretch. This should never be a precedent for how to make policy or law in Canada.
We believe in peace, order and good government. The stories that are coming from communities from coast to coast are of people who are looking out for one another, who are sticking up for each other, who are giving back despite the fatigue. Throughout the course of the pandemic, the story has been a narrative of the resilience and unyielding spirit of Canadians. Now more than ever, we need to support one another and we need to work side by side, regardless of the level of government or party stripe, to take care of one another.
Canadians deserve to feel safe in their communities, and I know that all members will join me in that spirit.
Before yielding the floor, I will just go on to say that I know this is a particularly difficult moment for the residents of Ottawa. I know that businesses have had to shut, that families have not been able to take their kids to day care, that seniors have not been able to get around, that disabled persons have not had access to public transportation, that people do not feel safe, that the reports of intimidation and harassment and violence and the images that we have seen over the course of the last number of days have been very disconcerting to all of us.
Those of us who respect the rule of law, those of us who expect that while we can hold disagreements, disagreements are certainly never a justification to cross the line and not respect other Canadians and break the law. That is why I am very proud that the government, since the very beginning of this convoy, has done everything that it can to give resources and support to our police services locally, including the provision of some 275 Mounties who have now been deputized and who are now able to enforce the law locally. I want to take a moment to thank the members of the RCMP who are assisting the OPS in dealing with this very challenging situation.
I will say, given the great length of time that has passed since the beginning of the pandemic, that of course everyone will feel a degree of fatigue, and we obviously share that sentiment right across the country. However, we should not confuse the sharing of that emotion and the sense of wanting to get back to life as normal with a lack of respect for the law. That is where we must draw the line. That is where we will draw the line.
We do this because this is the shared sense of values on which our country is built. We do it out of respect for those who have worked so hard to see those values and those principles enshrined in our charter, to ensure they are not just words on a page, to ensure that there is a sense of unity and common ground that sees itself manifested in our daily lives.
We have not seen that in the past number of days in Ottawa. I would hope that all members would recognize that it does us no good to yield to perhaps some of the darker angels of our nature. We need to be listening to the better angels of our nature, especially when those values are tested, especially when we have vigorous disagreements around the pandemic. Those disagreements can never be a justification for the kind of conduct and the kind of behaviour we have seen here in Ottawa.
That is why I am calling, and indeed I hope all members are calling, on the convoy to go home—to contribute to the debate, but not to break the law, not to make those who live here in Ottawa feel unsafe. That is what Canadians do. Canadians respect the law. No one is above the law.
We will get through this together.
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- Feb/7/22 7:11:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, with due respect to my colleague, it is ironic that he says he and the members of his party respect the values of the Charter, but then we see the member for Carleton and others of his colleagues around some of the individuals who have been breaking the law, and who have been intimidating, harassing and causing great disruption to ordinary folks who just want to go about their daily lives. If my colleague cannot appreciate the distinction between having a vigorous debate about the way we are going to get through this pandemic, and crossing the line and using that disagreement as a justification for the very flagrant disregard for the law, as we have seen in Ottawa, then that is something he and his party need to reflect on very carefully.
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- Feb/7/22 7:13:11 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the matter of jurisdictions and operational decisions is very clear. The Ottawa Police Service is responsible for making decisions on the ground. We need to respect that because it is a principle and value of our democracy.
Earlier today, I spoke with Mayor Watson, and we had a good conversation about what he needs. We have already offered him the services of more than 275 additional RCMP officers, who are now working on the ground to assist the Ottawa Police Service. With their help, progress has been made today, but that needs to continue. We need to put an end to the convoy's activities out of respect for Ottawa residents.
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- Feb/7/22 7:15:56 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I think my colleague's very thoughtful question underlines a pattern we have seen from the Conservative Party in an effort to minimize the harm, the intimidation, the violence and the expressions of hate. I heard one of my colleagues say earlier tonight, in the context of this take note debate, that we have to understand there are certain boundaries we do not cross as Canadians. The flying of Confederate flags and the demonstration of swastikas on our Parliament Hill are not only affronts to our values, which are articulated in the Charter, but they are affronts to everyone who has survived the Holocaust and has experienced racism, and they are affronts to who we are as Canadians.
These are not isolated incidents. It has been rampant, and that is why it is critically important that we rely on our law enforcement to disperse this convoy, so that we can get back to life as normal.
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