44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 16, 2022 02:00PM
- Feb/16/22 2:19:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Liberal, NDP and Green MPs defeated a motion calling on the federal government to provide Canadians with a plan to lift restrictions. Supporting this motion would have allowed the Liberals to demonstrate that they are committed to ending mandates and restrictions. However, that did not happen.
The Liberal government instead invoked the Emergencies Act. This is the reformed War Measures Act that gives Ottawa and police sweeping and never-before-used powers. The Emergencies Act suspends civil liberties.
The Prime Minister thinks he looks strong but he looks weak and unable to lead Canada while respecting our rights and freedoms. Invoking the Emergencies Act is a dramatic misuse of federal powers. It is a deep stain on Canada's reputation as a defender of rights and civil liberties.
Totalitarian regimes around the world are delighted, for if Canada does this, who could say they could not do the same when their capital cities are filled with people objecting to their policies?
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- Feb/16/22 2:21:50 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is clear the Prime Minister has more of a political emergency on his hands than a national emergency. The borders at Coutts, Surrey, Windsor and Emerson have all been cleared. There are no more blockades at any borders. Trucks are still here downtown in Ottawa and they need to move.
In light of the rapidly changing landscape, can the Prime Minister tell us where the serious threat of violence is to Canadians for ideological purposes, which is the threshold that needs to be met for the Emergencies Act?
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- Feb/16/22 2:22:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the invocation of the Emergencies Act is not something to be done lightly. It is not something to be done as a first resort or even a second resort. However, it was necessary to be done to give local law enforcement across the country the tools to handle these illegal blockades, to be able to ensure restoration of order and to make sure that Canadians, whether they are losing shifts or seeing supplies delayed on their way to the border, are able to get back to their daily lives. This is a decision we took and of course Parliament is going to have an opportunity to debate it.
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- Feb/16/22 2:23:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the law is clear: Any limitations to Canadians' fundamental freedoms must be justified and must meet a legal criteria. Experts across the country have said these requirements have not been met. The Prime Minister has not given Canadians a clear reason why he is invoking the Emergencies Act. In fact, things are de-escalating as we speak.
Why is the Prime Minister using this hammer on Canadians? Is it not true he is doing it just to save his own political skin?
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- Feb/16/22 2:25:42 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Conservatives cannot have it both ways. They spent the first few weeks of this challenge and illegal blockades saying that the government needed to act and take responsibility. When we finally move forward in a responsible way when the time was right to bring in the Emergencies Act, they are now complaining that we have done too much. At the same time and throughout, they continue to stand with, support and cheer on these illegal blockades. They are the ones playing politics.
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- Feb/16/22 2:27:02 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the invocation of the Emergencies Act is extremely serious and we have taken it extremely seriously. It followed specific steps that were taken and this will continue in the House. It followed consultation with the premiers. It gives tools, in a proportionate and responsible way, to the officers of jurisdiction to be able to end these illegal blockades.
This will be a moment that will be studied in the history books. What people will see is that the Conservatives never stopped playing personal partisan politics.
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- Feb/16/22 2:30:30 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in hindsight, and after reading the documents pertaining to the use and invocation of the Emergencies Act, this feels more and more like an exercise in covering up the failures of the government and the Prime Minister above all else.
I look forward to debating this matter in the House with all of my colleagues, because the National Assembly of Quebec unanimously opposes it.
The Government of Quebec opposes it. The Bloc Québécois opposes it. The Conservative members from Quebec oppose it.
Why will the Prime Minister not simply exclude the provinces that do not wish to enforce these orders?
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- Feb/16/22 2:31:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois leader has spent the last two weeks or so begging the government to take firm action against these illegal blockades and demanding that it do so.
We are using the Emergencies Act in a proportionate and responsible way that fully respects the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The provinces and territories that do not need to use it do not need to do so.
The leader of the Bloc Québécois is looking for something else to criticize. That is his job as the leader of an opposition party. My job is to protect Canadians.
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- Feb/16/22 2:34:18 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we are in a national crisis and we have to deal with it. It is also important to ensure that the Emergencies Act is not used in regions where it is not needed.
Will the Prime Minister promise not to apply the Emergencies Act where it is not needed?
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- Feb/16/22 2:34:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Emergencies Act was invoked in a responsible and proportionate way. It is targeted to where it is needed. It gives local law enforcement more tools in case they need them. If not, they do not have to use them. That is how this reasonable application of the Emergencies Act works.
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- Feb/16/22 2:35:22 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, on Friday, February 11, the Prime Minister said that the Ottawa police had all the resources they needed to end the impasse. On Monday, February 14, he suddenly invoked the Emergencies Act.
What happened between February 11 and 14 to justify this decision? What legal principles is this decision based on? Is this an attempt to deflect attention from his serious lack of leadership?
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- Feb/16/22 2:35:51 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the invocation of the Emergencies Act is not something to be done lightly. It is a matter of giving law enforcement the resources they need to do their job.
We have been there from day one to provide more resources to the Ottawa police and police services across the country. On Monday, we chose to invoke the Emergencies Act to give them even more tools.
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- Feb/16/22 2:36:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Premier Legault has the situation under control in Quebec, and other provinces do not want the Emergencies Act to apply to them either. All the Prime Minister is doing is adding fuel to the fire and playing partisan games.
Will the Prime Minister explain why the whole country must suffer the consequences of a specific situation that is only happening in Ottawa?
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- Feb/16/22 2:36:53 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, these illegal blockades are impacting the whole country. We have seen blockades at the border across the country, and it is an emergency that requires the Emergencies Act.
We therefore have given local police tools they may use at their discretion. That is how the Emergencies Act works. This law will always respect the terms of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms wherever it is implemented.
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- Feb/16/22 2:40:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, earlier in question period the Prime Minister said that the Emergencies Act should not be the first or second thing that should be used to resolve a crisis situation. What were the first and second things the Prime Minister did? How does the failure of those actions provide legal justification for the invocation of the Emergencies Act?
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- Feb/16/22 2:41:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the problem with that argument is that the illegal blockades at the Ambassador Bridge and the Coutts crossings occurred prior to the Emergencies Act being involved, without federal help. The Emergencies Act was not needed to settle the rail blockades of 2020, the Oka crisis, the crisis at Caledonia, September 11, the COVID‑19 pandemic or any other dispute in Canadian history.
The Prime Minister has not provided any legal justification for the use of the Emergencies Act, which is a historic unfettered power grab. He needs to calmly tell Canadians why he has failed and what is different today.
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- Feb/16/22 2:41:46 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the invocation of the Emergencies Act is not something to be done lightly. On that we absolutely agree. That is why we not only laid out the rationale and explained to Canadians why and how we are doing it, but made sure that the new powers are circumspect, are proportional and are to be used only where they are needed. We are also about to have days of debate in the House on exactly these questions so that parliamentarians, and indeed all Canadians, are able to see that this was necessary.
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- Feb/16/22 2:57:12 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, two-thirds of Canadians are united because they want an end to mandates and lockdowns, but the Prime Minister said they are “racists” and “misogynists”, a fringe who take up space, and he said they shouldn't be tolerated.
Security experts say that the Emergencies Act is “absolutely unprecedented” and excessive overreach, and half the provinces oppose it.
This PM's pattern is failure and top-down division. He has gone from name calling to nukes. Is this not really about the Prime Minister taking a sledgehammer to Canadians that he thinks are unacceptable?
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- Feb/16/22 2:59:43 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister referred to the investments made by the federal government during the pandemic.
I would remind him that these investments are being made with borrowed money, money that belongs to Quebeckers and Canadians. He is leaving a debt to Quebeckers and Canadians, and he should have incurred it without trying to impose conditions before making much larger health transfers and the mistakes of the past few days.
He showed no shame in also referring to some of the darkest moments in the recent history of his country.
Does the Prime Minister realize that we do not need him to go to the bank and that we do not need the Emergencies Act to contain the crisis in Quebec?
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- Feb/16/22 3:01:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, that summary the Prime Minister just delivered is, in a way, a summary of his own failure.
Is he aware that an act as important as the Emergencies Act requires some consensus in the House?
The official opposition is against it. The Bloc Québécois is against it. Once again, I urge the NDP to give this matter some careful thought.
Does the Prime Minister realize there are other ways to handle this and that he lacks the legitimacy to impose this act on Quebec?
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