44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 17, 2022 10:00AM
- Feb/17/22 2:15:50 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, for three weeks, the city of Ottawa and border crossings across the country have been under siege by blockades and occupations. People in Ottawa have been criminally harassed and assaulted, and are afraid to leave their homes. The declaration of a public order emergency is a result of a failure of all levels of government to keep the public safe.
Canadians are rightly concerned about these unprecedented measures being enacted and about the precedent it will set. I am too. It will be critical over the course of the debate over these next few days for the members of the government to clearly explain why they believe the conditions to enact this emergency order have been met. There is no time for talking points, spin or partisan attacks. Canadians deserve honest answers, accurate information and clear reasoning.
Conversely, the opposition has an important role: to hold the government to account, to ask serious questions and to refrain from overheated rhetoric.
Today marks an important moment in our history and there will be much work to do in the weeks, months and years to come. We must work to rebuild trust in our institutions, and that work must begin now.
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- Feb/17/22 2:19:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House to honour my late friend, Richard Patten, who dutifully served our community of Ottawa Centre as the member of provincial Parliament from 1987 to 1990 and from 1995 to 2007. During this time, he also served as minister of government services and minister of correctional services in Ontario.
After he retired from politics and as I succeeded him as the MPP, Richard gave me a note that read, “Remember, all of this belongs to the people.” This sentiment captures the essence of Richard's brand of public service. He was one's neighbour who was also one's elected representative.
Whether it was helping to save Ottawa's Aberdeen Pavilion, successfully fighting to keep the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario's heart surgery unit in Ottawa or championing legislation to help people with severe mental illness, Richard Patten's legacy in Ottawa Centre will be felt forever.
As Richard bravely fought cancer, he never missed a day at the legislature or stepped away from many of his community building activities. He died on December 30 of last year. I thank his wife Penny for sharing Richard with our community. Ottawa Centre will forever be a better place because of him.
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- Feb/17/22 2:22:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I think the Minister of Finance should update her talking points. The Windsor blockade is gone. It is done. The Emergencies Act was not required.
The Prime Minister has repeatedly stated that foreign groups were supporting the demonstrations here in Ottawa. Last week at the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security, the deputy director of intelligence for the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada stated there was no evidence to back up those claims or even any indication of suspicious transactions.
Why is the Prime Minister justifying his decision on the basis of facts that, according to his own experts, do not even exist?
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- Feb/17/22 2:28:49 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this is not a joke. The Sureté du Québec has come to Ottawa to save the government's skin.
The Emergencies Act was not needed to resolve the situations in Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia or to clear the Ambassador Bridge. This is not necessary. The problem is that this crisis is happening right in front of Parliament. Why is that? It is because the federal government has been in hiding for three weeks.
Does the government realize that the situation would have been less dangerous if it had taken responsibility?
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- Feb/17/22 2:36:00 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the reality is that the provinces demonstrated leadership in managing the situation. That is what the Liberals lack.
The Prime Minister has invoked the Emergencies Act to offload his responsibility for a crisis that he himself fuelled by stigmatizing the protesters who are here in Ottawa.
This Prime Minister wants to manage the border between Ukraine and Russia, but he is not even capable of managing the street in front of Parliament. That is the reality.
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- Feb/17/22 2:36:49 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, with all due respect for my colleague, there is no justification for these illegal blockades.
The debates in the House on the pandemic are very important, but the way these blockades are being held in Ottawa or at the border is unacceptable. That is why we invoked the Emergencies Act: to help police end these blockades.
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- Feb/17/22 2:39:19 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, every one of us walks through what is going on outside every day. We see the residents of Ottawa being terrorized by this illegal occupation that is occurring.
Will the members opposite stand today, every single one of them, and clearly say that it is time to go home? Will they stand, every single one of them, and stop tweeting, stop encouraging and stop saying things like “Keep the momentum going”? Instead, will they ask those folks outside to go home, to make sure that this illegal activity is not something that their party, a party that is supposed to stand for law and order, stands with?
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- Feb/17/22 2:40:00 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the National Assembly is unanimous: Quebec does not want the Emergencies Act.
Even though the Prime Minister said that his order would be geographically targeted, we see that it covers all of Canada. It applies not only to Quebec, but also to Quebec infrastructure such as hospitals, dams and vaccination centres.
There is no crisis in Quebec, as evidenced by the fact that the SQ is helping in Ontario. On what basis does the Prime Minister believe it is necessary to suspend fundamental freedoms in Quebec just because he has lost control of the siege in Ottawa?
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- Feb/17/22 2:54:21 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister’s petulance led to the firing of Ottawa’s first Black police chief during Black History Month. It is yet another example of the divisiveness fostered by the government. The Prime Minister's own finance minister stood on the Maidan during Ukraine’s revolution. Canadians want foreign interference from the Prime Minister's jet-setting resetters to stop.
When will the Prime Minister listen to the majority of freedom-loving Canadians and end the mandates?
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- Feb/17/22 2:55:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have had, and I am sure all members have had, the opportunity to talk to people who come from countries that are not free, and who know what it means to have their freedoms restricted in ways so they are not able to live, share their thoughts or protest in peaceful ways.
I am sure, and I would hope the member opposite would agree, that what we are seeing outside, such as the terrorizing of residents, the harassment at homeless shelters and the inability for Ottawa citizens to continue their lives, has gone way too far. Please stop supporting these illegal activities and join with us so our lives can begin to return to normal here.
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- Feb/17/22 2:58:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the government has given itself the extraordinary power to freeze the bank accounts of individuals and businesses whose trucks are blocking downtown Ottawa. That is part of the Emergencies Act, which has been in effect since February 14. Today is February 17.
My question is simple. How many bank accounts of the occupiers in Ottawa have been frozen in the last three days?
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- Feb/17/22 2:59:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the truth is that the government had the power to freeze the bank accounts of those participating in an illegal protest from day one. There was no need to invoke the Emergencies Act. It could already do this under the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act. The federal government has had the power to freeze funds belonging to those who have been occupying Ottawa for the past 21 days.
I will repeat my question because we in the House want the numbers.
How many bank accounts were frozen to try to resolve the situation before it turned confrontational?
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- Feb/17/22 3:38:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, on February 7, the City of Ottawa asked for help. It asked for 1,800 extra police officers.
The department sent 275 police officers, most of whom are deployed around Parliament, mainly around ministers and the Prime Minister. It appears that there are only 20 extra police officers on the street right now, out of the 1,800 who were requested.
My question is, if the request from the Ottawa police had been met, is it possible that we would be in a different situation?
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- Feb/17/22 3:38:47 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I do not want to get into hypothetical situations or backtrack. However, what I do want to point out is that the City of Ottawa and the Government of Ontario have declared a state of emergency. Both levels of government were unable to resolve the situation here, in Windsor or anywhere else.
The third and final step is to use the Emergencies Act, if it would help, to resolve the situation. This is a serious situation, and it requires serious action.
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- Feb/17/22 3:39:39 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I think the member for Parkdale—High Park was effective in talking about the impacts on people's lives from what has happened over the last few weeks. Many people, thousands of Canadians, have lost their jobs, at least temporarily. We have seen businesses closed.
In Ottawa, they have been going through hell. There is no other way to put it. As members know, there are impacts of the toxic fumes; the impacts of the extraordinarily loud industrial levels of noise, which have caused permanent hearing loss; and the assaults and disrespect that so many of the residents of Ottawa have experienced first-hand. There is no doubt there is a compelling reason. The reality is that we could have well avoided all of this, if the government had acted more promptly.
I would like to direct the member for Parkdale—High Park specifically to the issues around the proceeds of crime and terrorist financing regulations that were put into place with huge loopholes, which the NDP, for years, has called upon the government to fix. Canada is known as the snow-washing capital of the world, because of money laundering and all these problems.
Why did the government not move years ago to fix those loopholes, so this financing of what transpires in Ottawa could not have occurred in the first place?
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- Feb/17/22 3:51:46 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the hon. member spoke at length about the negative aspects of what is occurring in Ottawa. Unfortunately, the act we are debating today is not based only on the negative aspects. It has a critical threshold. He talked about what people and businesses have experienced. We need to put all that aside and focus on what can be done about this. People can be arrested and vehicles can be seized without a warrant or incidental to arrest.
Given that those tools already exist in another act and this act says it is an act of last resort that cannot be satisfied by any other legislation, how can his party support it when we can get rid of those vehicles under existing legislation and every negative impact he said would disappear?
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- Feb/17/22 3:52:53 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, central infrastructure and our Parliament buildings were put at risk. Ontario declared a state of emergency and, despite that, was not able to clear these occupiers from the streets of Ottawa. The city was not able to do it on its own. Tow truck companies have said they have received death threats, so they will not tow. That is why there is a time, a place and a need for such legislation.
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- Feb/17/22 3:53:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what is happening right now is complicated and a source of anxiety for many. I am talking not only about the blockade, but also about the Emergencies Act.
All the hot spots, except Ottawa, have been dismantled without implementing emergency measures. Why invoke them now? Ottawa is the only one left.
If someone threatens someone else, the Criminal Code applies. If someone has an unlicensed weapon, the Criminal Code applies. The Criminal Code already covers everything the government wants to accomplish with the Emergencies Act.
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- Feb/17/22 4:07:21 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, while my colleague was speaking, we got a notification about a perimeter being erected around Ottawa's downtown just a few metres from here. Apparently the police are preparing to intervene.
Things are getting more and more serious now. All of this could have been avoided. Here is my question for my colleague.
What happens next? Is there any way to avoid chaos, physical confrontation and injury? Are we headed straight for a bloodbath?
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- Feb/17/22 4:07:52 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, absolutely and unequivocally, there is an opportunity to prevent any sort of injury, property damage, loss of life or violence, and it starts by the government actually, as our leader said the other day, extending an olive branch and meeting with the occupiers. I have met with the organizers here in Ottawa, and all they wanted to do was meet with a minister, even via Zoom, to feel listened to. They do not feel listened to. They do not feel heard. They feel that they have been pushed aside by an ideology that they do not adhere to, and therefore they are second-class citizens. We still can avoid this issue if the government swallows its pride and does what should have been done right away: meet with somebody and then listen to their concerns.
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