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Mr. Rick Perkins (South Shore—St. Margarets, CPC)

Feb/19/22 11:50:08 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to compliment the member on his excellent speech in this difficult time. I would like to ask him a question about the order in council that the government passed that led to the invocation of the act that we're debating today. One of the clauses in the act gives the government the power to impose “other temporary measures authorized under section 19 of the Emergencies Act that are not yet known”. It is a pretty open-ended power that the government is asking for. We know that the Prime Minister has limited respect for the House. He disregarded the request for the production of documents with regard to the Winnipeg lab. He tried to interfere in the legal system with the SNC-Lavalin scandal. Why should we trust him? He has not called a meeting of the privy councillors sworn in in this House to brief them on any security issues. Why should we trust that this power should be granted to the government, which is—

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes)

Feb/19/22 11:51:16 a.m.
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The hon. member for Calgary Forest Lawn.

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Mr. Jasraj Singh Hallan

Feb/19/22 11:51:19 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, trust has been completely broken by the Prime Minister, because he has not only repeatedly violated ethics but has also gone back on his word multiple times. Trust is the issue here. How can any Canadian continue to trust the Prime Minister? In his last question, my hon. colleague from the Bloc pointed out that a recent poll shows that a small percentage of Canadians trust the Prime Minister now. This is the same prime minister who said that he would not call a pandemic election. He went against his word then. He said that he would uphold rights and freedoms in this country. We can clearly see that this is the last thing the Prime Minister is doing. Trust has been broken. The Prime Minister needs to stand up and apologize to Canadians and prove that he is serious—

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes)

Feb/19/22 11:52:17 a.m.
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I have to ask for other questions. The hon. deputy House leader.

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Mrs. Sherry Romanado (Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, Lib.)

Feb/19/22 11:52:23 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague opposite for his speech. We are hearing today that some members feel it is not necessary to invoke the Emergencies Act. I want to read a quote directly from Steve Bell, the interim chief of the Ottawa Police Service. He said: All of those legislative pieces of legislation and supports we’ve got from different levels of government have directly and actively contributed to our ability to ultimately say we are in a position to move forward and look to end this demonstration. A 31-year veteran of the police force, he has said clearly that this legislation has helped to stop what is happening outside. Can the member comment?

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Mr. Jasraj Singh Hallan

Feb/19/22 11:53:15 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, the member said “directly and actively”. The Prime Minister directly and actively forced this to happen in Ottawa, because he refused to listen to Canadians and he refused to sit down and listen to views that opposed his own. We did not need to get to this point. All of this happened because Canadians were asking for a clear direction and a plan to get out of these COVID measures, but the Prime Minister sat on his hands, as he always does, for three weeks and made no plans to even listen to people. That is why we are where are. This is all the Prime Minister's doing. We did not need to get here, so the Prime Minister needs to apologize for that. I wish the member would stand up and tell him the same.

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Ms. Heather McPherson (Edmonton Strathcona, NDP)

Feb/19/22 11:54:08 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from Calgary Forest Lawn for his interventions today. I have worked very closely with him on getting supports for the people of Afghanistan. He talked about this as if it is a trucker protest in Ottawa. It is an occupation in Ottawa, but as an Albertan, surely he recognizes that an armed militia was discovered in Alberta that threatened the RCMP and displayed images of white supremacy and racism. It is not just in Ottawa; it is a national issue. If that is not a reason for the Emergencies Act, what is?

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Mr. Jasraj Singh Hallan

Feb/19/22 11:54:47 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, what I will say is that all of the borders were already cleared. The provincial government stepped up and the local police stepped up. The federal government did not, and they had already cleared those borders. What the federal government did is a complete overreach. I hope that my hon. colleague will find it in herself to do what the hon. Tommy Douglas did at that time and not support this complete overreach by the Liberal government.

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Mr. Bob Zimmer (Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, CPC)

Feb/19/22 11:55:24 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I just wanted to say, first of all, I appreciate all Canadians' prayers right now. I have been getting messages that they are praying for us in this place to make good decisions. I covet them and we are thankful for them, especially at this very trying time for our country. Today, we are debating the Prime Minister's Emergencies Act. We have already heard about the thresholds and whether they have been met. The Liberals will argue that they have been. However, across the board, across the country, we are hearing that they have not. Clearly, if I read them out to us today, we would see that they have not been met. This statement is from the Canadian Civil Liberties Association: The current emergency orders place significant limits on peaceful assembly across the entire country. They require financial institutions to turn over personal financial information to CSIS and the RCMP, and to freeze the bank accounts and cut off financial services provided to anyone who has attended, or who has provided assistance to those participating in, a prohibited assembly—all without judicial oversight. It is in light of all these violations of civil liberties that we will be taking the government to court.... This becomes a great concern for that mother or grandmother who donated $20 for the cause of freedom to the truckers convoy. What started off as a simple protest for truckers' mandates has developed into something much larger, into a defence of freedom in Canada. Is the grandmother that donated $20 on some Liberal list now and cannot travel after this? We do not know. We do not know how far and how wide this act will go or what the Prime Minister is trying to do. I figure it is important that, while we often refer to our freedoms, I will read them out. Section 2 of our fundamental freedoms reads: Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms: (a) freedom of conscience and religion; (b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication; (c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and (d) freedom of association. Section 6 reads, “Every citizen of Canada has the right to enter, remain and leave Canada.” Section 7 reads, “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and the security of the person and the right not to be deprived thereof except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice.” Section 8 reads, “Everyone has the right to be secure against unreasonable search or seizure.” Section 9 reads, “Everyone has the right to not be arbitrarily detained or imprisoned.” The Emergencies Act really allows the Prime Minister to push those aside and do whatever he wants. Some ask me how we arrived here. That is the question I would ask all Canadians. How did we get here? This is the Prime Minister that has been leading up to this. This will be his crescendo. Does everybody remember the Prime Minister's values test that was given to summer student jobs a number of years ago in 2017? In December of that year, the government introduced an attestation that if someone did not adhere to the Prime Minister's beliefs or his values, the funding was not going to come to them. I remember many times fighting this in my MP office, fighting so that all members of our community would have access to those summer student jobs. Over 1,500 applications were denied because they did not meet this values test. On March 19, 2018, we tabled a motion. Former Liberal MP Scott Simms voted against the government. He was put on the back bench because of that. This is the Prime Minister four years ago. We have seen this developing for many years now. I think what Canadians are becoming, sadly, aware of is that this is really who the Prime Minister is. I wrote a column a couple weeks ago and this is the quote from the actual Prime Minister's mouth. This is a man who is supposed to unite the country, not divide it. He said that they are extremists who don't believe in science, that they're often misogynists and also racist. He said that it is a small group that muscles in, and that we have to make a choice in terms of leaders, in terms of the country, “Do we tolerate these people?” This quote is not from some far left-wing or far right-wing individual. This is from the Prime Minister's own mouth. This is the person invoking the same act we are debating today and it is shameful. Some would ask why. It would seem to make more sense to unite the country than divide it. Here is an article from Lorrie Goldstein, who writes, “Trudeau can't unite us because his strategy is to divide us.” This is what it is all about—

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès)

Feb/19/22 12:00:15 p.m.
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The hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons is rising on a point of order. I imagine it is about the use of names.

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Mr. Kevin Lamoureux

Feb/19/22 12:00:18 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is not just the first time. It is the second time the member has made reference to it and he knows better, I am sure, than to cite specific names in the House.

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès)

Feb/19/22 12:00:29 p.m.
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I will remind the hon. member that we do not use members' names. We use their titles or constituencies.

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Mr. Bob Zimmer

Feb/19/22 12:00:35 p.m.
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I will try not to do it again, Madam Speaker. I will go back to the article entitled “Goldstein: [The Prime Minister] can't unite us because his strategy is to divide us”, which states, “This because [the Liberals] divided Canadians up into little slices of political support and opposition across the country, in order to extract the maximum number of seats from the minimum number of votes cast.” This is by design. The Prime Minister ran on sunny ways. Conservatives lost that election and hoped that he would at least be a positive Prime Minister, but what we have seen over the last four years is a Prime Minister bent on, shamefully, dividing the country. I will continue to quote: From riding into office on the promise of “sunny ways,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s embrace of identity politics has led to an incredible failure of governance, resulting in him becoming just the fourth prime minister to invoke the Emergencies Act (or its predecessor) and notably the first to do so outside an actual war or insurrection. It is a shocking fall, with a witches brew of wedge politics, incompetence and identity politics to blame. It further states: Then, imperceptibly at first, the great scourge of our political age began to make appearances within the Trudeau Liberals: identity politics. With—

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès)

Feb/19/22 12:02:02 p.m.
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I remind the hon. member not to say members' names, please.

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Mr. Bob Zimmer

Feb/19/22 12:02:08 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I was reading the quote. I apologize once more. With astonishing speed, opponents of government action could quickly be labelled racist, misogynist, homophobic or any other of a litany of insults intended to personally scar opponents and discredit them as the worst society has to offer, without addressing the substance of their argument. We are debating the Emergencies Act today and it has come to this culmination by design of the Prime Minister. This is what he wants to happen. This is from the sunny ways Prime Minister whom all who voted for hoped would become the great unifier of our country. Are a bunch of truckers or peaceful, freedom-loving Canadians the problem today? They are not. The Prime Minister and his Emergencies Act is, and the act needs to be defeated. I especially call on the NDP. We know the Bloc have shown opposition to it and Conservatives are in opposition to it. My hope is that Liberal members across the way will oppose it as well. There needs to be 20 more NDP members who vote against this for it to fail. For the sake of our democracy in this country, it needs to, and I call on New Democrats today to do that. We hear Canadians across the country and appreciate their prayers, emails and communications of concern. We take our responsibilities in this place very seriously and that is why we are here this weekend to debate this act that threatens our very institution.

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Ms. Leah Taylor Roy (Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, Lib.)

Feb/19/22 12:04:01 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the member for quoting the Prime Minister when he made the comments about the types of people he was talking about. He was referring to a small group. I would ask the member why it is that, since the beginning of this debate, you have consistently, on the other side of the House—

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès)

Feb/19/22 12:04:31 p.m.
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I would remind the hon. member to direct her question through the Chair, please.

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Ms. Leah Taylor Roy

Feb/19/22 12:04:36 p.m.
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I apologize, Madam Speaker. I would ask the member opposite to please explain, if the quote he read says that the Prime Minister was referring to a small group within the organization, why the party opposite continuously says the Prime Minister was referring to all the protesters and truckers, whom we all support.

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Mr. Bob Zimmer

Feb/19/22 12:05:02 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am shocked by what the member asked me. She is basically justifying the Prime Minister's comments. The reference was to people who had vaccine hesitancy, as we call it. She is saying that it is okay that the Prime Minister called them extremists who don’t believe in science, often misogynists, also often racists, with a small group that muscles in, and that he said, “We have to make a choice as a leader, as a country: Do we tolerate these people?” My goodness, I am surprised the member would defend that statement in the House. Maybe she could get a copy of the Constitution and study our fundamental freedoms to understand what our freedoms are. They are supposed to be for every Canadian in our country, not just the ones who do what the Prime Minister chooses to do.

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Ms. Leah Taylor Roy

Feb/19/22 12:05:57 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I have a point of order. The member opposite is addressing me directly. He is also calling into question whether I have any knowledge of our Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

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