44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 20, 2022 07:00AM
- Feb/20/22 8:31:03 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is lovely to finally have a chance to speak, having been here since 7 a.m., and I will be here until midnight.
I am trying to make up my mind on how I am going to vote. With a sincere effort to remain respectful, I must tell the member that it does not help when the crisis in Ottawa is minimized to a problem of bouncy castles. It was an occupation. It caused millions and millions of dollars of damage to this city and its residents. Honking horns all night actually qualifies, under the Geneva Convention, as torture. One is not allowed to do that to prisoners.
The people of Ottawa have been imprisoned by occupiers. They may not have known what they were doing. This is quite likely for many of them, especially the ones who seemed so surprised they were ultimately going to get arrested. Non-violent civil disobedience has a long tradition, which I will not go through, that includes knowing one is going to be arrested because one is breaking the law and has done this on principle.
Could we not at least agree what occurred here in Ottawa was, from the moment those large 18-wheelers started occupying whole streets so the people of Ottawa could not go about their day-to-day lives, a crisis? It was badly handled and I will not disagree with that. If we look at the place where we were last week, how would we have solved that without the powers in the Emergencies Act, particularly to compel tow truck drivers?
One of his colleagues on those benches directed me to section 129 of the Criminal Code, which I know is obstruction of a police officer, but it does not fit the circumstance.
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- Feb/20/22 9:16:05 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I lament that we are here on a Sunday morning when, on a normal Sunday at 9:15 a.m., I would be at church. Right now, this is the opposite of any place that I have ever worshipped. The air is toxic.
Mr. Speaker, it is certainly for you to rule, but I wanted you to know that all of us in this corner heard the member for St. Albert—Edmonton say distinctly and clearly, “You are a despicable human being.”
I think he would want, reflecting on where he usually is on a Sunday morning, to decide, in his own heart, to withdraw those remarks as completely inappropriate.
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- Feb/20/22 1:56:50 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I have just a short reminder that it is quite offensive to refer to indigenous people in this country and whose territory we live on as “our” indigenous people.
The member referenced a number of emergencies where the Emergencies Act was not invoked. I was here in Parliament on October 14, 2014. There was a horrific event. It was a time when we actually closed Parliament for the afternoon, but not because there was an ongoing threat but because people were traumatized and needed to go home. The reality of that was there was no ongoing threat. It was over that day. It would be the same with 9/11. There was no attack on Canadian soil. There was no thought of an attack on Canadian soil. There was no threat to the security of Canada. A number of members of his caucus have made this point.
Does he not agree that it would be better not to put red herrings into this debate so we can talk about what is really happening now?
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- Feb/20/22 2:39:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I wonder if my hon. colleague from Vancouver East would agree that while the Emergencies Act might be required here, and I have still not decided how I am going to vote, it would be far better if there were precision around such things as how banking regulations will be used and what kind of financial support is required before a government would intervene and freeze a bank account. That is still a wide-open question. I am sure there is an answer somewhere, but we have not had it.
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- Feb/20/22 4:53:11 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for Fredericton for her thoughts and say on a personal level how deeply distressing it is to imagine that people in her own community are making her feel physically threatened based on how she may vote on the matter here in the House of Commons.
It seems to me that the convoy exposes white supremacists and racism in a well-organized, alt-right network that is fuelled by social media, Facebook and Russian sites, not just here, but also elsewhere. The problem is that the Emergencies Act can only last 30 days. We are uncovering a cesspool that will take years to clean up. How does the hon. member think we can cut short the Emergencies Act, which I think should be done very soon if we keep and, and not let go of what we are discovering?
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- Feb/20/22 5:24:31 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, we have seen something called a “war room” in the Alberta government and a very expensive report that looked into all of the foundation money that ever went into Alberta. It did not find any evidence of anything. It was all reported. It was never hidden. As for Leadnow, as far as I know, all of its donors are Canadian. We have already put the rumours to bed.
If the member wants to find foreign-funded, large influence on energy policy in Alberta, he need look no further than the board of directors of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, where 80% of them are controlled by foreign interests.
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- Feb/20/22 7:46:48 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is truly a privilege and an honour to speak with the member for Yukon. With his background, which he referenced in his speech, I am tempted to ask him questions about where he thinks we are now in the pandemic, but I want to stick to the Emergencies Act.
The member clearly is someone who looks for evidence-based solutions. Looking at the evidence, does he truly believe there was no other way to deal with the so-called “freedom convoy” other than access to the Emergencies Act?
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