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Mr. Larry Brock (Brantford—Brant, CPC)

Feb/20/22 7:02:19 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after practising law for 30 years and being a Crown attorney for the last 18 of them, I decided to dedicate myself to serving the people of the great riding of Brantford—Brant and across Canada. It is a privilege to rise in the House early today, although I am doing this with a heavy heart. For the first time in our history, the Prime Minister, whose current support is as low as never before, decided to invoke the extreme power to handle the local Ottawa crisis that he escalated by his poor judgment, ineffective leadership, divisive rhetoric and non-science-based decisions. I want to make this point abundantly clear: I will be voting to revoke the invocation of the Emergencies Act. The constitutionally protected rights of speech and assembly are a cornerstone of our democracy. The right of Canadians' voices to be heard to speak both in support of or in dissent of any policies proclaimed by the Canadian government is sacrosanct. The right to protest peacefully is essential to a democracy. Obviously, the prolonged blockades in Ottawa and at border crossings were against the law, but the invocation to implement the Emergencies Act was completely unnecessary and, most important, did not meet the extremely high threshold as set out in the act. Our nation has seen countless numbers of disturbances, protests and blockades that all have been resolved without the imposition of this draconian piece of legislation. Critical infrastructure blockades of railways, pipelines, highways and border crossings have been resolved through dialogue, negotiation and effective police intervention. Without the suspension of our civil liberties, we witnessed the events and aftermath of 9/11 and the intentional storming of Centre Block, which resulted in gunfire. The primary focus of my speech is that this crisis is entirely the result of a vacuum of leadership for this Prime Minister. The leadership traits of effective political leaders include vision, strategic and critical thinking, authenticity, self-awareness, open-mindedness, creativity, flexibility, responsibility and dependability, patience, tenacity and the pursuit of continuous improvement. Had our Prime Minister exhibited a fraction of these qualities, we would all be enjoying the weekend with our families. Let us take some time to examine the failed leadership of our Prime Minister. At the beginning of the pandemic, he unnecessarily delayed the acquisition of vaccines. He signed a secret deal with China to make vaccines, which the Chinese reneged on. He tried to implement unrestricted spending powers to his cabinet without parliamentary oversight. He has the dishonour of wearing the badge of multiple ethical violations, the most in our history, including the luxury family holiday freebie with the Aga Khan and the aggregation of the rule of law to mitigate charges against SNC-Lavalin for years of illegal and corrupt practices. He also intervened in the funding distribution for his friends at the WE organization. This is the Prime Minister who proposes to be a feminist. Notwithstanding, he fired two strong women from his cabinet, including the first indigenous justice minister, for having the courage to speak truth to power and call out his bullying, unethical and relentless pressure to interfere in a criminal prosecution. This is the Prime Minister who prorogued Parliament to protected his political interest. Every time, his justification is different, but the goal is the same: to protect his own political career. This is the Prime Minister who deliberately wore blackface, as an adult, so many times that he cannot remember; a Prime Minister who travelled around the globe and gave away millions in foreign aid in the pursuit of a useless temporary seat on the UN Security Council; a Prime Minister and his ministers who swept under the table several sexual misconduct allegations in the Armed Forces. This Prime Minister's response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been a moving target, cleverly designed to show empathy and support when it suits his political narrative. In May 2021, he made the definitive statement that he opposed mandatory vaccination laws. He stated, “We're not a country that makes vaccination mandatory”. He also, at that time, opposed vaccine passports, saying that they would be divisive. This really begs the question: What happened to that Canadian Prime Minister? He studied the polls, which showed growing public anger aimed at the unvaccinated and more calls for harsher measures. We can never accuse this Prime Minister of not taking advantage of a good crisis, so what did he do? He called a completely unnecessary federal election in the middle of a pandemic, at a cost of $610 million. The Prime Minister's hubris and vanity saw a path to forming a majority government, never mind that he could have spent that money on clean water initiatives, reconciliation projects, mental health initiatives or simply investing in pandemic recovery. The first few weeks of the election were not kind to the Prime Minister. Unable to clearly articulate a reason for calling the election and slipping badly in the polls, he pivoted to save his political career. He saw an opportunity to create a political wedge and divide Canadians against each other, the vaccinated versus the unvaccinated. At the start of the pandemic, on March 31, 2020, he tweeted, “While many of us are working from home, there are others who aren’t able to do that - like the truck drivers who are working day and night to make sure our shelves are stocked. So when you can, please #ThankATrucker for everything they’re doing and help them however you can.” Truckers who were once hailed by the Prime Minister as national heroes are now vilified. He refers to them as a small fringe minority. During the election he used words like “these people”, “anti-vaxxers”, “women haters”, “misogynist”, “racist”, “science deniers” and asked how we could tolerate these people. Now during the protest he described the truckers and their supporters as domestic terrorists. This is language shared by many in the Liberal government. I was completely stunned when I heard the member for Scarborough—Rouge Park, a lawyer and the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice, refer to the people outside this building as terrorists and miscreants. The Prime Minister's unquestionable contempt for these Canadians is pathetic. It is simply conduct unbecoming of a Canadian politician, let alone a prime minister. When the trucks arrived, they had a legal right to park on the street in front of Parliament. They were directed there by the mayor of Ottawa. They were legally protesting for at least two days and two nights in extreme weather conditions. What did we hear from the Prime Minister or any Liberal ministers? We heard crickets. The Prime Minister made no effort to de-escalate the situation, neither before his absence or after. We Conservatives were listening to people. We were not afraid of truckers and their supporters. We were walking through the protest to get from one building to another. We read their posters and talked to them. That is why called on the Liberal government to sit at the round table to find solutions that would work for all and for good. The government ignored our initiative. The Conservatives also tabled a motion asking the government to release a plan to end all federal mandates and restrictions. We asked for a plan after two years of the pandemic, but the Liberal-NDP coalition voted against it. The government does not have a plan and does not plan on having one. Imposing powers of the Emergencies Act sets a dangerous precedent. It does not lead us to any constructive long-term solutions, plus it was unnecessary, expansive and will further divide the country. I listened to what the Liberals had to say in justifying their decision to invoke the act. The Prime Minister stated that he had to invoke it because the situation could not be dealt with under any other law in Canada. That is where he is deliberately misleading Canadians. The act is very clear it should only be used in a circumstance that seriously endangers the lives, health or safety of Canadians—

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Mr. Mark Gerretsen

Feb/20/22 7:10:46 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The member has said that the Prime Minister is deliberately misleading Canadians, and he should know he cannot do indirectly what he cannot do directly. It is pretty clear what he is trying to do indirectly in this case. I would ask him to retract those comments, as it would be unparliamentary to leave them on the record.

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The Deputy Speaker

Feb/20/22 7:11:07 a.m.
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The member is correct, so I would ask the member for Brantford—Brant to adjust that sentence, maybe retract it and try a different verbiage.

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Mr. Larry Brock

Feb/20/22 7:11:20 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is using mixed language. The act is very clear it should only be used in circumstances that seriously endangers the lives, health or safety of Canadians—

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Mr. Mark Gerretsen

Feb/20/22 7:11:32 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I rise again on the same point of order. It is important that the member actually say for the record that he retracts the comments. He did not do that. He just attempted to continue to say it in a different way. He needs to say, “I retract the comments”.

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The Deputy Speaker

Feb/20/22 7:11:46 a.m.
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The point of order was pretty clear that he could retract and get back into it. The hon. member for Brantford—Brant has the floor.

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Mr. Larry Brock

Feb/20/22 7:11:55 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is obvious I offended the delicate ears of my friend opposite. I retract the statement.

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Mr. Mark Gerretsen

Feb/20/22 7:12:03 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I again have a point of order. The member has not taken the Deputy Speaker's advice on two occasions now. Rather than answer the question, he is now attempting to engage in debate. The Deputy Speaker has an obligation to enforce the rules of this House, and I would encourage him to do so.

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Mr. John Brassard

Feb/20/22 7:12:37 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I rise on the same point of order. The hon. member did retract it. He said it clearly. I think if you check with the Table, you will find that.

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The Deputy Speaker

Feb/20/22 7:12:46 a.m.
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I did hear him retract it. I think the other member was standing at the same time. I will ask the member to clarify, and then we will continue.

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Mr. Larry Brock

Feb/20/22 7:13:03 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, to make it abundantly clear, for the second time, I retract that statement. Blockades are already in violation of the Criminal Code, provincial highway acts and any number of municipal bylaws and court injunctions. This was and still remains the purview of the police. They had all the tools necessary. The legal authority for the government to invoke this act is currently being challenged by both the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and the Canadian Constitution Foundation. They argue that the high legal threshold has not been met. They acknowledge that, in the language used by the government, they see no civil liberty violation because the act is still subject to the charter. The talking points the Liberals extensively use argue that just because a process is supposed to obey the charter, it means that it will. By that logic, the mere fact that the charter exists should mean there will never be charter violations. This is simply not true. The Prime Minister now has carte blanche to do what he wants to, not only to the people who participated in the blockades and the convoy, but also to anyone merely suspected of being involved in sharing supplies. This is a dangerous precedent. The Prime Minister is normalizing the use of emergency powers. The most disturbing aspect of the act is the broad sweeping banking measures. Banks now have the authority to freeze bank accounts without court order. The Prime Minister now has the broad discretion to seriously mess with the finances of anyone ever suspected of being involved in the protests anywhere in Canada. Let me conclude with the following: There was no emergency that endangered the lives of Canadians or threatened the sovereignty of Canada. This was political overreach. This was a political emergency, not a national one. The Prime Minister's unjustified invocation of the act is deeply problematic and will have lasting consequences. The public's trust in our democratic and financial institutions has been seriously diminished. Invoking the act proves that the Prime Minister's absolute, unreserved incompetence made such an extreme measure necessary.

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Mr. Chandra Arya (Nepean, Lib.)

Feb/20/22 7:15:12 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is unbelievable that the member opposite is defending the foreign-funded groups illegally occupying our city, illegally blocking our critical economic infrastructure and openly floating the rule of law. These foreign-funded groups have made a mockery of our law and have held our men and women in uniform in contempt. Does the member not agree with the interim Ottawa police chief, who said that this Emergencies Act provided the police with the resources they needed to handle the situation? Senator—

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The Deputy Speaker

Feb/20/22 7:16:04 a.m.
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The hon. member for Brantford—Brant.

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Mr. Larry Brock

Feb/20/22 7:16:07 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, perhaps I was not entirely clear with the member. We are a party of law and order. Some hon. members: Oh, oh! Mr. Larry Brock: Mr. Speaker, listen to the laughter. There is such disrespect for this particular member. I am trying to answer a question, and I have to be bothered by heckling and laughter. It speaks volumes to their character. In any event, I have made it abundantly clear that we disagreed with some of the tactics used by the organizers of this protest. As a lawyer, I follow and hold sacrosanct our charter rights of protest and assembly. This was a failed leadership exercise by the Prime Minister and, by extension, the former chief of Ottawa Police Service, who has now resigned. He had all the tools necessary under the Criminal Code, provincial statutes, municipal bylaws and court injunctions. Failed—

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The Deputy Speaker

Feb/20/22 7:17:05 a.m.
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We will continue with questions and comments. The hon. member for Repentigny.

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Ms. Monique Pauzé (Repentigny, BQ)

Feb/20/22 7:17:14 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Brantford—Brant for his speech. He just answered my question when he said that there was no legal vacuum. Everything was in place. I will ask the following question instead. What lessons can be learned from what happened over the past month?

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Mr. Larry Brock

Feb/20/22 7:17:44 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, there are many lessons to be learned and I hope we decide that a national inquiry should be undertaken forthwith to look at the obvious levels of failed leadership and the decisions that were made. Most importantly, it comes down to looking at the litany of emergencies, the protests, the demonstrations, the blockades, the world events that have impacted Canada and how effectively police agencies and politicians across this great nation have effectively dealt with that without imposing this draconian piece of legislation that has not been used—

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The Deputy Speaker

Feb/20/22 7:18:31 a.m.
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Questions and comments, the hon. member for Windsor West.

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Windsor
West

Mr. Brian Masse (Windsor West, NDP)

Feb/20/22 7:18:40 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, if I could put my monitor half a block behind me and zoom it, I could show the member the barricades that are still up in the Windsor area because the Ambassador Bridge blockade has now moved to city streets. Mohammed could not get to school last week and Joyce, a child, could not get to her doctor's appointment because of the blockade. The blockades have moved off Huron Church Road and are now blocking intersections. People cannot go to work and businesses are closed. What does the member say to Mohammed and Joyce who have missed school and missed a doctor's appointment? Who is responsible for that, because what has happened is not normal? The blockades are displaced and are now in one of the poorest neighbourhoods in Canada. What does he have to say to Mohammed and Joyce about their lives?

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Mr. Larry Brock

Feb/20/22 7:19:33 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would tell my hon. colleague to speak to the Prime Minister. He is the who created this atmosphere of hostility, division and anger. We talk about hon. members in this House being conciliatory and needing to have open dialogue and discussion. There is none of that. None of that happens with the Prime Minister and his cabinet. That is who the member needs to talk to.

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