44th Parl. 1st Sess.
June 14, 2022 10:00AM
- Jun/14/22 2:21:48 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians should be able to trust that what their government tells them is the truth. Telling the truth is especially important when setting the serious precedent of invoking the Emergencies Act. We now know the Minister of Public Safety has been misleading Canadians. No police force asked for the act. He knows it. We all know it. There was no misunderstanding. The minister has lost credibility and trust.
Will the Prime Minister do the right thing and ask the Minister of Public Safety to step away from his duties?
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- Jun/14/22 2:22:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, when illegal blockades paralyzed our economy and hurt workers and communities, police, municipal and provincial leadership told us more tools were needed to bring them to an end. The former Ottawa police chief said at the time, “We cannot do it alone” and “We are grateful for what they provided, but we need more.” Even Alberta's Minister of Municipal Affairs wrote that the local RCMP “have exhausted all local and regional options.” We listened. We determined that the Emergencies Act had the tools necessary to end this and it worked.
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- Jun/14/22 2:23:38 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, let us be very clear. Law enforcement should never be able to grant itself extraordinary powers. That is up to government to choose to do, as we did with the Emergencies Act.
Once in place, the Emergencies Act allowed police to, according to the commissioner of the RCMP, refuse entry of individuals travelling to the illegal protest with the intent of participating. It gave police “the power to arrest individuals who continue to supply fuel, food and other materials and to compel individuals to provide essential towing services”. Canadians remember how—
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- Jun/14/22 2:24:19 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the minister has abdicated and failed in his responsibility to be truthful with Canadians. He is a lawyer and a former federal prosecutor. He knows full well how to choose his words carefully. He knows full well how to be precise in his language, yet he said over and over again that law enforcement requested the Emergencies Act. Those were his words. We now know his words were not true.
How can the Prime Minister have any faith in the minister? Will he ask the minister to resign?
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- Jun/14/22 2:33:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we have a Minister of Public Safety who has repeatedly said that the serious decision to invoke the Emergencies Act was made at the request of police authorities.
All the police forces deny having requested the Emergencies Act. The minister knows this, and as a former Crown prosecutor, he knows the importance of telling the truth and nothing but the truth.
Since he cannot take back what he said and a major decision about civil liberties was made, will he now do the honourable thing and resign?
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- Jun/14/22 2:34:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we understand our responsibility when it comes to public safety. That is exactly why we invoked the Emergencies Act.
We sought advice from police forces. We used that advice to make the decision to invoke the act.
I want to know why those on the other side did not offer to cover the expenses for their own role in extending the illegal blockade. That was even worse; it was very bad. They need to offer to cover those expenses now.
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- Jun/14/22 2:34:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Emergencies Act cannot be invoked when other legislation can do the job.
The Minister of Public Safety knew that, which is why he justified his decision by stating repeatedly that the police had requested these extraordinary powers. No police officer, police force, chief of police or commissioner has confirmed the minister's assertion. There is no misunderstanding. This Liberal minister no longer has the confidence of Canadians.
When will he be honest with Canadians and resign?
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- Jun/14/22 2:35:14 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the opposition keeps rejecting the RCMP commissioner's testimony.
She was the one who said that the Emergencies Act was necessary to restore public safety. The Commissioner of the RCMP said that, yes, the government did consult police forces before invoking the Emergencies Act. The Conservatives were the ones who helped prolong the illegal blockade. It was very bad. There should be an offer to cover those expenses now.
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- Jun/14/22 2:35:47 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Public Safety continues to spread misinformation and cannot be trusted. As a former Crown prosecutor, he knows full well that his choice of words matters. He would have also known, when invoking the Emergencies Act in Canada, that everything he said would be tested against the law. However, the minister cannot find anyone to corroborate his story that law enforcement asked for the Emergencies Act to be invoked.
The only matter left unresolved is the minister's resignation, so when will he resign?
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- Jun/14/22 2:36:27 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for highlighting my professional experience as a federal prosecutor before I came into politics. I got into politics to make sure we could protect Canadians. On this side of the House, we know what is necessary when it comes to the protection of the health and safety of Canadians. That is why we invoked the Emergencies Act. We obviously consulted police. We sought their advice. We heard the commissioner say before the committee that we got that advice and we used it.
I just want to know why it is, to this point in time today, that the Conservatives refuse to apologize for their role in putting in danger the lives of the people who live in Ottawa and right across the country with their reckless statements.
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- Jun/14/22 2:37:50 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to be unequivocally clear that we invoked the Emergencies Act amidst “unprecedented...acts of civil disobedience”, in the words of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, which also said, I might add, that we invoked the Emergencies Act to fill in existing “gaps” as it related to existing authorities.
I wonder if that member would hold the same standard against the comments of the interim CPC leader, who said, in the middle of the blockades, to make this the Prime Minister's problem, to make it a political problem. That was wrong, she knows it, and she should apologize.
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- Jun/14/22 2:38:30 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what is wrong is that the Liberals froze bank accounts, discarded our democracy and ignored our Charter of Rights, all predicated on a fabrication. Invoking the Emergencies Act was an unprecedented power grab, all based on misinformation. No police force ever asked for the Emergencies Act to be invoked. The fact is that the public safety minister has been caught misleading Parliament and deceiving Canadians.
Will he do the honourable thing? Will he do the right thing? Will he resign?
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- Jun/14/22 2:39:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, if that member had read the Emergencies Act, he would have seen that all the measures we introduced were charter-compliant and were absolutely targeted toward an unprecedented act of civil disobedience, which the Conservatives continue to deny. It is they who are engaging in revisionism. It is they who engaged in reckless abandon and who, while Ottawa residents were unable to go to work, take their kids to child care or navigate the city, were encouraging blockaders to double down. They put at risk the lives of the people in this city. It is wrong and they should apologize.
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- Jun/14/22 2:39:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, here is a fact. On April 28, the public safety minister said, “It is also a fact that we invoked the Emergencies Act only after police forces agreed.” We do not believe him, Canadians do not believe him and police forces do not believe him. They do not believe him, because this never happened. No police force ever asked for the Emergencies Act to be invoked.
What has happened, and this is the fact, is that the public safety minister has been caught misleading Canadians and misleading Parliament. No more talking points and no more skirting the blame. Will he do the right thing and resign?
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- Jun/14/22 2:40:22 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, talk about disinformation. Talk about a distortion of the record. We heard from the commissioner of the RCMP, who went before committee and said that she needed to use the Emergencies Act to get the job done as quickly as possible. She spoke about the consultation between government and police forces to ensure that we use their advice to make that decision in an informed way.
It is the Conservatives who continue to bury their heads in the sand. In what was an unprecedented moment of civil disobedience, we worked with law enforcement to protect public safety. It was the Conservatives who undermined it.
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- Jun/14/22 2:45:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, on multiple occasions, the Minister of Public Safety said that police forces had requested the Emergencies Act. We now know that was not true. Even worse, the minister doubled down on his false claims on multiple occasions in the House, in committee and in the media. He even sent his deputy minister to committee to try to clean up his mess, saying he was misunderstood.
There is no misunderstanding here. He knows exactly what he did. He misled Canadians and he knows there must be consequences.
Will he do the honourable thing, the right thing, and announce his resignation today?
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- Jun/14/22 2:46:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what is critical here is getting to the truth, because the truth is critical for the parliamentary committee investigating the invocation of the act. The truth is also critical for the judicial inquiry charged with investigating the rationale for invoking the act.
What is known is that the truth has been corrupted by the Minister of Public Safety. He knows his words matter. Making false claims in trying to justify invoking the Emergencies Act matters. It matters a lot.
Will the minister do the right thing, the honourable thing, and resign?
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- Jun/14/22 2:48:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the minister talks about things being egregious and unprecedented, and what is unprecedented is the lengths the minister will go to spread his disinformation and continue to try to divide and stigmatize people the government disagrees with. It is the Liberals' pattern to try to punish Canadians who disagree with them.
On April 26, he said it was the advice of law enforcement that he followed to invoke the Emergencies Act, but we know that is not true. We heard it directly from police.
Will the minister come clean with Canadians, tell them that invoking emergency powers was actually a Liberal power grab and resign today?
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- Jun/14/22 2:48:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is astonishing to hear the member ask that question when I have repeatedly cited law enforcement community leaders who said they needed the Emergencies Act, that it helped to restore public safety and that it helped to fill in existing gaps among authorities, which were ineffective at restoring public safety.
The member should be looking right down the aisle at his interim Conservative Party leader, who undermined public safety as a result of comments by trying to make this a political problem for the Prime Minister. That was fundamentally wrong.
They are soft on crime, they are weak on law and order and they should apologize.
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- Jun/14/22 2:50:32 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is June 14 and the Conservatives have still buried their heads in the sand about what is necessary to protect the health and safety of Canadians. That is why we invoked the Emergencies Act. We sought and consulted with police forces before we took that decision, and it is the Conservatives who undermined public safety. What they should do is take a mirror and take a hard look at themselves for the way they contributed to the undermining of public safety. It was wrong and there should be an apology today.
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