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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 89

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
June 15, 2022 02:00PM
  • Jun/15/22 2:25:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, for three weeks, our communities here in Ottawa were facing illegal blockades. The work on Parliament was disrupted. Supply lines were challenged. Border crossings were interrupted. People were losing their jobs and factories were closing. Conservative politicians stood with them, encouraging these illegal blockades. We worked with police to give them more tools, and when they asked for even more tools, we delivered the Emergencies Act, which allowed things to get back under control. There are open and transparent inquiries into that, and we are working with them on that.
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  • Jun/15/22 2:26:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the inquiry and the committee's investigative work are finding that there is less and less evidence for the government to have used the Emergencies Act, and the evidence points to the only reason it was used was to cover up the problems the Prime Minister was finding himself in. Unfortunately, because the minister has been misleading, the work of the committee is being disrupted and corrupted. It is very interesting to see that, when strong women stand up and speak truth to the Prime Minister, he has no problem firing them. However, when a minister of the Crown misleads Canadians, that is completely fine and he overlooks it. Why does the Prime Minister get rid of people who have integrity and speak the truth, but defend—
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  • Jun/15/22 2:26:57 p.m.
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The hon. Prime Minister.
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  • Jun/15/22 2:27:00 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, wow. We can see very clearly how desperately the Conservatives are trying to change the channel from the important work being done in the follow-up to the Emergencies Act to highlight the challenges that these illegal blockaders posed to our economy, to our municipalities and to Canadians. Police asked us for more tools because they said they could not deal with the situation with the existing tools. We delivered the Emergencies Act in a responsible, proportional way, which ended the crisis. At the same time, Conservative politicians kept supporting these blockades—
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  • Jun/15/22 2:27:39 p.m.
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The hon. Leader of the Opposition.
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  • Jun/15/22 2:27:41 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this is not the first time the Prime Minister has kept a disgraced minister in his cabinet. He defended the former defence minister, who covered up sexual harassment in the military. The Prime Minister calls Canadians he disagrees with names. He divides and stigmatizes for political gain, and he demotes female MPs who stand up to him. Is it not true that the only reason he will not fire the Minister of Public Safety is because that minister is doing and saying exactly what the Prime Minister wants him to?
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  • Jun/15/22 2:28:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, once again, we see the lengths to which the Conservatives will go to try to distract and deflect from the fact that they stood on the wrong side of this issue. They stood against hard-working Canadians who were disrupted in their daily lives: people who lost their jobs. Factories and supply chains were interrupted, all because of illegal blockades. The Conservatives continue to stand with those at the illegal blockades while we worked hard to make sure the police had the tools necessary to put an end to them.
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  • Jun/15/22 2:28:57 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, at the beginning of the year, the Prime Minister invoked the Emergencies Act during the civil, yet obviously illegal, occupation of Parliament Hill. The Minister of Public Safety said he did that at the request of police forces, but there was no such request from law enforcement, the RCMP, the Ontario Provincial Police, or the Ottawa police. Does the minister acknowledge that for the second time in two days, his government has misled Quebeckers and Canadians?
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  • Jun/15/22 2:29:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to be very clear with Canadians that police do not grant themselves extraordinary powers. It is the government that must do it. Parliament subsequently debated the bill and passed it. As RCMP Commissioner Lucki stated, the Emergencies Act gave the police the powers they needed to get the job done. Municipalities, provincial leaders and police told us that they needed more tools to dismantle these blockades. That is exactly what we did.
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  • Jun/15/22 2:30:11 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, yesterday the joint committee that is required under the act received the Deputy Prime Minister and the former public safety minister, who is now the Minister of Emergency Preparedness. They testified that it was a purely political decision and was not made at the request of police. Who is not telling the truth? Which minister is not telling the truth? What is the Prime Minister saying?
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  • Jun/15/22 2:30:41 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, our government and our ministers have always been extremely clear that police do not grant themselves new powers. It is up to politicians and the government to make that decision. That is exactly what we did. When law enforcement and provincial and municipal authorities asked us for more tools, we delivered them. Then we saw that they needed even more. We realized that the only way to give them what they needed was to invoke the Emergencies Act—
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  • Jun/15/22 2:31:13 p.m.
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I am going to interrupt the right hon. Prime Minister. We have a problem with the screen in the House and there are members who want to see everything the Prime Minister is saying in person. We will make sure the screen is working and then the Prime Minister can start his answer again from the beginning. The right hon. Prime Minister.
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  • Jun/15/22 2:31:52 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the government and all our ministers have always been very clear that police do not grant themselves new powers. It is up to politicians and the government to make that decision. When law enforcement and provincial authorities asked us for more tools, we invoked the Emergencies Act in a reasonable and proportional way. That is exactly what people expected of us, and that is how we were finally able to resolve the situation.
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  • Jun/15/22 2:32:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, one in four Canadians will lose their home if interest rates continue to rise. One in four Canadians is going hungry because they cannot afford their groceries. The Minister of Finance is going to give a speech tomorrow that was supposed to respond to their needs. Instead, it is going to be a reannouncement of previous measures, none of which will help people right now. People need immediate support so they can make ends meet. Why does the current Prime Minister continue to ignore the plight of people and refuse to deliver financial support directly to families who need it most?
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  • Jun/15/22 2:33:09 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I recommend that my hon. colleague, and indeed all colleagues in the House, take advantage of the opportunities coming up to speak with Canadians who have seen their child care expenses cut in half in different parts of this country as more parts of this country, like Ontario and others, do that in the coming weeks and months. That is because of federal investments made over the past many months that are landing right now in people's bank accounts and pocket books. At the same time, in the coming weeks, we will be increasing the Canada child benefit alongside the cost of living. Those are concrete helps delivered now—
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  • Jun/15/22 2:33:48 p.m.
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The hon. member for Burnaby South.
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  • Jun/15/22 2:33:50 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, that would not happen until next year, and people need help today. People need help right now to pay the bills, to make ends meet, to put food on the table. Will the Prime Minister support our proposal to increase the GST rebate and the Canada child benefit so we can get help now to the families who need it?
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  • Jun/15/22 2:34:24 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Canada child benefit will be increasing in the coming weeks because we indexed it to the cost of living, and this increase will provide direct, immediate assistance to families. Families across the country are benefiting from reduced fees for early childhood centres and day cares because we have invested money with the provinces in recent months to lower these costs. People in Ontario and in other provinces will see these changes in the weeks and months to come. We are here to support families, and we will continue to be there for them with immediate help.
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  • Jun/15/22 2:35:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, now the truth is starting to come out. Today, the Prime Minister said that “police do not grant themselves new powers”. He was admitting that the police did not ask for the Emergencies Act. That is the exact opposite of what the Minister of Public Safety has repeatedly said. Ministerial responsibility means nothing to this Liberal government anymore. Is the Prime Minister also going to mislead the House and repeat what the Minister of Public Safety said, or will he ask him to resign?
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  • Jun/15/22 2:35:45 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, during this crisis, law enforcement and provincial and municipal authorities continually asked us for more tools to deal with these illegal blockades and demonstrations, and that is exactly what we delivered. That includes invoking the Emergencies Act in a responsible and limited way to deal with these blockades. That is exactly what happened, while Conservative politicians stood with the protesters and blockaders.
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