44th Parl. 1st Sess.
October 21, 2022 10:00AM
Madam Speaker, I am very pleased to speak on this important topic. I thank my colleague for introducing a motion on such a challenging but crucial issue as the housing crisis.
On Friday afternoons, we are all like school kids waiting for the bell to ring. I have had this Friday afternoon speaking slot a few times, and there is always that point where everyone is looking at their watch and feeling a bit droopy. That is understandable.
I talked about the housing crisis last time too, but let us talk about it again. I am glad this motion is up for discussion today so we can talk about it. As my colleague who just spoke said, the housing crisis in Quebec and the rest of Canada is dire and of crucial importance.
I had the opportunity to talk about it two weeks ago: Scotia Bank says that we are short 3.5 million housing units in Canada to deal with the current crisis. It is a huge task. I was talking with an economist at CMHC who said that if nothing is done in the next 10 years and we allow the market to have its way, then there will be 500,000 housing units built in Quebec. There will be condos, bungalows, triplexes and various types of housing. It will not necessarily be just housing for the most vulnerable. If developers are not forced to build affordable housing for the most vulnerable, it will not happen. If we allow the market to have its way, as I was saying, 500,000 housing units will be built. According to that CMHC economist, an additional 600,000 affordable housing units need to be built to deal with the current affordability and accessibility problems. It is a huge task, a massive undertaking. The government needs to face the facts.
My colleague has good intentions, but she needs to talk to her department and to those people. Her government boasts about spending $72 billion under the national housing strategy, but only 35,000 housing units have been built in five years. They are only halfway there. The strategy, which was launched in 2017, was a 10-year plan. They have built 35,000 housing units and renovated 60,000 others. That is nowhere near the goal. They are a long way off from dealing with the major housing issue in this country.
I put a question earlier to my Liberal colleague, the member who moved the motion. Under Bill C‑31, $500 will be sent to individuals who earn less than $20,000, or families earning less than $35,000, and who spend more than 30% of their income on rent. That is commendable. We could not oppose sending the $500. However, Quebec has social housing. Some Quebeckers pay 25%, or less than 30%, of their income on housing. That is how it works. People with lower incomes have access to social housing that was built precisely because the federal government withdrew from housing. Quebec created a program called AccèsLogis.
In reading between the lines of Bill C‑31, it is clear that 87,000 people will not be eligible for this assistance, and that is according to the Parliamentary Budget Officer. That means 87,000 low-income people who earn less than $20,000, so people who are poor. The federal government is going to send money to people all over Canada, but because Quebec is progressive, because we address our problems, because we create programs to help the most vulnerable in our society, we are being penalized. The same thing has happened with many programs that have come before the House. Quebec is usually at the vanguard, but we have to fight for every penny, because we create our own programs to help people.
Over the past few days, I also spoke with housing experts such as the staff at Réseau québécois des OSBL d'habitation. They told me that they had high expectations for the NDP-Liberal coalition. They believed that the NDP would pressure the government to tackle the housing crisis and build more housing. The people in Quebec I spoke to over the past two weeks are devastated by the result. Who would be against people receiving a $500 cheque? Naturally, everyone is pleased, but that is not what is needed. That is not what the organizations are telling us. I no longer remember the exact figure proposed in Bill C‑31, but it is in the millions of dollars.
That money could have been used to build housing. Affordable housing could have been built over a longer period of time. We would not have to come back every year and say that there is a crisis and that people do not have the money for housing if we were to build housing right now, if we took the bull by the horns and if we addressed the problems together. Unfortunately, that is not happening. Once again, there is precious little to show for this type of coalition between the NDP and the Liberals. Once again, people are devastated and it feels like we will never see the end of this.
I will now address Motion M‑59. I spoke about this earlier, however, tonight is homelessness awareness night in Quebec. I believe that is in keeping with the theme of the motion. Homelessness awareness night is a very important event in Longueuil and everywhere in Quebec. I would like to salute the organizations in Longueuil that are preparing for this event. I will join them this evening as soon as my work day is over. It will be a big night and the vigil will be held outside. There will be singing, people will be participating in the vigil and there will be a big parade through all of Longueuil to raise awareness about homelessness.
As we know, the pandemic has been very challenging for many people. A lot of people fell through the cracks. Now we are seeing more mental health problems, which can lead to substance abuse and other problems, so homelessness is increasing and becoming more visible. There are organizations in Longueuil and across Quebec that are doing tremendous work. I commend the people who are getting ready in Longueuil, whom I will be joining shortly. Many organizations are doing great work. They are committed, they have empathy and they are wonderful. I commend them.
Let us talk about the motion before us. We should define what we are talking about before we get into the discussion. What is a visible disability and what is a non-visible disability? It is a rather specific concept. A non-visible disability is one that cannot easily be seen, one that might not be noticed if the person does not talk about it. This often means the person might have a disorder of some sort, but no one would know if the person does not talk about it. Still, the disorder might have serious repercussions on their quality of life. The concept of a non-visible disability can be so complex that it is often hard to even talk about one non-visible disability, which is why it might be better to talk about non-visible disabilities.
I was surprised to learn that, despite the received wisdom, it is estimated that only two in 10 people with a disability use a wheelchair, and 80% of reported disabilities are non-visible. Non-visible disabilities are more common than we think. Examples include visual or hearing impairments and mental illnesses such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. There is also dyslexia, dyspraxia and a wide range of other illnesses. The disability can be recent and may be temporary. During a difficult period in life, a person may contract a condition that later goes away.
A person with a non-visible disability often has a hard time being recognized as disabled by others. Their disability is not acknowledged. The disability may be misunderstood by the people around them, who do not understand the difficulties the person may encounter while trying to accomplish even simple tasks. To the people around them, it is easier to see these deficiencies as character traits. Often, a person who appears impulsive, lazy, detached or irritable may actually have a specific disorder. In fact, people with these disabilities tell us that getting their disability or disorder recognized is the biggest problem they run into.
The lack of physical manifestations, such as a wheelchair, garners them less sympathy. We do not see it, so we do not feel it. The fact that the people around them do not recognize their disability can affect the person's mental health. If those around them lack understanding and leniency, a person with a non-visible disability can experience great psychological distress.
Obviously, non-visible disabilities can cause problems for the person's life in society and relationships with others. A person who parks in a spot reserved for people with disabilities but who seems to be able to get around normally may be criticized by passersby. However, perhaps that person has a chronic illness that means they tire easily while walking. There are people who suffer from chronic fatigue. That is a big deal. The same thing goes for a person who uses the washroom reserved for people with disabilities when they do not have reduced mobility. They will often get nasty looks, but perhaps they needed to use that washroom because they have a digestive issue or other condition. There are other disorders like autism, ADHD and those we talked about earlier, such as bipolar disorder, attention deficit disorder, hyperactivity, giftedness and dyslexia.
As I have said many times, we do not have enough time to talk about important things in the House.
This is an important motion and we are going to support it. The government is not doing enough in terms of housing. I would like to say that we need to continue to work on this particular issue. The Bloc Québécois stands behind the government.
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- Oct/21/22 2:08:29 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the law is clear that adequate housing is a human right, but many of the 22% of Canadians with disabilities are being left behind.
The National Housing Strategy Act embeds Canada’s international human rights obligations to implement the right to adequate housing, but as this motion points out, the national housing strategy is missing recognition of the additional barriers to housing faced by persons with disabilities.
The motion has the opportunity to correct that. Article 19 of the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities notes the equal rights of all persons with disabilities to live independently and to inclusion in the community. That is not happening under the government. The Government of Canada is failing to live up to its obligation to ensure adequate, accessible and affordable housing.
We see the housing crisis manifesting in communities across this country. There are people in Canada suffering, and the government has a responsibility to fix it, to build homes, to have affordable homes, to stop the homeless crisis in Canada and to recognize that persons with disabilities have even more barriers to housing.
Canadians with a disability are greatly overrepresented in the homeless population. Forty-five per cent of Canada’s homeless have a physical or mental disability, and core housing need is at least 16% higher for persons with disabilities. In British Columbia alone, nearly 4,000 people living with disabilities are on a wait-list to find an accessible home. Housing demand far exceeds availability. Only 5% of units in B.C. are targeted for accessibility despite the fact that 15% to 20% of Canadians live with one.
It has been said that the only true disability is the inability to accept and respect people’s differences. Living up to the legal obligation to protect human rights means understanding equity and addressing long-standing inequities. How can those inequities be fixed if the decision-making tables are missing those perspectives?
This motion seeks to begin to correct that. That lack of representation at decision-making tables is also contributing to poverty. There are links between poverty, homelessness and living with disabilities. According to one IRIS report, people living with disabilities are twice as likely to live below the poverty line. In fact, living in poverty is likely to increase instances of disability.
While there are no concrete numbers on how many people experiencing homelessness in Canada live with disabilities, we know that there are many. The Center for Justice and Social Compassion estimates that 45% of all people experiencing homelessness are disabled or diagnosed with a mental illness. Given that the Canadian survey on disability showed that 13% of Canadians self-identified as having a disability, this shows just how overrepresented people living with disabilities are in the homeless population.
Street Health Toronto found that 55% of people experiencing homelessness had a serious health condition, and of those, 63% had more than one. In a report by the Daily Bread, it was reported that almost 50% of people frequenting Toronto food banks have a disability, and that includes persons with invisible disabilities.
Invisible disabilities, such as anxiety, depression, chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia, are not always seen out in the community, but it does not make them any less limiting in this ableist world. Long COVID, for which there is no single test and with symptoms varying from person to person, joins the list of invisible disabilities with very real impacts. This reality needs to be addressed and investments in supports and benefits are required from the government.
Accessing those supports and benefits must be easier. Accessing benefits has always been a barrier. Complicated processes and confusing paperwork are all too often more challenging for persons with disabilities. In The Globe and Mail, Michael Prince wrote about how people with severe and prolonged disabilities face many challenges when trying to get their benefits and appealing decisions when their applications are rejected. Prince claims that the system is “structurally flawed” and asks:
Who suffers? The clients and their families, who confront new obstacles to access [programs] vital to their well being and financial security.
When the very systems put in place to support persons with disabilities are themselves exclusionary and unaccommodating, it is no wonder that these people are living in poverty and falling through the cracks, and when that system is keeping them from housing, their basic human right is being violated. The government needs to stop this violation and build the accessible, affordable homes required.
When I was first elected, I asked an Order Paper question about accessible housing. I asked about what accessible housing we are losing each year in this country. CMHC came back and said, “CMHC does not collect data on accessible units that have been lost or decommissioned.”
I also requested some stats from CMHC about federal funds used to build accessible units and to convert existing units to accessible housing. Its response only included the national housing strategy program, even though I asked it for data since 2010. This meant that no data was collected on accessible housing until 2017, and for the first three years, from 2017 to 2020, there was nearly no data. Only in the last two years, 2020 and 2021, was there any data of any measurable consequence.
Liberal and Conservative governments have failed to deliver on housing for all Canadians. How could they not, if they were not even collecting the data?
The need to act cannot wait. We cannot have one more person with a disability forced into a tent on the street like the ones we see every day on our way to the House of Commons here in Ottawa. As the motion says, we must “prioritize the creation and repair of accessible units through [the national housing strategy] programs”. The government cannot move fast enough on that.
Let us not forget how Canadians got into a situation where housing is unaffordable and inaccessible. Conservative and Liberal governments have overseen the financialization of housing. Instead of protecting our social and accessible housing stock, they encouraged upzoning and gentrification in the name of density, forcing persons with disabilities living in poverty out of their homes. Density dreams are for developers and investors. The financialization of housing is only working for the super-wealthy and is leaving the rest of Canadians behind.
The National Housing Act has legislated that the Government of Canada’s housing policy is required to recognize that the human right to adequate housing is a fundamental human right affirmed in international law and that housing is essential in the inherent dignity and well-being of the person. The government must do better.
The housing minister must live up to his words, and has committed:
that...every single project that seeks to get money from the federal government to build housing, whether it's private sector, government, another order of government or the non-profit sector, we have minimum accessibility requirements. Unless they fulfill accessibility requirements from our government, they don't get a single dime from us.
He also said, “barrier-free housing for Canadians with disabilities is a priority of the national housing strategy and always will be”. Even if M-59 does not pass, the NDP will hold the government to those words.
I must point out, though, that I am not sure the government has an achievable goal here, as we are still waiting to hear what the government means by the word “accessible”. In the HUMA committee, I asked specifically for information around the government's definition of “accessible” because I have experienced that it is very hard to get the market to build accessible housing.
When the response came back from CMHC, the word “accessible” was only written once, and the accessibility definition was not included. The government needs to do better to identify what definition it is using in its commitment to accessible housing.
In closing, I appreciate the member for London West's highlighting the gaps at the decision-making tables around housing and in the national housing strategy and the need for a more inclusive understanding of housing needs in Canada. With the failings of the government in providing accessible and adequate housing for indigenous people, people with disabilities and more, I encourage the government to do better and to start realizing that one size does not fit all, and adding to that the aging population.
We need a better approach to accessible, affordable housing in this country, and the debate today is an important step for all of us to think about how to solve the problem of a home for everyone in Canada in a more inclusive way.
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- Oct/21/22 2:18:29 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to acknowledge the residents and visitors who remain here in the gallery late this afternoon to listen to this wonderful debate. It is wonderful to have them join us here this afternoon.
It really is a pleasure to rise today to speak to Motion No. 59 on housing for persons with disabilities. I would like to begin by thanking the member for London West for tabling this motion. Her constituents are served so well by her advocacy and strong leadership on this issue.
Since 2015 we have made extraordinary progress to advance the rights of persons with disabilities, yet barriers still exist in public spaces, housing, buildings and parks, and even in information and communications technologies. That is why we are taking bold action to drive the creation of accessible and inclusive communities.
As members may be aware, on October 7 we launched Canada's first-ever disability inclusion action plan. It was a proud moment, and it served as the culmination of years of fruitful collaboration between the disability community and government. During this collaboration, we heard extensively from persons with disabilities about the issues, including accessible and inclusive community design, which brings me back to the overarching values that guide every aspect of our work with persons with disabilities.
I would like to take a moment to talk about the principles outlined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Canada is a state party to this convention, as well as to its optional protocol. It means we recognize the right of all persons with disabilities to live independently and to live in a community. The convention provides us with two very important articles on inclusive housing, which I believe are rather relevant to today's discussion.
Under article 9, as a state party to the convention, we are taking action to ensure that persons with disabilities have equal access to the physical environment, including housing. What is more, article 28 of the convention sets out that persons with disabilities have the right to adequate housing, including access to public housing.
Our work is also guided by gender-based analysis plus. We developed the GBA+ to assess the implications of intersecting populations across Canada, including persons with disabilities, which means that when we create housing programs we need to consider the ways a person may experience intersectional barriers, so that we can minimize or remove those barriers at every step of policy development.
A report from the COVID-19 Disability Advisory Group recommended that we recognize the increased risks of gender-based violence for women and girls with disabilities. It also recommended that we address the urgent need for low-barrier shelters and housing, as well as services and other supports. Indeed, accessibility in housing and shelters is a key priority for us. It is a key component of our plan to achieve a barrier-free Canada by 2040, and I will now speak about how we will get there. I will begin by speaking about the Accessible Canada Act.
Let me be absolutely clear: The government is committed to advancing accessibility and inclusion across Canada. This is clear in our disability inclusion action plan and was first codified in the Accessible Canada Act landmark legislation, which became law in 2019. We implemented this groundbreaking act as part of our effort to proactively identify, remove and prevent barriers to accessibility across seven priority areas, including the built environment. In the spirit of “nothing without us”, we do this work in consultation every step of the way with the disability community.
We also created a new organization, Accessibility Standards Canada, or ASC, which became accredited this past year, and we are in the process of creating national accessibility standards. I am also happy to remind members that in November 2021 the ASC and CSA group began collaborating on the development of three accessibility standards, including a standard on accessible homes. That work is well under way, and as the CEO of ASC has said, they are developing standards focused on equitable technical requirements.
We are also working to ensure that persons with disabilities have access to housing through the home accessibility tax credit. The tax credit helps seniors and persons with disabilities stay in their homes by offsetting the cost of expensive renovations that make their homes more accessible. These include, for example, the installation of wheelchair ramps, walk-in bathtubs, wheel-in showers, the widening of doorways and hallways and the building of a bedroom or bathroom on the ground floor. Budget 2022 doubled the home accessibility tax credit. The qualifying expense limit has been increased to $20,000 in 2022 and subsequent tax years. This includes a tax credit of up to $3,000, which is twice the previous amount. That is more money in the pockets of Canadians with disabilities.
We also introduced the national housing strategy, the largest and most ambitious federal housing program in history. Through the national housing strategy, we are taking steps to advance the right to housing for all Canadians, with a priority on the most vulnerable. This includes persons with disabilities who require more affordable and accessible housing options. Under this strategy, at least 2,400 new affordable units are being built for persons with developmental disabilities. All funding programs include accessibility requirements and thresholds that must be met by developers.
Now I would like to revisit the disability inclusion action plan, with a focus on pillar three on accessible and inclusive communities, which also includes accessible housing. The disability community has been very clear during consultations on the disability inclusion action plan. The design of physical spaces, including apartments and homes, is often inadequate and inaccessible. This is because disability is often not considered in the initial stages of design. Pillar three of the action plan addresses the physical and attitudinal barriers that far too often prevent persons with disabilities from fully participating in public spaces, like community buildings and workplaces. It will also influence architects and planners to adopt an inclusive mindset when they design housing projects.
While physical accommodations are important, there is always more that we can do to create inclusive spaces. For example, having calming spaces and quiet areas could be very important for some persons with disabilities. Some people might need these places to be connected to services and programs that support the independence of persons with disabilities. Others may need written information in large print or in plain language.
The initiatives that I have mentioned represent a paradigm culture shift, one where persons with disabilities are included from the very start. Through the disability inclusion action plan and ASC standards, we will drive even more profound changes.
In closing, I would like to once again thank the member for London West for her motion and leadership. Her constituents and Canadians with disabilities are being well served by her passionate and effective advocacy. Together, we will build an inclusive Canada for all.
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- Oct/21/22 2:26:51 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is quite timely that we are considering Motion No. 59, which calls on the government to work with indigenous governing bodies, service providers to people with disabilities, housing providers and other relevant stakeholders, including the provinces, “in upholding a federal framework to improve access to adaptable affordable housing for individuals with non-visible disabilities”. This is at a time when we are seeing in media reports that folks who have disabilities and folks who are housing insecure, both of whom are unable to get the support they need and unable to find affordable housing, are instead opting for medical assistance in dying. We are in a situation where we are failing Canadians. We are failing Canadians who need us the most.
This is going to require the federal government to get to the table with the provinces. We need to solve this crisis, which is resulting in people opting for medically assisted death because they feel so hopeless. It is incumbent on the federal government and incumbent on its partners to resolve this, because certainly we can all agree that this is not what the medical assistance in dying framework in Canada was designed to do. We can all agree that the folks among us who are struggling in poverty and folks living with disabilities should not be left to feel like death is their only option. We need to offer them hope.
While this motion is laudable, the outcomes are items the government could have included in previous legislation or could be in existing frameworks. Certainly, we would demonstrate to people that this is taken seriously by the government if the Prime Minister were to sit down with the first ministers to discuss health care funding and if we had transparency about the conversations that were going on between the federal housing minister and his provincial counterparts, a relationship that appears strained on the federal side.
It is important that we address this as a House. It is important that we offer hope to all Canadians, including Canadians who are housing insecure, Canadians who are experiencing homelessness and Canadians who are living with disabilities. It is our responsibility as legislators and it is an important conversation to have today. It is also important that the government takes it seriously and advances meaningful steps that will resolve the concerns and crises that Canadians are living with.
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- Oct/21/22 2:30:13 p.m.
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The time provided for the consideration of Private Members' Business has now expired and the order is dropped to the bottom of the order of precedence on the Order Paper.
It being 2:30 p.m., the House stands adjourned until Monday at 11 a.m. pursuant to Standing Order 24(1).
(The House adjourned at 2:30 p.m.)
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- Oct/21/22 10:26:50 a.m.
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- Re: Bill C-9
Madam Speaker, this bill would have been passed, had the Prime Minister not called an unnecessary election back in August 2021. Bill S-5 would have likely passed the Senate. I do not want to prejudge the work that it would have done, but it likely would have passed. Many of us had been looking at the bill beforehand, and I am sure it would have gotten due review in the House.
As the member knows, the Speaker can recognize any member who stands up and wants to speak to a bill on behalf of their constituents, just like I did. I would never want to stop members from speaking up on behalf of their constituents.
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- Oct/21/22 11:53:44 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, what I find most unfortunate is that, at a time of global turmoil, when people across the world are facing the impacts of not only inflation but also climate change, the government, which is taking action, faces an opposition in the Conservatives that is raising and amplifying people's anxiety instead of providing solutions.
What are their solutions? To take something they know gives more money back than it takes to fight climate change and to stand up against dental care for those families who need it and support for low-income families who are renting. That is not responsible.
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- Oct/21/22 1:43:52 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, inflation is a situation that the whole world is experiencing, and our government has committed and continues to commit to building affordable housing.
This motion is an extra layer that seeks to support all the bills we have passed to support Canadians who are in need. Now I am putting forward particular language that supports Canadians with non-visible disabilities. I really hope my colleague on the other side will support the motion.
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- Oct/21/22 1:29:21 p.m.
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It being 1:29, the House will now proceed to the consideration of Private Members' Business, as listed on today's Order Paper.
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- Oct/21/22 1:21:29 p.m.
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- Re: Bill C-9
Madam Speaker, the fact that we are looking at amending the Judges Act is a positive thing, because we see, certainly in the United States, where questions about the judiciary has really raised questions about the legitimacy and trust in the overall democratic process. We have an independent judiciary in Canada, and that is very important to maintain.
However, as I said, Rona Ambrose brought forward a bill to make education mandatory, because some judges just simply do not understand the dynamics that women face against the power of male sexual violence, and that is a massive disproportion. We cannot go into a courtroom and say that both sides are equal sometimes. We have to understand the larger dynamics, which was Rona Ambrose's push for change.
If we look at what happened at St. Anne's residential school, and I think it will be studied in law for years to come, we need to make sure that our system is there and that the judges know the appropriate grounds so that we get better judgments in the end.
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- Oct/21/22 11:46:27 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am sure the member wants to hear the answer because she is very focused on the problems in her riding. I congratulate her for that. That is why, over the last few weeks and months, we have been investing increased resources through an additional $2-billion investment to reduce backlogs and another $1 billion to support health care workers in long-term care settings—
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- Oct/21/22 11:46:13 a.m.
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I will just interrupt the hon. minister. Does the hon. member want to listen to the answer from the minister?
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- Oct/21/22 11:45:19 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, hospital emergency rooms in Port Hardy, Alert Bay and Port McNeill have been closing repeatedly for the past few months because there is not enough staff to keep them open. Residents of North Island are extremely concerned that the emergency rooms will not be there when they need them. Underfunding of health care by both Conservative and Liberal governments has left rural communities behind.
Will the government provide significant, stable and long-term funding for health care and address this crisis?
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- Oct/21/22 11:41:33 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, what Canadians do not find helpful is that the Liberals have no intention of telling the truth, so here are some facts for them.
They said the app would cost $80,000, and it ended up costing $54 million. Then CBSA and the Liberals, the ministers, signed off on payments, saying that companies like ThinkOn Inc. and Ernst & Young received payments from the government. These companies never received a dime, so money is missing.
I have two questions for the Liberals: Who is lying, and who got rich?
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- Oct/21/22 11:39:33 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I can tell members from first-hand experience, as the local member of Parliament for the area, that the occupation and downtown Ottawa were extremely distressing for the residents who live in the downtown core, and for many businesses. The federal government worked extremely closely with the municipal government and its provincial counterparts to make sure all the resources that were needed were provided, so we could end the occupation as quickly as possible.
We all wish that the occupation had not lasted for three weeks, and that is why we had to invoke the Emergencies Act, to put an end to the occupation and to make sure our borders were not blockaded.
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- Oct/21/22 11:43:26 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, as I have already explained, the agency responsible for contracts is well aware that there are questions. In every situation, in any situation, we will ensure that we are fully accountable. We will answer questions. We will monitor the situation to ensure that our system is working properly.
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- Oct/21/22 11:34:50 a.m.
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Can we listen to the answers the same way we listen to the questions, please?
The hon. parliamentary secretary.
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- Oct/21/22 11:33:36 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, the independence of police operations is a key principle in our democracy and one that our government deeply respects. At no time did our government attempt to interfere in police operations. That has never taken place. It is a sacrosanct principle of our democracy and we will always live by it.
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- Oct/21/22 11:38:15 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I can tell members that the federal government was engaged in ensuring that we ended the illegal occupation of Ottawa and the illegal closure of our borders as well. We worked very closely with local police authorities that were responsible for providing policing here, in the case of Ottawa for instance, by providing resources as they were needed. At the end of the day, we needed to invoke the Emergencies Act because things were not getting done, and the result is that the occupation came to an end.
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- Oct/21/22 11:32:58 a.m.
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The hon. member for Thornhill.
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