44th Parl. 1st Sess.
October 25, 2022 10:00AM
- Oct/25/22 2:28:52 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in Quebec as elsewhere in Canada, emergency rooms are overflowing. Many Quebecers have had to wait more than 20 hours to be taken care of. One person has died because of the delays. Health care workers are tired; they need help.
When will this Prime Minister stop hiding and protect our health care system?
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- Oct/25/22 2:49:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, emergency rooms across Canada are closing, because there is not enough staff to keep them open. Canadians are dying while waiting for care. Just this week, a man passed away in Quebec after waiting 16 hours in the ER. This situation is occurring in every corner of our country. It is an outrageous situation for a G7 nation. We need national leadership.
When will the Prime Minister sit down with the premiers to negotiate stable, sufficient and long-term federal health care funding and save Canadians' lives?
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- Oct/25/22 2:50:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we are all grateful for the member's question. We all feel and fear the consequences of the crisis that health care workers throughout the country are going through. That is true everywhere in Canada, as we heard. People are having difficulty accessing appropriate emergency care, but, more than that, difficulty getting access to a family health team, to a safe and quality long-term care home, to home care, to palliative care and to dental care.
That is why we are investing many billions of dollars and we are going to continue doing that, because we promised we would do so—
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- Oct/25/22 3:08:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, a month ago, one of the strongest storms hit this country and destroyed homes and forever altered the lives of thousands of people in Atlantic Canada. In the first days after the storm, we saw neighbours go above and beyond to help their neighbours. Local charities, non-profits and even the Canadian Armed Forces stepped up to help our communities. I offer them my deepest thanks.
However, while the immediate danger is passed, there are many people who still need help. Can the Minister of Emergency Preparedness tell this House how the federal government will continue to support my constituents and the people of Atlantic Canada in the months ahead?
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- Oct/25/22 6:40:08 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the current Liberal government is desperate to justify their dishonest and unjustified use of the Emergencies Act. We have seen a series of misleading statements and outright fabrications about these protests, and it is part of the pattern of dishonest behaviour we have seen by the Minister of Public Safety and by the Minister of Emergency Preparedness.
The Emergencies Act is an extreme piece of legislation that, when invoked, allows the suspension of normal protections for civil liberties. The Emergencies Act is therefore for genuine public emergencies and not for the government to invoke arbitrarily. Even when laws are being broken, the government should not use the Emergencies Act unless it has no other alternative.
Conservatives have always encouraged protesters to make their voices heard through lawful means, but the fact is that the border blockades were all cleared by law enforcement without and prior to the invocation of the Emergencies Act. The Liberal government knew all this. It knew that law enforcement agencies had not yet exhausted their options, yet it suspended civil liberties and proceeded to threaten the bank accounts and financial security of Canadians, even Canadians who were far away from the national capital.
Incredibly, the Emergencies Act has never been used before in Canadian history, despite the various events that have taken place since it was created. Its predecessor, the War Measures Act, was only used during the First World War, the Second World War and the FLQ crisis. It has not been used in response to a myriad of other protests and challenges, including a couple of years ago when our national rail network was shut down by protesters.
There is a big difference between enforcing the law and falsely declaring a national emergency to give oneself the tools to punish those one disagrees with. Many people who did not agree with the protest that took place have still spoken out against the government's arbitrary use of the Emergencies Act to suspend civil liberties and the negative precedent that this sets.
As part of the Liberals' efforts to justify this, in April of this year the Minister of Public Safety claimed, before a committee, that law enforcement had asked for the Emergencies Act. He said the advice received was to invoke the Emergencies Act. That is what the Minister of Public Safety said. However, later, the RCMP commissioner and Ottawa's police chief both confirmed that they actually did not ask for the Emergencies Act. The deputy minister later sought to offer some clarification and, maybe making the situation more fuzzy, said that the minister had been misunderstood. However, it was clear then and it is clear now that the Minister of Public Safety misled the House and he should resign. He should have resigned, but he is still here.
There are many other claims advanced by members of the government. For instance, different members of the House claimed repeatedly that protesters who were here as part of events in January had tried to burn down a building. It was subsequently clarified that the attempted arson had nothing whatsoever to do with that protest, yet that was a claim that was repeated over and over again. We saw claims that these protests were Russian funded, that they were government funded and that there were guns at the protest, all of which has been shown to be totally false.
We have a Minister of Public Safety who has misled the House and now, to update things to where we are today, we have information about the Minister of Emergency Preparedness misleading the House about interfering in an investigation and contradicting the RCMP commissioner.
The fact is that Canadians cannot trust the current government when the two ministers responsible for emergency preparedness and public safety have clearly shown a lack of regard for the truth. These ministers should resign. When will they resign?
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