Senator Carignan: As you know, government leader, I have an excellent research and analysis team. It found out that the Minister of Public Safety said 12 times that he was acting at the request of police. It’s one thing to say his words were misinterpreted once or that he misspoke once, but the fact that he did so 12 times under varying circumstances and on different days suggests that the minister misled the House.

When will the Prime Minister ask the Minister of Public Safety to resign?

(1430)

Hon. Claude Carignan: Honourable senators, my question is for the Leader of the Government in the Senate.

Leader, as you know, I sit on the Special Joint Committee on the Declaration of Emergency. The committee has been hearing from witnesses for several weeks, and it has emerged that the Minister of Public Safety lied to the House by saying that the request came from law enforcement. Police denied making the request. We are also hearing justifications for the economic measures, such as cross-border transfers, and we have learned that the Ambassador Bridge was cleared on the weekend of February 12 and 13, whereas the Prime Minister’s Office and cabinet made their decision on February 13 at 8:30 a.m. during a cabinet meeting, after the bridge had been cleared.

Clearly, the government is trying to justify a political decision that was meant to give the impression that it wanted to do something. In the end, it turned out to be a severe overreaction and an abuse of power.

When will the government admit it made a mistake and apologize to Canadians?