44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 17, 2022 10:00AM
- Feb/17/22 10:59:52 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is, as always, an honour to stand in this chamber and address the issues that are impacting Canadians. However, I stand in this chamber tonight to speak to an issue that should make every one of the 338 members of the House take a moment to pause: the invocation of the Emergencies Act, an act passed in 1988, which was the successor to the War Measures Act.
If I could, I want to talk a bit about the history and why it is so important to understand that, in the context of where we are this evening. The War Measures Act was invoked three times in the history of this country: World War I, World War II and the FLQ crisis, under former prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau.
I find it incredibly troubling that this is the context in which we find ourselves today. Wars and murdered politicians is the context for the debate that we find ourselves in here today.
The invocation of the War Measures Act was an extreme measure to deal with significant issues. I do not think there would be a member of this House who would not agree with the need for a mechanism like this to exist, because the reality is that there are instances where significant action needs to be taken. We see this Liberal Prime Minister invoking this Emergencies Act, taking and granting himself and his government unprecedented authority that includes significant things that suspend, for example, due process.
The members opposite do not necessarily like to consider the precedent of the decisions that they make. The precedent is being set by the invocation of this act that it is okay to suspend due process, a fundamental aspect of a modern democracy to ensure there are not things like unreasonable search and seizure. Although the members of the government talk about the Emergencies Act being subject to the charter, there are aspects of it that are allowed to be overridden because of what the Emergencies Act allows. It is important to acknowledge those things as we enter into this debate.
We see there is this seemingly flippant approach to such a serious issue, which is setting a precedent, that I would simply ask this question of the members opposite and members of the NDP who have indicated that they are going to support this: If this were former prime minister Stephen Harper who had invoked this act, would they be celebrating it? Would they be laughing in their seats? Would they be poking fun and seemingly enjoying the fact that they are taking away the right to due process and that they are suspending certain aspects of our Charter of Rights and Freedoms? That is an important question that I hope every member of the Liberal Party and every member of the NDP considers carefully.
An unprecedented step was taken three weeks after the Prime Minister did nothing but inflame tensions in what is a time that Canada, I would submit, has never been more divided. The context for this is the fact that there are and continue to be protests taking place in the streets of Ottawa. The members opposite do not like to listen to this because it is inconvenient to their narrative, but I, along with my Conservative colleagues, have condemned the blockades, illegal activities and hateful imagery associated with it. The members opposite do not like that because it disrupts the divisive narrative that their leader continues to forward.
We have done that while also being the only party in this country that has been willing to actually acknowledge the fact that over the course of the last number of months there has been an unprecedented level of division that has alienated Canadians.
Now that is funny. The member opposite just said that we have somehow stoked these tensions. That member, I expect, when he goes to a Liberal caucus meeting next time around, would be quick to accuse—
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- Feb/17/22 11:11:12 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, although the Green Party does not have official party status, it is a party that is represented in this place.
My answer to my colleague would be this. Does this crisis meet the precedent that she would wish to be set, not just for the current government to invoke the Emergencies Act but for any future government to do the same? Does the context in which we are having this debate meet that criteria? This is not about voting with or against Conservatives. This is about whether or not—
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- Feb/17/22 11:11:56 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to apologize to my colleague for the fact that I am going to ask him a rather easy question. It is late and we are running out of ideas.
If I understand politics, it is a question of leadership, especially in times of crisis like these. During a crisis, governments need to make major decisions that affect all citizens, and they have to convince people that these decisions are the right ones.
At this time, seven out of 10 provinces do not agree with the Prime Minister's decision to invoke the Emergencies Act.
I will throw my colleague a softball. Is this not about a lack of leadership on the part of the Prime Minister?
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- Feb/17/22 11:12:48 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I could not agree more with my colleague from the Bloc. I am glad to hear that Bloc members will not be supporting this draconian measure as a response to what is a Liberal failure.
This is a political crisis. This is not a national crisis that justifies the invoking of the Emergencies Act. Rather, it is a political crisis that is the consequence of a Prime Minister who has failed time and time again. He has failed for six years. He has failed over the last three or four weeks. The unfortunate reality is that we have a country that is more divided than ever. This is the consequence of failure and I am appreciative that the Bloc will not be supporting these draconian measures—
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- Feb/17/22 11:27:42 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I reject the underlying premise of the entire question. I have a question back to her. Does whatever is happening in Canada rise to the level of needing the Emergencies Act implemented across Canada? It was not used in the spring of 2020 when rail lines were shut down for 18 days and Quebec ran out of propane. It was not used due to the damage that is currently happening at Coastal GasLink. It was not used when the G20 was in Ottawa, or when 9/11 happened.
Does the member really think that the Emergencies Act is appropriate at this time?
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- Feb/17/22 11:29:30 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is surprising to me. I suppose, since I come from Alberta, downtown Ottawa jobs being more important to the Liberals should not surprise me. However, when jobs in Alberta were being threatened by a rail blockade two years back, there was no mention of the Emergencies Act at that point in time. There was no mention of it. It was business as usual with the government trying to resolve the situation.
I would also point out that, at that time, the government sent out an army of ministers to talk with whomever they could to try to alleviate the situation. The opposite took place in this case. There was no dialogue with the truckers in the convoy as they came across the country. There was no acknowledgement that their concerns might be valid. There not even a second thought to lifting the mandates. The Liberals have inflamed the situation and have completely mismanaged it.
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- Feb/17/22 11:30:34 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, we said right away that we would be voting against the motion on the Emergencies Act, but certainly not for the same reasons as my colleague.
I am hearing something here that is a little unsettling, and that is the connection being made between freedom and vaccination. In his speech, my colleague told us that his parents cannot go to restaurants because they are not vaccinated. That is not up to the House of Commons, it is up to the provinces.
This unfortunate connection they are trying to make to keep sowing confusion helps no one. The member's speech actually tempted me to vote for the motion.
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- Feb/17/22 11:41:38 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the finance minister, the Attorney General and the Minister of Public Safety have all been unable to provide a clear and articulate answer to this pressing question. What is the donation threshold by which a financial institution will freeze an account under the Emergencies Act?
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- Feb/17/22 11:42:41 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, as I listened to my colleagues talk about these crimes all evening, I kept thinking the same thing: They could all be dealt with under the Criminal Code.
My question is the following: Why was the City of Ottawa not given more assistance and police resources to ensure that the Criminal Code could be enforced before moving directly to the Emergencies Act?
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- Feb/17/22 11:43:23 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, we did not head directly to the Emergencies Act. In fact, members will recall that we provided the City of Ottawa with supplemental police officers three times, as well as intelligence capabilities and command capabilities. However, the fact remains that the city and the province have declared states of emergency. They were unable to deal with the extent of this and the entrenchment of the people who are blockading and occupying Ottawa. Therefore, this is necessary. There are certain things, as I mentioned in my speech, that we can do, including cordoning off certain areas, going after crowdfunding and online cyber-currencies, and making sure that tow trucks will be able to take some of these large vehicles away.
I think it is absolutely necessary. This is the kind of thing nobody wants to use, but the fact is that in this case, the peace and safety of Canadians are at stake.
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- Feb/17/22 11:47:20 p.m.
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I apologize, Madam Speaker.
To my colleague who spoke before me, I would like to say that the police service was indeed severely affected. We are invoking the Emergencies Act to enhance the ability of provincial and territorial authorities to deal with the blockades and the occupation and keep Canadians safe, protect jobs and restore confidence in our institutions.
In my riding, Highway 50 connects the Laurentians to Ottawa. That was the highway the convoy took to get from Quebec to Ottawa, which was very disruptive.
I got tons of calls from people all over my riding expressing support for the government and our Prime Minister. Some of those calls were from truckers and truckers' associations. These are people who went to the polls in 2021, exercised their right to vote, and placed their trust in me for a third time.
That tells me it is just a minority of people making all that noise outside, bothering the people of Ottawa and Gatineau day and night, and refusing to move their trucks even though the police have asked them to do so several times.
The Emergencies Act provides law enforcement with new authorities to regulate crowds, prohibit barricades and ensure that our essential corridors remain open. The Emergencies Act allows the government to mobilize essential services such as tow trucks, and it gives the RCMP the ability to act more quickly to enforce local laws. The act also provides more power to stop the flow of money to protesters. These measures are targeted, temporary and proportionate.
It is a good and effective piece of legislation whose use is temporary. It is the last resort. This is about keeping Canadians safe, protecting Canadians' jobs and restoring confidence in our institutions. For two years, Canadians have been making sacrifices and helping each other get through this global pandemic. Canadians' lives have been turned upside down for two years now.
The federal government has been there since the very start of the pandemic, working side by side with the provinces, for the well-being of Canadians. We will continue to be there. Workers from Argenteuil—La Petite-Nation, self-employed workers and businesses have been able to benefit from these programs, which we must remember were adopted unanimously by all 338 members of the House of Commons, who all agreed on the benefits that we gave to Canadians. Those benefits were necessary.
The Canada worker lockdown benefit helped a lot, as did the employment insurance program, the wage subsidies, the Canada recovery sickness benefit and other Canada recovery benefits, the wage and hiring supports, the rent support, the jobs fund, the extension of work-sharing agreements, the credit programs, the financing for large employers, and the Canada recovery caregiving benefit. These are all ways that we gave during the pandemic.
Today, we need this act. Today, we will continue our work. We will be there for Canadians who have been taken hostage by these illegal blockades. We have been there from the beginning of the pandemic, and we will still be there to continue our work, the work that the majority of Canadians elected us to do.
The government has issued an order, which takes effect immediately, authorizing Canadian financial institutions to temporarily cease providing financial services if the institution suspects that an account is being used to help illegal occupations and blockades. What we are asking Canadian financial institutions to do under this act is to review their relationship with any person involved in the blockade and to report them to the authorities. The accounts of businesses linked to illegal blockades will be frozen and vehicle insurance revoked.
This is about ensuring the safety of Canadians, protecting people's jobs and restoring confidence in our institutions.
Since the government has now declared a state of emergency, we have tabled the declaration in Parliament within seven sitting days as required.
Our government is aware of the need for transparency and parliamentary oversight. That is why the government is giving Parliament the information it needs to be able to play its role.
The declaration is for 30 days only, unless it is renewed. However, we can revoke the state of emergency sooner, and we sincerely hope we will. What is more, the specific measures set out in the Emergencies Act are limited, subject to many controls and guaranteed by Parliament. They have to be consistent with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The Emergencies Act does not involve the army. That would fall under the National Defence Act, which is not what we are invoking today. This is a matter of keeping Canadians safe, protecting people's jobs and restoring confidence in our institutions.
This is very important for the people of Argenteuil—La Petite‑Nation and for everyone in the nation's capital, who deserve peace. For 20 days, the blockades have been illegally disrupting the lives of residents in the nation's capital and hurting our economy. It is time for us to do something about that, because they are jeopardizing public safety and the supply chain that we have here at home.
I have heard horror stories from people who have called me. My colleague who spoke before me listed a number of measures the police have had to take that were related directly to the protest location. We have not yet talked about the people in my riding who have been affected indirectly, having been denied access to their workplaces. Local businesses have had manufacturing contracts cancelled. For example, my brother's company has trucks on the road, and his employees could not access the work site to do their jobs. He had to cancel contracts and relocate workers who were supposed to be on job sites in Ottawa.
This situation has affected many more people than we realize, even here on Parliament Hill. The opposition parties say that this is affecting only Ottawa and that perhaps there were other things we should have done besides invoking the Emergencies Act, but this is having consequences everywhere, whether in my riding in Quebec or elsewhere in Canada.
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