SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 33

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 17, 2022 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 33 - Feb/17/22
Ms. Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands, GP)
  • Feb/17/22 11:31:35 a.m.
  • Watch
Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. leader of the Bloc Québécois. I would like to ask him a question because I am worried about the enforcement of emergency measures and the related geographic issues. In the order before us, there is no clear mention of a geographic region. Yesterday, the Prime Minister and the other ministers stated that the use of the Emergencies Act would have a geographic limit, but I do not see it here. If the government changed the order to include geographic limits that did not comprise the Province of Quebec, might the leader of the Bloc Québécois think that it is needed to resolve the situation here in Ottawa?
121 words
All Topics
  • Hear!
  • Rabble!
  • star_border
Context: House Hansard - 33 - Feb/17/22
Ms. Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands, GP)
  • Feb/17/22 4:05:21 p.m.
  • Watch
Mr. Speaker, there are a number of things that have constituted global emergencies. By the way, I should say to the hon. member, because I do not think I have put it on the record yet, that I am still trying to decide how to vote on this. There are pros and cons to the act's use. We had a collapse of police here in Ottawa. The chain of command broke somewhere, and we are in a very different situation now than if we had acted based on the information that, it now appears, we should have had about the security threat that was implicit in the convoy. The examples the hon. member used of when we did not use the Emergencies Act were exterior to Canada. Goodness knows that Canadians, and particularly those in Halifax and Newfoundland, reacted so brilliantly and generously when 9/11 happened in taking care of people who were completely stranded. However, that does not rise to an emergency in Canada; I do not even think it is plausible. In the Wet'suwet'en protests, I was arrested in a non-violent civil disobedience protest, and on many similar occasions, Kinder Morgan never even called the police. Those are not emergencies that would rise to the level that is anything like this. I ask the hon. member to reflect on the differences in each of the examples he put forward.
236 words
All Topics
  • Hear!
  • Rabble!
  • star_border
Context: House Hansard - 33 - Feb/17/22
Ms. Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands, GP)
  • Feb/17/22 10:42:48 p.m.
  • Watch
Madam Speaker, I want to echo what the member just said about the member for Mount Royal. The tone of the member's comments was, as ever, extremely helpful. We need to lower the temperature in this place and be honest with Canadians about the difficulties we face and why it is important to distinguish between what the War Measures Act was and what the Emergencies Act is. The Mulroney government repealed the War Measures Act and put in place a far more thoughtful piece of legislation that does not in any way suspend civil liberties. However, I still have concerns about it. I ask the hon member for Mount Royal if he believes that in the course of this debate we might even see some changes from the government in terms of the regulations, to be very specific.
139 words
All Topics
  • Hear!
  • Rabble!
  • star_border