44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 20, 2022 07:00AM
- Feb/20/22 1:59:00 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Vancouver Granville.
It is not an honour for me to speak to this motion, today. I want to say that I do not hate the members of the Conservative Party, the Bloc Québécois, the NDP or the Green Party; I do not hate people who do not share my political agenda; I do not hate people who are unvaccinated.
In fact, I have some friends who are not vaccinated. We have had good, respectful discussions. Sometimes, I made some good points, and sometimes they made some good points. We still like each other and we are still friends, to this day, because we have discussed things respectfully. I have no problem talking to people who do not share my views, as long as those discussions are based on facts.
I support the right to protest. However, like any right or freedom, protests have limits.
Section 1 of the charter states:
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.
The charter recognizes that there are limits, and these limits must be reasonable. This leads me to ask the following questions.
Is it reasonable to protest on Parliament Hill? Is it reasonable to protest in the streets of a municipality for a day or two?
My answer to these two questions is “of course”.
Is it reasonable to protest for three weeks in the streets of a municipality, limiting the freedoms of those who live in this municipality?
My answer to this question is “no”.
Is it reasonable to protest by blocking borders in areas of significant economic activity?
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- Feb/20/22 2:17:39 p.m.
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I thank the hon. member for her comments.
I completely agree that we are here to discuss and to be heard. That is the main reason we are here. There are a lot of opportunities to ask questions and make comments after the speeches are finished.
The hon. member for Vancouver Granville has the floor.
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- Feb/20/22 2:39:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I wonder if my hon. colleague from Vancouver East would agree that while the Emergencies Act might be required here, and I have still not decided how I am going to vote, it would be far better if there were precision around such things as how banking regulations will be used and what kind of financial support is required before a government would intervene and freeze a bank account. That is still a wide-open question. I am sure there is an answer somewhere, but we have not had it.
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- Feb/20/22 6:54:59 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for Vancouver East for raising this point, because it is an important one. Our laws need to be updated with some of these modern realities, such as cryptocurrencies, the influence of foreign actors and the impact of social media in driving people to these funding sites.
That's exactly what the finance minister has done. She has filled those gaps, and we will be better prepared for these kinds of illegal acts in the future.
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- Feb/20/22 10:25:42 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I apologize for interrupting my colleague, but I wanted to make sure that she remembers to share her time with the member for Vancouver Kingsway.
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- Feb/20/22 10:51:54 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate the respectful tone the member for Vancouver Kingsway has taken in his presentation tonight, and I offer my observations and comments in the same light.
I have often heard the word “sedition”, not from the member's presentation directly, but from members of the NDP and the Liberal Party throughout today and the debates on Saturday and Thursday. It is a very powerful word that I think is often being abused in the discussion around this.
My observation is that there are very strong tools for the government, under section 46 of the Criminal Code, to deal with treason and sedition. If the government believes that this is treason and sedition, perhaps it should have used that tool. If that is the case, why has nobody been charged under it?
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