44th Parl. 1st Sess.
March 2, 2022 02:00PM
- Mar/2/22 2:52:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we have had much debate on the government's use of the Emergencies Act. The story of the illegal blockades is one of the failure of leaders to acknowledge and respond to the frustrations of the public. It is also a policing failure and a desire to weaponize critical issues for political gain. We are now left with a weary public who are weary with Canada's institutions and its politicians.
What is the Prime Minister's plan to lower the temperature in political rhetoric and restore faith in democratic institutions?
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- Mar/2/22 2:54:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, these blockades were hurting our communities, our economy and our trust in our institutions. We needed to create new tools to bring them to an end. Canadians were tired. Canadians were rattled, not just by COVID, but by the intensity of the occupations, which were hurting their jobs, their communities and their neighbours. We demonstrated an ability to stand together, follow the rule of law and uphold the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to restore order so people can continue to protest peacefully and express their opinions. That is the foundation of this country.
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- Mar/2/22 4:42:11 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this is a very serious conversation about how we can move forward to see if the emergency measures act was correctly implemented. I feel sorry for the government House leader. I believe he has short-term amnesia about what actually happened. In his answer, he said that we needed the Emergencies Act because there were blockades across our borders. That is not true. It is a lie. It is an absolute untruth and it did not happen. The blockades were gone—
Some hon. members: Oh, oh.
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- Mar/2/22 4:43:15 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am sorry I misspoke. I wanted to say that some things have happened that are not relevant to the history of the Emergencies Act. The member said that the Emergencies Act had to be invoked to clear the blockades, but that did not happen. The blockades were removed before the Emergencies Act was used.
I would like to get back to the point of the question. The fact the Liberals keep telling a story that is fictional is something that really affects my constituents in Regina—Lewvan. Did they reach the criteria to invoke the Emergencies Act? That is the question the committee wants to have answered and why—
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- Mar/2/22 4:49:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise as the government House leader to respond to the question that was posed to me.
The member says that he has talked to business owners who said their businesses were affected by the Prime Minister's objection to the illegal blockades. I would ask him what he thought happened when this city was completely shut down and businesses could not open their doors. I was talking to business owners who watched people defecate in front of their properties, who watched them stare in their windows and intimidate them, who watched them bang on their windows. Countless business owners said it was the worst thing they had endured in 30 years of business.
The member found one person who was not negatively affected by it and is an ardent partisan of the Conservatives. I congratulate the member on his ability to find that person, because things would have been very difficult for anybody living in the red zone.
This was a situation without precedent. Our city was occupied. There were unbelievable things happening outside these doors and the official opposition was cheerleading them. The member is right that this is without precedent, and we have to respond accordingly.
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- Mar/2/22 6:45:03 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, this is the third episode of this 20-minute speech.
In the first episode on Monday, I talked about the impacts of the occupation on the people of Ottawa. Other members have spoken to this as well, telling profoundly disturbing stories from the people of Ottawa as the occupation, in so many cases, wrecked their quality of life. Particularly poignant were the stories of seniors and people with disabilities who were unable to get essential services and unable to get groceries delivered, things that should not be treated lightly at all. Plus there were the thousands of jobs lost, the hundreds of businesses that had to close, the assaults and the vandalism. All of that took place in a general condition of lawlessness that many members of Parliament witnessed first hand, as I did, being in Ottawa for the entire three weeks of the occupation.
We know of course that the blockades across the country were causing similar hardships. Of course, in the case of Coutts, Alberta, that blockade has led to criminal charges, one of which is conspiracy to commit murder, one of the most serious charges that one can imagine. There were four charges laid of conspiracy to commit murder against police officers, which is so very, very serious.
That was the first part of my speech.
The second part of my speech, which took place earlier this afternoon, was about the importance of getting the parliamentary review committee immediately in place. The balance of the committee is highly appropriate. There is the fact that there would be co-chairs, both of whom are members of Parliament. There would one who was in support of and one who was in opposition to the Emergencies Act in the vote. The balance there is highly appropriate, as is the composition of the committee itself, as it makes sure that all of the four Senate groups are represented and the House of Commons. The Conservatives, if we actually include ex-Conservatives, have higher representation than any other party. It is important to get this immediately into place so that the parliamentary review can begin.
I still wonder why we are in a situation where Conservatives are trying to hold this up and not trying to get to the point where we can have this committee in place tomorrow and starting to work tomorrow. It should have been yesterday. It should have been Monday. However, we can move now. We need to move now on this parliamentary review.
Of course within that parliamentary review the statutes are clear that we need to be looking at the Emergencies Act, how it was applied and how it may have helped. Detractors might say how it might have hindered, but we need to make sure that we are aware. That parliamentary review committee needs to be put in place immediately to take every aspect and look at the measures and their effectiveness. We also believe that this parliamentary review committee must be doing a number of other things. With the imposition of the Emergencies Act, it also needs to look at what transpired in the three weeks prior.
There are questions that Canadians want answers to, the first being how the convoy was able to establish itself and cut off downtown Ottawa, cut off thousands of residents from essential services, close businesses and throw thousands of people out of work. How was that able to happen? What were the policing measures that were not taken that allowed this occupation to occur with the incredible hardship that so many people in Ottawa lived through and the constant threat of violence. As colleagues know, there were assaults. There were a number of cases of businesses being vandalized. The threat of violence was something that was over the city for the entire period. How did policing apply in those cases?
Of course we are all thankful that the provisions of the Emergencies Act, I would submit, made sure that there was a peaceful resolution a week and a half ago. It ensured that the occupation was brought to an end. I would submit that the designated areas allowed that peaceful resolution. When the noted racist Pat King called for immediate reinforcements of thousands of people to come to Parliament Hill, the fact that the Emergencies Act provisions were in place stopped those thousands of reinforcements from actually coming to the Hill. It protected demonstrators, protesters and police, and it led to the peaceful resolution we saw.
There is the aspect of essential services. Tow truck drivers who had been intimidated and threatened were, through the provisions of the Emergencies Act, able to do their job without that threat hanging over their heads. They were allowed to tow the trucks away that had stopped activity in Ottawa for weeks.
The financial provisions were used in a few dozen cases, for 200 accounts in total, but the flow of money from foreign sources was cut off. We need to be very conscious of the foreign interference that created such appalling conditions in the city of Ottawa.
We need to ensure that policing is evaluated not only on the basis of the success, but also of comparing it to policing that does not use the same measures. We have seen in cases of indigenous and racialized peoples, there is very clearly a double standard in policing. This needs to be looked at, and we need to learn from this to ensure that the peaceful end to the occupation, which finally occurred through effective policing, also applies in other cases, particularly for indigenous peoples. There is no doubt that interactions with police officers have so often led to tragedy.
Then there is the aspect of this particular convoy and its leaders' messages. The leaders of the convoy extolled unadulterated racism with no compunction at all. They simply blurted it out. At the same time, as we are well aware, their so-called manifesto sought an end to the constitutional and democratically elected government in Canada. We cannot push that under the rug.
We cannot delay this. Some people seem to want to delay consideration of the parliamentary review. This needs to be taken absolutely seriously. For so many Canadians, this poses a clear and direct threat to our democracy, so we have to make sure that the parliamentary review also includes the clear statements of intent from the leaders of this convoy and their despicable, often racist, comments. The elements of why the federal government did not act immediately are profoundly important, as are the provisions of the Emergencies Act itself, how they were applied, what lessons we can learn and what we can bring forward in the future.
The NDP's position is very clear. We need to move quickly. We should have been putting this in place on Monday. It is now Wednesday night. Let us get this vote through. Let us establish the committee and let the committee start its work tomorrow, so we can get to the bottom of all of the important questions Canadians are asking from coast to coast to coast.
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- Mar/2/22 7:06:21 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I apologize.
This is simply not true. No such investigation exists. The interim Leader of the Opposition, instead of seeking a solution to the problem, said, “I don't think we should be asking them to go home...we need to turn this into the [Prime Minister's] problem.” With this type of rhetoric, a willingness to mislead Canadians and a willingness to support an ongoing occupation of our capital to serve political goals, how can they reasonably be trusted to chair a committee reviewing the very action taken?
We invoked the Emergencies Act to supplement provincial and territorial authorities to address the blockades and occupation to keep Canadians safe. We did this at the behest of the provinces and we did this to support others across the country who needed our help. It allowed our government to mobilize essential services, allowed the RCMP to swiftly enforce local laws and provided enhanced power to stop the flow of money. These measures were targeted, temporary and proportionate. We invoked them only after exhausting other measures, and they were the result of close consultation with the provinces and territories.
To be clear, the Emergencies Act is expressly governed by the rights and freedoms set out in the charter and no one should tell us otherwise. The specific measures provided by the Emergencies Act were limited and subject to numerous checks and safeguards. One such safeguard is the requirement for a parliamentary review committee to be established, which is what we are discussing today.
We have had productive discussions with other parties in the House about how to structure the membership of this joint review committee in a manner that is reasonable, fair and appropriate. Now is the time for reckoning and to review and understand the circumstances of what brought us to this point and how it was handled. We have proposed a reasonable approach to this review and to this committee's structure. Unfortunately, after supporting the illegal blockades and occupations, the Conservative Party is now refusing to do what it should, which is to support the timely creation of a fair structure for this committee to do its work. What Canadians need now from their Parliament is an honest, efficient and thoughtful review of the invocation of the act, its implementation and its outcomes.
We have seen the spread of lies and misinformation and we do not need that when it comes to something as fundamental as this. We are talking about trust in our institutions and in our democracy. We are talking about ensuring there is public trust in our processes and indeed in our Parliament. We must not trifle with this. It is an opportunity for all parliamentarians to do what is right and allow a review to look at things honestly. Surely, if everyone in the House has acted in good faith throughout this occupation and acted in the best interests of Canadians, no one should have anything to worry about in terms of what comes out of this review. It should be easy for the opposition to accept the proposal we have made.
Under this proposal, as everybody knows, the committee would have 11 members. It would mean three Liberals, two Conservatives, one Bloc, one member of the NDP and four senators representing all groups in the Senate. The committee would be chaired by three co-chairs: a Bloc MP, an NDP MP and one senator. That is pretty balanced, in my view. The chair would not be a Liberal, whose government invoked the Emergencies Act, or a Conservative, whose party, as we heard before, led the way in supporting protesters and the protests.
The Conservatives inexplicably refuse to support this balanced proposal. They have insisted from the start that they co-chair and are now demanding that both co-chairs be Conservative. Their bias in cheering on the illegal occupation cannot, should not and must not extend to chairing the committee. Canadians are going to judge us long after we are gone from this place. If the government is prepared to cede the chair of this committee to the Bloc and the NDP without fear or favour, what is stopping the Conservatives from doing exactly the same thing?
Were they here, I would appeal to my colleagues from across the floor, those who are uncomfortable with misinformation, with harmful rhetoric and with pandering to PPC voters, to vote in favour of this motion to show Canadians that the institution of Parliament and the review of the Emergencies Act and the actions taken come above petty partisanship.
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- Mar/2/22 7:10:28 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I want to comment on a quote my colleague noted and make a correction. On February 10, our leader stated that she understood and was passionate about the convoy. However, she did make a statement that the blockades had to leave and that we would continue the fight for their freedoms.
I do not know where the member was going with that statement, so I would like some clarification. We did call for the blockades to come down, we did call for the convoy to end and we said that we would take on their fight here in the House. Could he comment on that, please?
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- Mar/2/22 7:15:26 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, over the last couple of years, the issue that I think would have been a wonderful thing to talk about is the heroes of the pandemic and how Canadians stepped up to the plate when we really needed to take on the coronavirus. We are not necessarily focusing on that issue, but rather on a short period of time when people, due to the illegal blockades, caused far too many discussions and debates taking place here in Ottawa. I heard previously of the real heroes and issues of the pandemic. It has been a long, hard two-plus years, and there are so many wonderful things we could be saying about those Canadians and residents who really stepped up to get us through to this point.
Getting back on topic, a couple of days before the government instituted the Emergencies Act there was a letter that was sent to the Prime Minister. I caught wind of it not through the PMO or anything of that nature, but through a Winnipeg Free Press article. I would like to quote the article. It states:
Premier Heather Stefanson pleaded in a private letter to [the Prime Minister] to intervene at the Emerson border blockade just days before she publicly opposed his decision....
In a Feb. 11 letter obtained by the Free Press, Stefanson asked [the Prime Minister] to take “immediate and effective” action as she pleaded for “national leadership that only you and the federal government can provide.”
It goes on:
[The premier's] letter said the situation was urgent and blockades that disrupt “this critical corridor—even temporarily—create potential dangers, impose severe hardships on all Manitobans and cause severe economic loss and damage to Manitoba and Canadian businesses.”
That was just a couple of days before the Emergencies Act. On the Sunday, the fact that the federal government was looking at enacting the legislation was already being talked about through some media outlets, and on Monday it was enacted. I do not think it was of any great surprise.
We saw the City of Ottawa declare an emergency. The Province of Ontario declared an emergency. We had letters such as I just cited from Manitoba. We had a letter a week or so prior to that from the Province of Alberta asking the federal government to get engaged. The need to engage the Emergencies Act was very real, tangible and the right thing to do.
I will go to what we heard from some of the law enforcement agencies. Steve Bell, the interim chief of the Ottawa Police Service, stated: “All of those pieces of legislation and supports we've got from different levels of government have directly and actively contributed to our ability to ultimately say we are in a position to move forward and look to end the demonstration,” meaning the lockdown here in Ottawa.
In another news article, the commissioner of the RCMP stated that the powers given to her officers through the Emergencies Act served as a big deterrent in policing the anti-vaccine mandate protests that occupied the streets of downtown Ottawa for nearly a month. She stated:
We don't have anything in laws that prevent people from coming to protests and we can't turn them away. So for us, operationally, it was all about reducing that footprint in Ottawa and the only way to do that was to stop people from coming in or incentivizing them to leave.
There is no doubt in my mind that the Prime Minister, the cabinet and in fact not just Liberal members of Parliament but New Democrats, one Green member of the House, which was the former leader of the Green Party, and even the Bloc supported the Emergencies Act. We recognized there was a need for it.
At the end of the day, if we take a look at the Conservatives, it is very difficult to see where they actually were. Many members talked about Conservatives walking out and getting those snapshots onto social media. In fact, I saw one picture of the interim leader at a dinner table with some of the protesters. It was quite amazing to see that.
Some say maybe we should have gone out there and talked to them. I want to give a quote. This is the Conservative guru from the Prairies. The Conservative Party members know him as Jason Kenney, the premier. This is what the premier had to say about negotiating with protesters. The premier was asked specifically about one of the leadership candidates, and I cannot say his name, and whether his comments compromised conduct. The premier stated, “I will never praise people who are out there breaking the law, creating public safety hazards, and I don't think anybody in elected office should do that.” The articles says, “He also said he does not believe anyone from the federal or provincial governments should be meeting with the participants.”
Stick with the facts. That is what I want the committee to be able to do, and hopefully it will be able to do it as quickly as possible.
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- Mar/2/22 7:27:42 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, given the cost and social consequences of the illegal blockades, whether it was the seizure of downtown Ottawa or at the international borders, which cost billions of dollars a day, and factoring in the extreme right and many of the racial attitudes expressed in places outside of Ottawa, I would like to think the committee would ultimately make its decision in terms of the scope of it. I am hoping, and will try to be optimistic, that we will see that consensus. I will cross my fingers, but I guess we will have to wait and see.
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