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House Hansard - 82

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
June 6, 2022 11:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 82 - Jun/6/22
Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Lib.)
  • Jun/6/22 6:52:08 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the government is hiding nothing. In fact, what we see are Conservatives who have opposed the use of the Emergencies Act and every mechanism they can create in their minds. They want to try to put a Conservative spin on it and say the Emergencies Act was not necessary. There is no convincing them otherwise. They were biased going into committee. They already know what their own conclusions would be, and that is what they will advocate for. It does not matter what the public inquiry or special committee come up with. I sat in on one of the committees. It is pure politics. We are seeing political gamesmanship from the Conservatives. They do not understand the harm to our economy, whether it was at the Ontario international border crossing or Manitoba's border crossing. We are talking about hundreds of millions of dollars every day. They do not care. They want to play political games on this issue. They knew their position prior to going to committee. Yes, there is a special joint committee because there is an open government. We are following the law that was put into place. What I can say from first-hand experience is that, the day after it was put into place, I saw members of police forces providing information to those who were protesting. We saw a relatively peaceful end because of the legislation. The threat was still there. The member does not take into consideration the harm that was being caused in downtown Ottawa. The invocation of the Emergencies Act had a very positive outcome. That is completely discarded by the Conservatives. As opposed to being so lopsided and determined to try to say this was wrong, if they opened their collective mind, I suspect we would see more productivity at the special joint committee, which I have had the opportunity to be a part of for one evening. I witnessed the behaviour from the Conservatives at that particular meeting. The Prime Minister, just like all members of the Liberal caucus, wants to see and is anxious to see the reports that come forward. We understand how important it was to be there to protect our economy and to protect the jobs. The Province of Ontario declared an emergency. The City of Ottawa declared an emergency. The Conservative Party does not care. The Province of Manitoba, three days prior, did send a letter pleading for assistance. Yes, they did not state something specific, but was begging for Ottawa to get engaged and do something because of the tens of millions of dollars being lost at the Emerson border. We take the issue seriously. We have from the very beginning, and we will continue to as we review the process of its implementation.
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