SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

Ontario Assembly

43rd Parl. 1st Sess.
October 26, 2022 09:00AM
  • Oct/26/22 10:30:00 a.m.

Mr. Speaker, as you know, Malini is one of our pages, and her father, Ayyappan Subramaniyan from Markham–Stouffville, joins us here today. Welcome to Queen’s Park, sir.

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  • Oct/26/22 10:40:00 a.m.

I think the Premier has been very clear. This is obviously a federal inquiry into the federal government’s decision to invoke the federal Emergencies Act. I know the member opposite doesn’t appreciate that, Mr. Speaker, but that is the case.

At the same time, we have been assisting the commission by ensuring that cabinet documents have been provided to the commission and by also ensuring that both the Deputy Minister of Transportation and the Deputy Solicitor General are made available to the commission to assist them as they investigate the federal government’s invocation of the Emergencies Act.

The member herself shows exactly why this is political. It shouldn’t be. It is a policing matter. We have been hearing that consistently throughout the testimony so far and that is why we are assisting the commission in ensuring, as I said, that cabinet documents are made available, that the Deputy Solicitor General has been made available and the Deputy Minister of Transportation. We’ll continue to provide that assistance as required.

We are assisting the commission, Mr. Speaker, as you would expect, by ensuring that the Deputy Minister of Transportation and the Deputy Solicitor General are made available to the commission. We know that the OPP commissioner also will be testifying and, at the same time, cabinet documents with respect to that time period have been turned over to the commission. We will continue to assist the commission as it investigates the federal government’s use of the federal Emergencies Act.

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  • Oct/26/22 10:50:00 a.m.

Obviously, a tremendous amount of resources were provided to the city of Ottawa and continue to be. But the current commission of inquiry is specific to the federal government’s use of the federal Emergencies Act. By the terms of that legislation, of course, the federal government had to invoke this commission of inquiry.

Now, we are assisting the commission in its work by ensuring that the Deputy Minister of Transportation is made available to the commission, by ensuring that the Deputy Solicitor General is made available to the commission. At the same time, certain cabinet documents have been requested. We’re assisting the commission by providing those documents to them. We’ll continue to work with and assist the commission as it does its work.

At the same time, I’m heartened to know that the member opposite has a green vehicle. He’s very lucky, because of all of the work that the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade has been doing to ensure that green vehicles are the future in the province of Ontario. And because of the work of the Minister of Energy, we can now charge up those green vehicles at the ONroutes between Ottawa and Toronto. We couldn’t do that before, could we? We couldn’t do that before because they didn’t exist. So congratulations to the member opposite.

We’ll continue to work on behalf of the people of the province of Ontario. But really, specifically to the commission, we’ll continue to assist them because it’s important that we do so.

What we’re trying to do and what the commission is trying to do is get to the bottom of the fact of whether the Emergencies Act was required. By law, the federal government has to invoke this commission of inquiry. They have asked us for certain cabinet documents—and we’re assisting the commission in ensuring that that happens. It is a policing matter, as the Premier has said. It shouldn’t be a political matter, like the opposition is trying to make it. That is why we have offered and are ensuring that the Deputy Minister of Transportation is available to ask the questions—as the member for Ottawa Centre has highlighted. We’re also making the Deputy Solicitor General available.

We’ll continue to assist the commission as it does its work to investigate the federal government’s use of the federal Emergencies Act.

That is why, of course, we are assisting the commission in its work, by ensuring that the Deputy Minister of Transportation is available, that the Deputy Solicitor General is available, and by ensuring that cabinet documents relevant to the commission’s inquiry are also made available.

We continue to assist the commission of inquiry as it does its work in assessing whether the federal government’s invocation of the federal Emergencies Act was required at the time.

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  • Oct/26/22 11:00:00 a.m.

Well, Speaker, I think in the member’s example, the former Premier herself was the subject of the inquiry, right? So it is certainly a big difference. Having said that, we, of course, are going to continue to work with the commission. We have provided cabinet documents for the commission, as has been required. We’re going to continue to assist them by ensuring that not only the commissioner of the OPP but the Deputy Solicitor General are made available to the commission and the Deputy Minister of Transportation is made available.

Look, the difference, again, is that this is a federal commission of inquiry into the federal government’s decision to invoke the federal Emergencies Act for the first time, Mr. Speaker. As you would expect, the commission has asked for assistance in that, and we are providing that assistance in the capacity that I’ve mentioned on numerous occasions in the House.

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