Senator Gold: Again, respectfully, colleague, I disagree. On the second point, I listed on many occasions the additional measures that were not available to any level of government but for the proclamation of the emergency and the promulgation of the regulations, and I won’t repeat myself.

To your first question, it is not the government that determines. The government doesn’t direct police in our democratic society. My understanding is that residents or people who have legitimate business to do, or people who work in an area that is otherwise restricted, can enter the red zone. There are checkpoints. We have all gone through them in the last while. Of course, it is relatively easy for us because we have the card, to be sure.

However, I would just say this. The inconvenience to residents of Ottawa for having to demonstrate that they have valid reasons for being in a particular area — as opposed to having either no reason to be there or are clearly foolish enough to reveal their desire to reoccupy — pales in comparison to the inconvenience that residents of Ottawa endured for three weeks, unable to sleep until a courageous woman got an injunction to stop the horns. For her civic actions, she required police protection because of threats and harassment against her. There are always many sides to a discussion, but they’re not always of the same weight. Respectfully, to minimize what the citizens of Ottawa went through and what the country goes through when it is threatened with economic dislocation, when borders and bridges are closed, when its institutions are threatened, when the leaders duly elected are threatened and when police officers are threatened. With all respect, that weighs much more heavily and should weigh more heavily in terms of the responsibilities that any government, any federal government should assume than requiring residents of Ottawa to take a detour if they want to take a walk along the canal.

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