Hon. Wanda Elaine Thomas Bernard: Would Senator Plett take a question, please?

Senator Audette: Yes, but I’d like to give it some more thought, and I hope to get some good answers in the course of the debate.

Senator Plett: Sure.

Hon. Claude Carignan: Would the Leader of the Opposition take another question?

[English]

Senator LaBoucane-Benson: I’m from Alberta. Whether people are vaccinated, unvaccinated — I have both in my family — is not what this is about. At the very beginning, the convoy was about vaccine mandates. Someone in your caucus said we should have gotten rid of the vaccine mandates and everybody would have gone home. My question is this: As a government, do you do that? Do you give in to illegal activity? Do you give them the outcome they want to end this instead of using the Emergencies Act? Is that what should have happened?

Senator Carignan: Professor Andrew Potter from McGill University commented on Canada’s drop in the democracy index in an article on the Radio-Canada website, which reads, and I quote:

 . . . Mr. Trudeau is therefore “directly responsible for the consequences.” . . . “His attitude toward Parliament has been contemptuous and dismissive,” the researcher said. “What is happening in the streets of Ottawa is, to a large extent, a direct consequence of that. When people feel as though their opinions are being ignored or treated with disdain, it’s likely to cause anger.”

I imagine you agree with the professor?

[English]

The Hon. the Speaker: Senator Yussuff, your time has expired, but there is at least one senator who wishes to ask a question. Are you asking for five more minutes to answer a question?

Senator Yussuff: Until we know for certain, we’ve been asked to consider if we support the government in regard to the invocation of the act. We don’t have another question before us right now. Until the House leader tells us something different, I guess we’re still voting on the motion.

Hon. Dennis Glen Patterson: I’d like to ask if Senator Mercer would please take a question.

Senator Mercer: Yes, sure.

The Hon. the Speaker: Is leave granted, honourable senators?

Some Hon. Senators: Hear, hear!

Senator Gold: The appropriate order-in-council will be filed in due course.

Hon. Senators: Agreed.

(Motion withdrawn.)

(At 4:24 p.m., pursuant to the orders adopted by the Senate on November 25, 2021 and February 21, 2022, the Senate adjourned until 2 p.m., tomorrow.)

Senator Forest: Basically, I’m trying to determine what measures should have been taken. In my view, if there are several idiots, perhaps we should have taken a different approach with the people who are actually dangerous. Do you think we should have taken a different approach with the two types of people who may have infiltrated the convoy, Senator Plett?

[English]

Hon. Mary Coyle: Will Senator Tannas take a question?

Hon. Brent Cotter: Would the honourable senator take a question?

Senator Ataullahjan: Senator Plett, we heard on the floor of this chamber that if someone feels that their account was wrongfully frozen, they could always go to court. I don’t know if you can answer this question, but how easy would it be to go to court for a layman who doesn’t have an understanding of his rights, who doesn’t know what options are available for him and who might not have the means? What do I say to someone who calls me and asks, as a racialized person or someone who has a racialized name and might not have that great a command of the English language? Do I tell them to go to court?

I don’t know if you have the answer, because I didn’t have an answer.

Senator Plett: Absolutely.

[Translation]