The Hon. the Speaker: I saw Senator Gold rise first, Senator Plett, so I’m going to let Senator Gold speak and then I’ll call on you.

Hon. Vernon White: Honourable senators, I wasn’t going to speak this week and then I was, then I wasn’t, and now I guess I am.

I guess I am, like most Canadians right now, frustrated, tired and sick of what has been two painful COVID-laden years, and yet I recognize that my two painful years have been nothing compared to the painful years that most have had to endure. I’ve been blessed with good health, a healthy family and employment relatively unaffected by COVID. I say that only as I lead into what I believe is the matter before us and I will speak for a fraction of the time that others have, primarily because many of you have outlined the things I saw, I heard and on a few occasions I smelled as I walked through downtown Ottawa.

I will not discuss the legality of the invocation of the Emergencies Act, as we have enough former judges and lawyers here who can do that. I’d rather try to stay in my own lane.

I’ll focus on two things today, though. First, should the act have been invoked; and second, whether it is still needed. On the first count, I watched as the Ottawa occupation grew and as blockades were popping up at border crossings across Canada, in some cases severely hampering trade, crippling part of parts of our economy like the auto sector. Some will argue, as I did in the first few days of the event, that the need for resources was evident. And I suggest that it was clearly expressed by both the police and political leadership in Ottawa and needed to be acted upon at that time.

It has been stated and it is understood that the police — more than 60,000 across Canada — have responded to the need for resources previously, including G7, A20 events, summits, presidential and papal visits. But this was not a G event, a presidential or papal visit. You see, I would argue this became each of those at the same time— a G7 visit in Ottawa where we could send 5,000 officers; a blockade at a railway where we could disperse 1,000 officers. Instead, it became both and more and growing, an octopus with multiple tentacles that was adding limbs faster than the authorities could remove them. I believe that growth of incidents, the lack of capacity/capability to manage the incidents and concerns around potential and expected extreme violence — for example, the arrest and seizure of firearms, conspiracy to commit murder against police officers — was a clear message. This was getting worse and had the potential to become violent and even deadly.

As well, there was a clear and systematic movement to disrupt, like overloading 911 in the city of Ottawa, a dangerous aspect I had never seen before. Then there was the whack-a-mole method used by protesters in the city meant to further reduce police capacity and their movement of vehicles to residential areas, school zones, the airport whenever the police began to tighten controls in the main occupation area.

In essence, I believe there was a tipping point where the federal government had to take a greater role, and that role in this case was the invocation of the Emergencies Act.

People will ask: Was there something else that could have been done? There are always other things that could be done, but they were not being done for reasons I am certain will become clearer in time.

Sometimes the best way to judge whether something was needed is to look at results, and here they are clear. They have ended the occupation. We have not had a large blockade of a border crossing since. So what Canadians were asking for has now occurred.

The second question relating to whether or not it’s still needed is actually easier for me. You see, I would argue we don’t know what we don’t know. The police and our government leadership tell us it is still needed and that there is still a substantial threat. I would suggest that we will judge whether they are correct in the future, when we and the courts review their actions, not now.

In essence, I supported the invoking of the Emergencies Act and, for now, I support its continuance because the authorities are telling me that they continue to need it and to use the tools that the invocation of the Emergencies Act brought into play.

Thank you.