Evidence of meeting #10 for Declaration of Emergency in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was police.
A video is available from Parliament.
7:40 p.m.
Senator, Ontario, C
Thank you very much.
My clock will start, I guess.
Minister, again, thanks for being here.
I was disappointed that you referred to this as an “adversarial” session, because I see it as fact-finding and within the legislation. That's just a statement, because I don't believe it should be adversarial.
There were a couple of areas, though, that concerned me when we were walking through the blockade. I live in the city of Ottawa and I'm the senator for here.
One was the fact that the mayor was negotiating an agreement with people who we had agreed were committing a criminal act. Did that play into the decision of the federal government to invoke the Emergencies Act, the fact that a contract was signed by the mayor and I think Madam Lich in relation to allowing them to fortress around Parliament Hill in exchange for a release of other property?
7:40 p.m.
Liberal
Chrystia Freeland Liberal University—Rosedale, ON
Thank you for your question, Senator, and I don't think it's appropriate for me here tonight to seek to pass judgment on the actions of the appropriate authorities in Ottawa, but what I will say, which is known by us all, is that the authorities had not succeeded, at the time that the Emergencies Act was invoked, in ending the illegal blockade and occupation, and from my perspective as finance minister, that was a serious problem for Canada, for our economy. So certainly, had they succeeded in ending the occupation, then it may have been possible to behave differently, but they didn't.
7:45 p.m.
Senator, Ontario, C
But to be fair, I think we are passing judgment. We've heard.... I think Senator Harder views it as “a failure of policing”, and I think everybody would agree that it was a failure of policing—unless our plan was to be where we were.
So I think we are passing judgment, and the truth is, we had a mayor who was negotiating. I just ask the question because I can tell you that I emailed, texted and called every minister and every member of Parliament on the government side who would take that call or read that email saying that I can't believe the mayor has just negotiated with criminals.
Did it play into the need to do something because obviously others were ensuring something else was at play that should not be occurring...?
7:45 p.m.
Liberal
Chrystia Freeland Liberal University—Rosedale, ON
What I will say to you, senator, is that I do agree; I agreed at the time, and I agree with you today that it is not appropriate to negotiate with people who are doing something illegal.
7:45 p.m.
Liberal
Chrystia Freeland Liberal University—Rosedale, ON
That is not the right way for the government to behave.
7:45 p.m.
Senator, Ontario, C
I have one more quick question, albeit it may require a longer answer.
Obviously, the province had already invoked their emergency act. Obviously, there is something missing provincially in their legislation that did not help or assist the police in bringing the blockade to an end.
Can you tell us—and I hope that we'll get the Solicitor General of Ontario in front of us—what is missing from their legislation that forced us to have to invoke the federal legislation instead?
7:45 p.m.
Claude Carignan
Ms. Freeland, the Minister of Public Security told us that the government invoked the Emergencies Act on the advice of the police.
Is that true?
7:45 p.m.
Liberal
7:45 p.m.
Claude Carignan
Did the Minister of Public Security inform you that the police had suggested invoking the Emergencies Act?
7:45 p.m.
Liberal
Chrystia Freeland Liberal University—Rosedale, ON
We had many group discussions, but I don't remember any such discussion.
7:45 p.m.
Claude Carignan
As I understand it, you don't remember the Minister of Public Security telling you that the police had asked you to invoke the Emergencies Act.
Is that correct?
7:45 p.m.
Liberal
7:45 p.m.
Claude Carignan
Then do you remember who suggested that you invoke the Emergencies Act?
7:45 p.m.
Liberal
Chrystia Freeland Liberal University—Rosedale, ON
I want to be very clear: that was a collective cabinet decision.
7:45 p.m.
Claude Carignan
Yes, but there's always someone who has the brilliant idea, who pulls the rabbit out of a hat and says, “We should do this.” Who pulled it out first?
7:45 p.m.
Liberal
Chrystia Freeland Liberal University—Rosedale, ON
Just a moment, please.
We made a collective decision at that point, and today it seems I'm personally responsible for it. That was my opinion when we decided it was the right thing to do, and that's also the case now.
7:45 p.m.
Claude Carignan
Was it you who had the idea?
7:45 p.m.
Liberal
Chrystia Freeland Liberal University—Rosedale, ON
We had a lot of discussions, but I think it's important for the government…
7:45 p.m.
Claude Carignan
What I want to know is whether it was you who had the idea to invoke the Emergencies Act.
7:45 p.m.
Liberal
Chrystia Freeland Liberal University—Rosedale, ON
Senator, it was a very serious decision, a political decision.