Declaration of Emergency Committee on June 14th, 2022

[The Joint Chair, NDP, Matthew Green]

What about with the French interpreter? It doesn't appear that there is a mute.... There's some feedback coming. I've done two and a half years on Zoom, and I've never had this type of cross-feedback.

[The Joint Chair, Hon. Gwen Boniface]

Continue Mr. Green, and we'll look into it while that's taking place.

We'll now go the next round. I'm looking for direction from the committee. We can have four minutes for some members, and three minutes for others. We do have enough time. Instead of doing the one-minute round at the end, we could go for five minutes. If members want to share their time with others, they can do so. I spoke to some, but I'm just making sure everybody would be agreeable to that.

[Arif Virani, Liberal, Parkdale—High Park, ON]

Madam Chair, I'd prefer to stick to the rules that we've established for this committee, which is that the next round should be a four-minute round.

[The Joint Chair, Hon. Gwen Boniface]

That is the motion on the floor, so it's my understanding that we have to conform to the motion.

We'll go to Mr. Brock, for four minutes.

[Larry Brock, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

Good evening, Minister Blair. I want to sincerely thank you for attending today.

As an observation, and in line with Senator Harder's comments, I really want to sincerely thank you for your candour and your willingness to respond appropriately to every question that has been put to you. You have been non-evasive, and you have been giving us substantive answers.

The whole process is to get to the truth, to determine whether or not there was a legal justification for the invocation of the act. Unlike the Deputy Prime Minister, who wasted 90 minutes of precious committee time, I sincerely thank you.

I wish to start off, however, describing my bewilderment and astonishment that someone with your experience in government, someone with your experience in policing for several decades, and someone who has participated in the invocation of emergency powers that have never been used in the history of this country, would not take notes. I find that absolutely incredible.

I want to ask you very clearly, in any discussion with cabinet or your officials in your department, are you telling this committee that you did not keep any notes? There was no note-taking by you, regardless of the number of meetings?

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

Mr. Brock, that's, in fact, true. I do not keep notes.

[Larry Brock, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

Thank you.

I'm going to present to you a series of questions that in my view have seriously undermined the confidence of Canadians in this government as to the rationale behind the invocation of the act. I'm going to ask you whether you agree or disagree.

Minister Mendicino has been under fire as of late in the House and in the press because he has made it abundantly clear that it was on the advice of non-partisan law enforcement that the invocation of the act was established. We now know that neither the RCMP nor the Ottawa police asked the government to invoke the act, despite those claims.

Do you agree or disagree?

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

Because I do want to be very candid and forthright with this committee, the police did not ask me—

[Larry Brock, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

Thank you.

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

If I may—

[Larry Brock, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

No, you answered my question.

I have limited time, sir. With all due respect, I have limited time.

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

To be very clear, it's an important question you've asked, sir.

They provided me with the information that I acted upon and that I believed to be true, which informed my subsequent decision of support for the Emergencies Act.

[Larry Brock, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

Thank you, Minister.

Minister Mendicino also falsely claimed and misled Canadians into believing that the “freedom convoy” protesters attempted to set fire to an Ottawa apartment after locking residents inside, which according to Ottawa police was not true.

Do you accept that?

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

In part.

[Larry Brock, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

Thank you.

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

First of all, I'm aware that it was not related to the protest. I don't ascribe any other motive to anyone else.

[Larry Brock, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

Thank you.

Despite reports of illegal guns in the cabs of some truckers protesting in Ottawa, no gun charges have been laid to date.

Despite claims by Minister Mendicino that women were threatened with sexual assault by protesters, no sexual assault charges have been laid to date.

Do you accept that?

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

If I may provide a clarification, I was advised by the RCMP that in their investigation of part of the blockades that were taking place in Alberta, they did have reliable information and intelligence that there were fire arms present. They subsequently conducted an investigation, and they've laid charges.

That matter is now before the court, and I'm not going to comment because it's inappropriate to do so, but in that case there were firearms present, and they represented a significant threat to public safety and to the police conducting the investigation.

[Larry Brock, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

That was in Alberta.

There were no guns found in Ottawa.

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

Again, that's information better provided to you by the police.

I don't have all the particulars of their investigations, and I'm not going to comment. It's not appropriate to do so.

[The Joint Chair, Hon. Gwen Boniface]

Thank you, Mr. Brock.

[Glen Motz, Conservative, Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner, AB]

I have a point of order, Chair.

This minister just inferred again that the guns found in Coutts were somehow protesters', and that is not true. The RCMP has made it very, very clear that it's not true—

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Outremont, QC]

I have a point of order, Madam Chair. I don't believe there is debate—

[Glen Motz, Conservative, Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner, AB]

I am not done.

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Outremont, QC]

That is not a point of order. What is the point of order? Is it relevance, because otherwise—