I actually don't think it's redundantly redundant. I think that this is actually an important aspect of this very important study for a number of reasons. Let's also not forget that there is an entire different committee that is going to be struck to examine emergency measures. It's going to be made up of parliamentarians and it's going to examine the full scope of these measures. I hope that this study could help positively contribute to that discussion.
But with regard to the financing of illegal blockades, I think it is important to understand how we came to have these emergency measures in the first place and what exactly has been happening on the ground, and then realize who is affected by these measures and how. If we don't understand the people who have been raising money, what they've been using that money for, how they've been utilizing that money and how they've been raising that money.... I've heard an unbelievable amount of variance and different causes and reasons for this money, everything from “investigative journalist” to people who have all kinds of different causes coming in and justifying their reason for this.
Those are all the types of people who are going to be affected by these emergency measures, so in order for us to understand whether or not the measures are appropriate and affect the appropriate people, we need to understand who those people actually are in the first place.
The second aspect of the proposed addition to the study, which is the impacts of the blockades on the Canadian economy and Canadian workers, is for us to understand the tolerance of the measures that the government has put into place. We're going to study the impact as per this motion as currently worded and we're going to be thinking about whether these are appropriate measures.
We should absolutely understand exactly what the economic impact of these blockades has been, not just in Ottawa, not just at the Ambassador Bridge, but on families and with workers, to understand that if this was to happen again in the future, or if this was to be a regular tactic—and it's not like we haven't seen tactics similar to this before—whether or not the measures that are proposed in the Emergencies Act are an appropriate use or if we should be looking at other methods.
I think both aspects of this are important. First, the financing of the illegal blockades, where that financing is coming from, what it's being used for, how it's been tracked by the various agencies like FINTRAC and the like is very pertinent to this study.
Second, there are the impacts of the blockades on Canadians and Canadian workers. We have heard about individuals who have been laid off, and plants and factories that haven't been able to continue. Understanding that, I think, will provide a lot of context to this particular study.