Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Our role as parliamentarians is to assess whether the government absolutely needed the Emergencies Act to intervene. It is a law of last resort. Regular legislation covered by the Criminal Code, such as the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act, prohibit financial fraud, laundering of ill-gotten gains or financing of criminal activities.
I would like to ask you two questions.
To your knowledge, did the members of your association freeze accounts under regular legislation, such as the act I just named, or did they do it under the Emergencies Act?
How did the Emergencies Act enable members of your association to intervene in a way that regular legislation could not, even if it had been more rigorously applied?