Debates of Feb. 19th, 2022

Emergencies Act

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Madam Speaker, my colleague is passionate, which means that he is speaking very quickly and the interpreters are having a hard time keeping up. I know that passion can be expressed in ways other than speaking quickly.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

I encourage the member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan to slow down a bit so that the interpreters can keep up with his speech.

The hon. member has three minutes.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Madam Speaker, I am grateful to the interpreters for the important work they do.

Mr. Dhaliwal donated $13,000 to the “freedom convoy”. After the fact, according to an NDP source, Mr. Dhaliwal asked for his money back. This NDP source conveniently claims that there had been a misunderstanding about the true nature of the organization, which sounds like the sort of thing an NDP source would say. Regardless, let us take the NDP source at their word and suppose that Mr. Dhaliwal, the NDP leader's brother-in-law, donated as a result of a misunderstanding. Perhaps he accidentally clicked on the wrong GoFundMe page. Perhaps he donated $13,000 before he had a chance to read the description. Let us say this is entirely true, and let us say that Mr. Dhaliwal was not the only one. I am sure there are many everyday Canadians just like Mr. Dhaliwal who have donated to the convoy for various reasons: because they oppose mandates, because they are concerned about the impact on the supply chain, because they want to show support for truckers or because of some sort of misunderstanding. I do not want Mr. Dhaliwal to have to worry about his bank account being frozen without a court order because of these emergency measures.

The NDP might no longer be prepared to stand up for workers, civil liberties and members of the NDP leader's own family, but the Conservatives are prepared to step up when the NDP have let their own people down. My colleagues have pointed out that the NDP and the Liberals are becoming almost exactly alike, but I do see one clear difference: Unlike the NDP leader, we know that the Prime Minister has a track record of doing a great deal to defend the financial interests of his family.

In spite of the challenges we face, I am much more optimistic about the future of our country than I was three or four months ago. With its complex cast of characters, the presence of a few unsavoury individuals and tens of thousands of people working for an end to mandates and a return to normal life, the convoy movement has led to a renewed interest in political involvement and participation within my constituency and across the country. It has inspired more Canadians to stand up for peace, order and good government.

Last night, I held a virtual town hall on short notice to discuss the Emergencies Act. There were over 300 participants, plus their family members and spouses. The message was overwhelming and confirmed my decision to vote no. The participants also asked many good questions about how our democratic process works, how to influence change and how they can get involved. Canadians do not want division and they do not want lawlessness. They want a restoration of the rule of law through ordinary and lawful means, whereby citizens and leaders respect human rights and follow the law and whereby the law is applied equally to all regardless of their political views or status. They want an end to the mandates, and they want public health policies that are based on science. They want the ability to work and raise a family.

The next convoy will not be a protest convoy; it will be a voters' convoy. After this weekend, people will turn their attention toward learning about and engaging in the democratic process to defeat this divisive government and its NDP allies and replace them with a government that will defend freedom, opportunity and, yes, the rule of law. God keep our land glorious.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Madam Speaker, I have listened quite extensively today to the Conservatives and their reactions to the blockades and the protesters, and I note the amount of support they continue to provide that group. There is a conflicting message. On one hand, they say that they are against the blockades and want people to go home, and on the other hand, they are worshipping their actions.

We have been consistent. The blockades have cost our communities a great deal. They shut down downtown Ottawa. Some blockades were for economic purposes and caused job losses at our borders in Manitoba, Alberta and Ontario. The need is there, and a good example with this enactment is the issue of children. Children were actually used as part of the blockade.

I wonder if the member can provide his thoughts about using children in illegal blockades. Does he support that too?

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Madam Speaker, frankly, even from this member I expect better. My position has been clear: yes to peaceful protests, yes to those calling for an end to mandates and no to illegal blockading of critical infrastructure. I would say this consistently across the board, regardless of who is doing the blockading. I would also say no to the arbitrary abuse of power by the government to target people who had only so much as donated to the convoy movement long before any of the blockades started. It should be a fairly simple principle, and it is one that members of the Liberals and the NDP used to understand. We cannot justify any abuse of power by government simply because we disagree with the actions of some protesters.

[Denis Trudel, Bloc, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Madam Speaker, the situation has changed in the past 48 hours. The truckers have left and so have most of the protesters.

The NDP member for Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie told the media that, if the truckers left, the NDP might rethink its decision.

The truckers have left Ottawa and there is no more national emergency. If the Prime Minister held a free vote on this important issue, does my colleague think that there would be dissent among the Liberals and that some might vote against the decision to invoke the act?

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Madam Speaker, I have been clear that I do not agree with the emergency measures being used in the first place. I think law enforcement already had the tools they needed and that has been clear. Certainly, it should be all the more evident now, even to those who were maybe on the fence before, that the border blockades had either already ended or were well on their way to ending at the time the emergency measures were brought in. It would not make sense to continue these emergency measures at any point after the protests and blockades ended. I do want to be clear, though, that I do not think there was any justification for bringing in these measures in the first place or at any time.

[Arif Virani, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade]

Madam Speaker, I appreciate that the member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan is a man of logic, so I am going to put to him some logical issues that are troubling some of us on this side of the House. One is that the protesters have talked about the importance of freedom of expression, yet assault a journalist. Second is the importance of being antilockdown, yet this resulted in the lockdown of downtown Ottawa. Third is this idea that robust supply chains are critical and then supply chains are blocked in his own province of Alberta.

Does he understand the reticence on this side of the House to dialogue with people who are engaging in such illegal activities?

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Madam Speaker, in any other situation, the member would understand how problematic it is to cast such broad generalizations about groups of people, as if the protesters had all assaulted journalists and as if the protesters had all engaged in border blockades. This is utter nonsense. The member should know that tens of thousands of people have gone out across this country to engage in protests about these unjustifiable mandates. Many have done so peacefully. Many have done so having no sympathy whatsoever for blockading.

I deplore any violence, of course. I hear that a journalist was pepper-sprayed by somebody, perhaps law enforcement or somebody else. Any attacks on journalists are totally unacceptable, regardless of where they are coming from. However, this is not representative of—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

It being 12:02 a.m., pursuant to an order made Thursday, February 17, 2022, having reached the expiry of the time provided for today's debate, the House will resume consideration of the motion for confirmation at the next sitting of the House.

Accordingly, the House stands adjourned until later this day at 7 a.m., pursuant to order made on Thursday, Feburary 17, 2022.

(The House adjourned at 12:02 a.m.)