Government Business No. 8—Proceedings on Bill C-10  Mr. Speaker, I thought we were talking about rapid testing. My colleague may have slightly deviated from the main topic, so I will allow myself to do so as well. My Conservative colleague just spoke about the member for Louis-Hébert, who joined the Conservatives and the Bloc Québécois in calling on the government to present a clear plan, as the provinces have done, so that we can get an idea of what is coming.

COVID-19 Protests  Mr. Speaker, there is a vacuum. We are where we are because the federal government has been three steps behind since the beginning of the crisis. It took the federal government 10 days to convene a trilateral table with all levels of government, and it forgot to invite police departments.

COVID-19 Protests  Mr. Speaker, for 18 days, the Prime Minister allowed the crisis to escalate. Today, he is announcing that he plans to invoke the Emergencies Act. After 18 days, we have waited long enough on the federal government. The government must tell us today how it plans to use these emergency measures.

COVID-19 Protests  Mr. Speaker, nature abhors a vacuum. In the absence of federal government leadership, private citizens stepped up to block potentially dangerous occupiers because they feel their government has abandoned them. Ordinary people, brave as they may be, put themselves in harm's way because of this government.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. That is exactly what we have been asking for from the beginning: that the government listen to the public health authority. That is stated in the motion itself. Dr. Theresa Tam stated that all existing public health measures need to be re-evaluated.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, that is a very good question. It is a little hard to discern the Conservatives' position. We have heard the potential future leader of the Conservatives demanding freedom and encouraging the convoy. However, we have also heard other Conservatives—

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, as I said a little earlier, Quebec definitely has a plan, which was announced this week. We have also seen Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario announce plans to reopen not too far down the road. Other countries, such as Denmark, France, England and Sweden are on track to completely lift their health measures.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to be here tonight to speak to this extremely important issue. I would like to inform you that I will be splitting my time with our wonderful whip, the member for Salaberry—Suroît. I will read the Conservatives' motion, which is quite short and pretty self-explanatory, because I want people to have a clear understanding of what we are talking about today.

COVID-19 Protests  Mr. Speaker, the blockade at the Ambassador Bridge, the siege of Parliament Hill, threats at the Ottawa airport and border blockades in Alberta and Manitoba are not isolated incidents. It is not up to any particular city or province to deal with this. They are targeting Canada.

Economic and Fiscal Update Implementation Act, 2021  Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. I heard him say that the government is spending too much and needs to look at where it can cut back. I have a suggestion for him. The government spends billions of dollars a year on oil and gas subsidies even though it has very ambitious climate targets to reduce greenhouse gases by 40% to 45%.

COVID-19 Protests  Mr. Speaker, downtown Ottawa has been under siege for the past 12 days, and this mess will not go away on its own. As we heard again yesterday in his speech, the Prime Minister's plan for getting out of this crisis was to tell the protesters to go and get vaccinated. I have a news flash for him.

COVID-19 Protests  Mr. Speaker, this is day 12 of the occupation of Ottawa, and the federal government is still not stepping up its efforts to resolve the crisis. Yesterday, the Minister of Public Safety said, “I am proud that our government has done everything it could from the start to enforce the law”.

COVID-19 Protests  Mr. Speaker, it is not surprising that the siege is dragging on. On the one hand, we have a Minister of Public Safety who waited 11 days before creating a crisis task force and who refuses to fully deploy the RCMP. On the other hand, we have a Prime Minister who still believes that the occupiers will listen to him, decide that he is right and go home to get vaccinated.

COVID-19 Protests  Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. I agree with him on several points. There has been abusive behaviour, it was reported, and that is the right thing to do. We are holding an emergency debate. This is the last speech of the evening, and I am probably overly optimistic, but I was hoping that something would come of the debate.

COVID-19 Protests  Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech, which I very much enjoyed. It is true that people have become anxious and cynical and that a small minority of people, not everyone, have lost their trust in our institutions. As my colleague said, all of this comes from the fact that these people are living in their own echo chamber.