Finance committee  I'm hearing that the phone lines aren't up yet for the staff. Can we check with the clerk to see what their status is?

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier  I visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier this morning, not just to remember, and not just to give thanks, but also to beg for forgiveness for any time that we as Canadians have forgotten that freedom was not free. I thank those who laid flowers at the tomb and at the Terry Fox statue, and I say shame on those who desecrated sacred places this weekend.

COVID-19 Protest  Speaker, of course we all condemn hateful and destructive acts by a few at any protest. Whether it is beheading the statue of Queen Victoria in Manitoba, tearing down the statue of Sir John A. in Montreal or putting flags on Terry Fox, whether it is burning churches or wearing blackface, whether it is Hezbollah flags or Nazi flags, we all condemn it, but I am not talking about that.

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply  We saw people harassing journalists, urinating on and disrespecting the National War Memorial, intimidating and stealing from a food bank, and desecrating a statue of our national hero, Terry Fox. While there may be truckers as part of this crowd, they are certainly not sanctioned by the organization that speaks for truckers, and the prevailing voice of the past four days is one of a much more sinister crowd and outlook.

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply  Madam Speaker, I will be splitting my time with my friend, the hon. member for Surrey Centre. I am thrilled to be back in our nation's capital to address the Speech from the Throne. Canadians have shown great resilience and ingenuity over these last two years. Our government has worked rapidly and diligently to provide the tools and resources required by families, businesses and other levels of government.

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply  Look at any Black Lives Matter event, and we will see a few troublemakers. In Canada, we have seen troublemakers knock the head off the Queen Victoria statue in Manitoba, tear down the Sir John A. statue in Montreal and put flags on the Terry Fox statue here, and we in this room condemn all of that. Of course, I condemn anyone promoting hate speech or hate symbols in this protest.

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply  I am referring to symbols of hate and racism, including swastikas and Confederate flags being displayed. I am referring to disrespecting the memory of some of our national heroes like Terry Fox and the unknown soldier at the National War Memorial. As if these acts were not despicable enough, we also saw videos of protesters harassing shop owners and refusing to wear masks, and we heard accounts of protesters harassing workers at a soup kitchen and stealing food meant to feed the homeless.

COVID-19 Protests  This is not what we represent, this hate, with the desecration of war memorials and the vandalizing of the Terry Fox memorial. This is not Canada. This is not who we stand for. I want to stand with people who are saying this is wrong. I want to stand with the truckers who are saying this convoy does not represent them.

COVID-19 Protests  A number of incidents occurred, such as a protester carrying a German Nazi flag, others with Confederate flags, motorists parking on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and other protesters urinating on it. Some protesters put their signs on the Terry Fox statue and on other statues. Others also went looking for meals at a local homeless shelter. The incessant noise from the protesters and the inconvenience caused by the fact that many streets are blocked has caused a lot of friction with residents.

COVID-19 Protests  Speaker, I am disappointed to hear a member from the Bloc Québécois suggest that we should try to open up dialogue with individuals who have been associated with people who are spreading hate, people who are waving flags with swastikas on them, people who are raiding soup kitchens to feed themselves because somehow they are entitled to that food, people who have been desecrating a war memorial statue, people who have been dressing up Terry Fox's statue. It is not one bad apple but a whole host of problems, and here we have a member from the Bloc Québécois asking why we are not sitting down and talking to these people.

COVID-19 Protests  As we have seen this week, the Shepherds of Good Hope, which is the homeless shelter where protesters were trying to get food, and some of the women's shelters are getting more donations than they have ever gotten, as are the Legion and the Terry Fox Foundation. There are people living in the neighbourhood around the hospital who are saying that workers who cannot get home and back safely can stay in their spare rooms. There are truckers who continue to deliver goods.

Emergencies Act  There has also been an incident of someone jumping up and down on the National War Memorial. There has been another incident of someone putting an upside-down flag on the Terry Fox statue. There have also been reports of local residents being intimidated and harassed. I certainly condemn all these activities, but none of this justifies invoking the emergency measures act.

Emergencies Act  I have been worried about frightened children unable to sleep or attend school, about people who needed an ambulance or other emergency services, about pedestrians harassed on the street for simply wearing a mask and about frontline workers who do not have a paycheque because their places of employment have been forced to close. Like so many Canadians, I was deeply disturbed to see the war memorial and the Terry Fox statue disrespected and to witness numerous symbols of hate openly displayed in our nation's capital. I want to be clear that there is a distinction between those who oppose public health measures with respect to COVID-19 and those who are responsible for the hostile occupation of our nation's capital.

Emergencies Act  It is tragically ironic that the soldier inside the tomb was once a person who knew well what fighting for freedom was all about. The same applies to the statue of a remarkable young man. Terry Fox raised more money than anyone in this country for those fighting an insidious disease, including those who are immunocompromised. The monument and the statue are precious symbols of the best of who we are as a country.

Government Business No. 9—Parliamentary Review Committee pursuant to the Emergencies Act  I think one of the things the folks who came in protesting forgot was that the lives they were shutting down and the people they were terrorizing had gone through something really hard too. That takes me to one of the things that was desecrated, which was the memorial to Terry Fox. It makes me reflect upon the nature of freedom generally. Terry Fox was somebody who was diagnosed with, at that time, terminal cancer. He was going to die, and he had a choice about what he was going to do with the days left to him, what he was going to do with the freedom that he had while he still drew breath in this world.