The motion passed with support from the Liberal and NDP while Conservatives and Bloc Quebecois MPs voted against it.
The House of Commons has voted to approve the use of the Emergencies Act against the Ottawa convoy protests with a vote of 185-151. It will now move up to the Senate.
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“Now is the time to work together,” Trudeau said. “It’s also the time to reflect on the kind of future we want for our country.”
What? Now is the time (?) & not 3-4 weeks ago? That’s pretty….twisted.
Trudeau also encouraged Canadians to engage in more civil discourse during his remarks on Monday. over political disagreements during his Monday remarks. He says it is time to start mending the rifts across the country after a month of protests.
Singh said early Monday the act was needed because all three levels of government had failed to take the threat posed by the convoy seriously until it was too late.
“Our support from the beginning has always been reluctant,” he said. “We were reluctant because it should have never got to this point.”
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet says his part will vote against the Emergencies Act, which he described as a “terrible law.”
He told reporters law enforcement already had all the powers they needed and Trudeau let the situation get out of hand by not acting earlier.
Many Conservative MPs had argued the federal government have overstepped their bounds by invoking the temporary measures. In the last two house sittings, interim Conservative leader Candice Bergen has vocally express her disdain for the measures.
“We didn’t want use the Emergencies Act,” said Trudeau. “It is never something to turn to without serious consideration.”
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association agreed the government had not met the threshold to invoke the act and is seeking judicial review.
The emergency measures, which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gave law enforcement the tools they needed to successfully clear the demonstrations that have occupied the nation’s capital and international border crossings across the country, will now stay in effect for 30 days.
The Emergencies Act became law in 1988, replacing the War Measures Act used by the other Trudeau during the October crisis.
And now his decision to not only invoke the Emergencies Act (which most minds — those not cowardly beholden to Trudeau — agree was not necessary to get the job done in Ottawa), but to keep it in force for an undetermined period (to “hunt down” some Canadians to charge them with mischief?), has shown precisely how inappropriate Trudeau really is for this high office.
The Canada that Canadians now view every day is not the sensible, reasonable, and generous society that Canadians of all stripes have built up over many generations. It has become polarized, nasty and barely recognizable. Just listen to people talking in stores, on the street, and in meeting...
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Invoking the Emergencies Act to deal with the so-called “Freedom Convoy” is a bridge too far, or at least a bridge too late. The only element of the protest that may have been a national emergency was the blockade in Windsor, Ont., of the Ambassador Bridge, our largest border crossing and economic link to the United States.
But police reopened that bridge without the federal Emergencies Act on Sunday night. Invoking the Act on Monday created the
appearance of decisive action from the Prime Minister without addressing any remaining emergency.
Invoking the Emergencies Act to deal with the so-called “Freedom Convoy” is a bridge too far, or at least a bridge too late. The only element of the protest that may have been a national emergency was the blockade in Windsor, Ont., of the Ambassador Bridge, our largest border crossing and...
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Canada’s progressive parties just granted the federal government unprecedented powers to target bank accounts and limit Charter rights. They have set the precedent of invoking such powers for political reasons and now they can’t complain if a future government does the same.
The result wasn’t really in doubt: 185 MPs voted in favour of extending the powers the government granted themselves a week ago with the Emergencies Act, 151 voted against. In essence, this was the Liberals, NDP and Greens on one side with the Conservatives and Bloc Quebecois on the other...
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The result wasn’t really in doubt: 185 MPs voted in favour of extending the powers the government granted themselves a week ago with the Emergencies Act, 151 voted against. In essence, this was the Liberals, NDP and Greens on one side with the Conservatives and Bloc Quebecois on the other.
Trudeau struggled on Monday to defend his use of the Emergencies Act when asked to do so by the media and by Conservative Leader Candice Bergen.
The government's use of the Emergencies Act received an uneasy response from premiers throughout, with some like Ontario Premier Doug Ford speaking out in support, while others were opposed.
In a separate interview airing Sunday, B.C. Premier John Horgan said while many premiers agreed the situation was serious, they were concerned with federal overreach.
Premier Jason Kenney in neighbouring Alberta took a much harder line, saying on Saturday his government would challenge the use of the act and potentially join as an intervener in a separate case being launched by the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.
Scott Moe is right in line with Kenney & Horgan. At least Trudeau has managed to unite the three most Western provinces.
MPs continued to debate the government's decision to invoke the Emergencies Act, ahead of a vote on whether to ratify the action scheduled for Monday night.
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Just as Ottawa police, dressed in riot gear, began clearing Freedom Convoy protestors from three temporary locations in the capital on Friday, news emerged from a pipeline construction site in the B.C. interior of an attack by anti-pipeline protestors on Thursday.
A group of around 20 masked protestors, armed with axes, committed millions of dollars in damage to construction equipment, as well as threatened security guards in the middle of the night.
Just as Ottawa police, dressed in riot gear, began clearing Freedom Convoy protestors from three temporary locations in the capital on Friday, news emerged from a pipeline construction site in the B.C. interior of an attack by anti-pipeline protestors on Thursday. A group of around 20 masked...
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Yet our prime minister labels the protest in Ottawa the violent one, the one that must be quelled by invoking the Emergencies Act for the first time since it was passed in 1988??
The Freedom Convoy, which featured bouncy castles, barbecues and free Indian food for Sikh drivers, is the one the Liberal government claims is a threat to peace, order, good government and national security.
Justice Minister David Lametti has hinted on CTV that the feds are considering using names, provided by a hacker, of donors to the convoy to have financial institutions freeze their accounts, too.
Isn’t the hacking of personal info a Cybercrime? Does this pass the smell-test? Just wait until Bill C-11 is passed into law with the support of the NDP & Green Parties.
Ottawa, apparently, even investigated the possibility of having the Ontario government’s Children’s Aid Society seize the children of convoy participants.
British Columbia’s Public Safety Minister, Mike Farnworth, issued a statement condemning the “egregious criminal activity” at the B.C. pipeline camp this week. And federal Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson and Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino offered similar (yet milder) rebukes.
But there was nothing from the Liberals like the smear tactics (and police tactics) unleashed against the convoy truckers, who had at times been unruly, but not violent.
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When a government uses a nuclear bomb to dislodge a largely peaceful (although annoying and obstructive) protest, while seemingly ignoring or even sloughing off a truly violent one by radicals it largely agrees with, then ordinary citizens begin to believe there are two sets of laws – one for friends of the government and a harsher set every everyone else.
Don’t expect any justice from the NDP, though. Party leader Jagmeet Singh has said his party will support the Liberals’ use of the Emergencies Act, but only if “Indigenous land defenders, climate change activists, workers fighting for fairness, and any Canadian using their voice to peacefully demand justice” are exempted from its provisions.
There’s the bias that undermines the law and institutions. The extraordinary powers the act gives the government since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked it last Monday, will now be in effect for up to 30 days until mid-March, when it will expire,
unless Parliament further extends it.
Where is the imminent, national security threat to Canada that merits the continued application of the Emergencies Act, approved Monday night by the Trudeau government with the “reluctant” support of NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, while the Conservatives and Bloc Quebecois were opposed? The...
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Contrary to claims by the Trudeau government, the CCLA said, “the emergency orders that are currently in effect are not targeted. They are not limited to specific protests, or specific geographic locations. They are expansive emergency orders that … apply across the entire country. The orders are also broad in scope. They place unprecedented limits on peaceful assembly.
“They
require financial institutions to turn over personal financial information to CSIS and the RCMP, and to freeze the bank accounts and cut off financial services provided to anyone who has attended, or who has provided assistance to those participating in a prohibited assembly –- all without judicial oversight.
“The federal government does not control how and when these laws are used.
“These legal powers have been placed in the hands of police officers across the country.
“As with all broad grants of power, the risk of abuse is significant … its use at this point in time clearly cannot be justified.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday defended his use of emergency powers to end weeks-long trucker-led protests and argued that lingering threats require the measures to remain in force for now.
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The New Democrats sided with the Liberals in passing the motion, while the Conservatives and the Bloc Quebecois opposed it. The Greens are a Party that technically exist. The Senate must also vote on the government’s request.