QUESTION PERIOD — Public Safety
Emergencies Act
June 14, 2023
Leader, I have tracked down more than 11 statements in which Minister Mendicino told the Canadian public that he invoked the Emergencies Act on the advice and at the request of law enforcement.
For example, on February 28, 2022, during question period in the House of Commons, he said, “. . . we had to invoke the Emergencies Act, and we did so on the basis of non-partisan, professional advice from law enforcement.” He also stated, on May 3, 2022, “We invoked the Emergencies Act after we received advice from law enforcement.” On April 26, 2022, at the joint committee, he said the same thing. However, the Commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police said the following:
I can tell you that I am telling you the absolute truth, sir. At no point did I provide or request that the Emergencies Act be invoked.
RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki wrote the same thing. The commissioner wrote that she felt the police had not yet exhausted all the tools at their disposal. The former Ottawa police chief said they had never sought recourse.
The former chief superintendent of the Ontario Provincial Police said the same.
I have run out of things to say about Minister Mendicino’s contradictory messages. I don’t necessarily want to use the same words as Senator Housakos. Is this a case of incompetence? Has the minister really lied to the public so many times?
Either this is starting to look like bad faith, or the minister has lied. Shouldn’t he resign?
The answer is no. First, when it comes to invoking the Emergencies Act, the report clearly stated that it was entirely justified. It is also true that the government made this decision based on a whole array of information from various sources, including information about the inability of police forces and others to manage a situation that was out of control, especially here in Ottawa.
I think that is the gist of the statements from Minister Mendicino that you cited.
Senator Carignan, you have 17 seconds.
Leader, the problem is that he lied to the House of Commons and to Canadians. What is more, Canada is seeing a record number of police officers killed in the line of duty, shootings in the middle of the day, senseless killings on public transportation, in parks and on the streets, a record number of femicides and a rising crime rate. What is the minister doing? He is just shrugging his shoulders. We have a minister who lied to the House of Commons, who is lying to Canadians and who has also shown that he is incompetent. What is the Prime Minister waiting for? When will he dismiss the minister?
I’m not going to repeat the same answers that I already gave several times to the same question. With all due respect, honourable senator, blaming a minister or the federal government for the sad and tragic rise in violence in our cities, in our suburbs, and in the jurisdictions of municipal or provincial police, such as here in Ottawa, is really going too far. I don’t even know what to say to that.
I’m just going to sit here in silence, because, quite frankly, that is really going too far.
