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QUESTION PERIOD — Public Safety

Emergencies Act

May 12, 2022


Hon. Donald Neil Plett (Leader of the Opposition)

Senator Gold, on February 22, when we were debating your government’s invocation of the Emergencies Act, you were asked if you were aware which levels of our national security apparatus or others were consulted and listened to when the government was considering invoking the Emergencies Act. You replied:

. . . the government was informed by all of the law enforcement and intelligence services upon which it relies in matters like this.

Senator Gold, is the RCMP included among those law enforcement agencies that the government relies upon in matters like this? If not, why not?

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate) [ + ]

The short answer is yes, of course, the RCMP, other law enforcement and securities — all of these were sources of information and guidance as the government assessed on an ongoing basis the situation with which it was confronted here in Ottawa. The government, benefiting from the information that it received, reached the conclusion that the act was necessary and invoked it — as we know — and revoked it when it was no longer necessary.

I think you said the RCMP had also been involved. Leader, by now, I’m sure you are aware of an exchange between our colleague Senator White and Commissioner Brenda Lucki of the RCMP that took place in the Special Joint Committee on the Declaration of Emergency. Senator White asked:

As a law enforcement agency with primacy for national security, did you ask the government or representatives for the invocation of the Emergencies Act?

Commissioner Lucki responded:

No, there was never a question of requesting the Emergencies Act.

Senator White said:

So you never asked for it. Do you know of any other police leadership who asked specifically the government for the invocation?

Commissioner Lucki responded, “No.”

Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said, in defending his government’s invocation of the act, “We invoked the act because it was the advice of non-partisan professional law enforcement . . . .”

Who, leader, is correct? The Minister of Public Safety or the Commissioner of the RCMP? They cannot both be correct, Senator Gold.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate) [ + ]

With respect, of course they can be, and I will explain why. The government consults with and takes advice from the situation on the ground from all relevant sources, and being informed by what is on the ground is different than responding to a request.

I am aware, of course, of what the commissioner said in response to our colleague’s question. I am also familiar, as colleagues are, with her statement on a previous occasion that it was absolutely necessary to allow them to do what needed to be done to remove the illegal protest from Ottawa.

They are both correct, and the government acted as it responsibly should, because they are answering different questions, as I am trying to do to the best of my ability here.

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