QP: Debating the need for the Emergencies Act

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While the party leaders had all been in the Chamber for debate on the Emergencies Act, only one of them was still there by the time QP got underway. Luc Berthold led off in French, and he asserted that the PM had not paid out the case to invoke the Act and accused him of invoking it simply to save his personal political fortunes, to which Chrystia Freeland raised the economic damage of blockades like in Windsor. Berthold accused her of not updating her talking points, and then asserted there was no case to worry about foreign funding. Freeland stated that business leaders support the necessary action the government has taken because of the blockades and quoted Goldy Hyder’s support. Berthold repeated that there were no longer blockades at the border, and wondered why the prime minster’s mind changed over the weekend around invoking the Act. Freeland insisted that the government would always do what was needed to defend workers and the national interest, and raised their work in the New NAFTA negotiations to compare to the current situation. Kerry-Lynne Findlay took over in English and quoted the deputy director of FINTRAC saying there were no spike in suspicious actions, and Freeland retorted that she spoke to the head of FINTRAC and that they didn’t have the tools necessary to track the new world like crypto, which is why the new measures brought in gave them new authorities. Findlay then tried to catch out the prime minister in a contradiction about the geographically-limited nature of the invocation versus it being available nationally, and Freeland worried that the Conservatives were no longer a party that was concerned with the best interests of the country, then quoted her meeting with Perrin Beatty.

Alain Therrien rose for the Bloc, and listed things the government didn’t need to invoke the Emergencies Act for, and stated that it was simply a lack of leadership. Freeland business leaders in Quebec supported the government. Therrien claimed the federal government had been in “hiding” over the occupation outside—a blatant falsehood—and Freeland said they were taking responsibility for democracy and to protect the national interest.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and he wanted a plan to get out of the pandemic with a commitment to better fund healthcare, for which Freeland stated that they were moving past the Canadians thanks to the 90 percent of Canadians who were vaccinated, and praised our outcomes in mortality rates over the course of the pandemic as compared to other countries. Singh switched to in French to call on the government to improve people’s lives, and Freeland assured him that they were doing so.

Round two, and Dominique Vien repeated the assertion that the prime minister only invoked the Act because he didn’t show leadership (Mendicino: We offered more resources to police forces and the results yielded some progress, but this situation needed more tools), and demanded that Quebec not be subjected to it (Mendicino: This works in cooperation with provinces), Alain Rayes repeated the demand it wouldn’t be imposed upon Quebec (Mendicino: There is no justification for these blockades and we invoked the Act to help police), and Karen Vecchio wondered what proactive steps the prime minister took before invoking the Act (Holland: You guys gave them support and took it as a political opportunity).

Kristina Michaud repeated the demand to keep the Act from being imposed in Quebec, claiming it suspends fundamental freedoms in the province (Mendicino: That’s not how the law works, and Charter rights are protected; Rodriguez: The Act takes nothing away from the provinces, and if Quebec doesn’t need it, they don’t have to use it).

Ed Fast blamed the federal government for current state of inflation (Freeland: This is a global phenomenon, and here are numbers to back it up), Gérard Deltell took over in French to also decry deflation (Freeland: We have indexed benefits for parents and seniors).

Laurel Collins complained that Export Development Canada was still subsidising oil and gas development (Guildbeault: We are phasing out two years earlier than promised and EDC has reduced their oil and gas activities), and Charlie Angus accused the minister of the environment for being in the pocket of the oil industry based on meetings with lobbyists (Guilbeault: Listed measures the government has taken).

Round three saw questions on capitulation to the mob outside (van Koeverden: The omicron wave has passed its peak, and is letting us move to a new phase of measures, but the best way through is through vaccination; Holland: Stop supporting these illegal occupiers), a question as to how many occupiers’ bank accounts have been frozen (Freeland: Some accounts are now frozen but due to operational security considerations, we cannot give numbers today, but will as soon as we can; We could not force banks to provide information without the Act), Afghan refugees pleading for help (Fraser: We will not waver until we resettle all 40,000 refugees; I am the lead minister on this effort), housing affordability (Hussen: You voted against every measure we have brought forward), inflation (Freeland: You claim this is about government spending but you promised even more spending in the election), unemployment (Freeland: We have ensured more jobs have been recovered than were lost in the pandemic), potential Ukrainian refugees (Oliphant: We are standing with Ukraine, but right now the mission is de-escalation), and eliminating interest on Canada Student Loans (Kusmierczyk: We are committed to permanently eliminating interest on these loans).

Overall, it was a much calmer and quieter day today, for which the Speaker thanked MPs for this after things were over, which was frankly unwarranted because there should never be a situation where a Speaker thanks MPs for not being a bunch of howler monkeys. Once again, there were one or two questions on the need for the Emergencies Act which approached being good questions, but were usually thwarted by the intimation that Justin Trudeau somehow had other levers to deploy and simply chose not to, which is completely untrue. The other suppositions, that the Act somehow takes away powers from provinces or suspends rights, were also false and MPs should know better, but they’re far more interested in getting clips for their social media to bother with something as bothersome as truth or context. And the refusal to accept the answer that if Quebec police don’t need the powers they don’t need to use them is just more tiresome attempts by parties in Ottawa trying to suck up to François Legault.

I will once again point out that Chrystia Freeland’s refusal to articulate what is driving inflation, or to press the Conservatives on whether they are demanding wage and price controls, continues to be tiresome. This government has unfortunately bought into the ridiculous maxim that “if you’re explaining, you’re losing,” so that means they never explain and they let disinformation run rampant. Good news talking points don’t counter disinformation, and I wish someone on those benches would actually get that through their heads.

Sartorial speaking, snaps go out to Eric Melillo for a tailored medium grey suit with a white shirt and a dark blue tie, and to Chrystia Freeland for her short-sleeved black dress. Style citations go out to Kristina Michaud for a light blue dress with gigantic wizard sleeves, and to Mark Holland for an eggplant suit with a white shirt and a multicoloured bow tie.

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