Holes Emerge in Liberal Government’s Case for Emergencies Act
Plus the federal government bans Huawei and ZTE from Canada's 5G networks, Conservative opposition motion on restoring pre-pandemic travel rules, and more
Holes Emerge in Liberal Government’s Justification for Emergencies Act
Since March, the Special Joint Committee on the Declaration of Emergency (DEDC) has engaged in an in-depth review of the federal government’s use of emergency powers as well as the performance of duties to end the trucker protests in Ottawa and the blockades at border crossings. As witnesses come forth, holes have started to emerge in the Liberal government’s justifications on the need for the Emergencies Act to be invoked. There was a swirl of mistruths circulated by the Liberal government and repeated by CBC and other mainstream sources to justify the use of the Act that has been repudiated by witnesses and the newest facts available. I will attempt to highlight all the new information that has come to light thus far.
Prime Minister Trudeau and Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino have claimed on several occasions that police services asked the federal government to step in as they did not have the ability to stop the protests and blockades. However, in recent weeks, the RCMP and Ottawa Police have both testified before the Special Committee stating they did not request the government to invoke the Act and said they had the necessary powers to remove protestors. Additionally, Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair said publicly that police had all the tools they needed the week before the act was invoked.
One of CBC’s hosts of Power and Politics on January 28 suggested Russian actors “could be continuing to fuel things” and “instigate” the convoy protest further to destabilize Canadian democracy. CBC was forced to retract this as there was no evidence of Russian involvement nor that of any other foreign country.
CBC then reported on claims by the Prime Minister’s Office and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland that suggested the convoy’s donations, totaling nearly $10 million on GoFundMe and GiveSendGo, two separate platforms, were primarily from foreign actors. They claimed they had reviewed donations from GoFundMe and noted thousands of suspicious donations from foreigners. They had to retract this as well as GoFundMe and GiveSendGo both revealed that the overwhelming majority of donations had come from within Canada. GoFundMe’s CEO, in testimony before the Public Safety Committee, said nearly 90% of the funds were from Canadians and there was no evidence of involvement from terror groups, neo-Nazis, or other criminal syndicates.
Liberal cabinet ministers said they had no choice but to invoke the Act due to the vast impact it was having on the economy. In particular, Ministers Freeland and Mendicino made the claim that Canada had “lost” nearly “$390 million a day in trade” during the border blockades, particularly at Ambassador Bridge. However, economic data showed that February trade between Ontario and the United States had actually gone up compared to the same month last year, an identical finding to the analysis of Alberta and U.S trade at the same time. Additionally, the $390 million figure cited by the Liberal government was the rough value estimate for goods that cross the Ambassador Bridge daily during normal operations. The closure of the bridge did not mean that businesses lost $400 million a day. As the data suggests, these goods had made it to their destination but by a different route.
The federal government has launched the inquiry into the use of the Act as is legally required under the legislation. They have named Ontario judge Paul Rouleau to head the Public Order Emergency Commission. Interestingly, they have tasked Justice Rouleau to investigate the actions of the protestors instead of the government, contrary to the legislated goal of ensuring a robust examination of the government’s use of emergency powers. Given the issues with the Liberal government’s arguments to date, I hope there will be a full account provided of the government’s actions when the report is tabled in February 2023. I will be following the work of the inquiry closely as it's the chance for citizens to see the federal government be held accountable before a judge in an inquiry reviewing the government's conduct.
Huawei and ZTE banned from Canada’s 5G networks
On Thursday, the Liberal government announced it will ban Huawei and ZTE, two of the People’s Republic of China’s biggest telecoms equipment makers, from working on 5G phone networks in Canada. This decision came over a year after our Five Eyes allies have either banned or severely restricted the use of Huawei in critical 5G infrastructure due to national security concerns. Huawei has long been accused of having close ties with the Beijing government. Conservatives had been calling upon the Liberal government to do so since 2019, over three years ago. With these delays, Canadian telecommunications companies have purchased hundreds of millions of dollars of Huawei equipment that will need to be removed at enormous costs. The Liberal government has refused to compensate these companies, which means costs will be passed onto consumers. While I welcome this decision by the federal government, it should not take three years to reach a decision that our allies were able to make years before on national security grounds.
Conservatives introduce motion calling upon the federal government to restore pre-pandemic travel rules
Many Canadians have raised their concerns in recent weeks with the Liberal government’s COVID-19 protocols at airports. Passengers are stuck dealing with extreme delays, line-ups, bottlenecks and missed connections. The European Union and the United States have dropped their mask mandates for passengers on flights and in airports, but Canadians are still subjected to random COVID-19 testing despite being fully vaccinated. When asked for a timeline for when these issues would be resolved, the federal transport minister could not provide an answer, instead blaming “out-of-practice travellers” for causing delays at security checkpoints. If health experts around the world, including those of our trading partners, have laid out sensible methods of travel that do not cause such issues, Canada should be able to follow similar practices. This week, Conservatives introduced an opposition day motion calling upon the federal government to restore pre-pandemic travel rules and make life easier for Canadians. As travel returns to pre-pandemic levels, so should airports. The vote will be on May 30.
CanPKU Conference in Red Deer
I have long been an advocate for people with rare diseases. Canada’s drug approval process lags significantly behind our friends in the European Union and the United States. The federal government has long promised to improve access for people with rare diseases but no strategy has come forth. This past weekend, I had the opportunity to address the CanPKU Conference in Red Deer, offering my views as a parliamentarian on Canada’s lack of a rare disease strategy, pharmaceutical drug approvals, and other topics. It was a pleasure to hear from those at the conference and I heard the concerns from many about accessing drugs in Canada that are easily available in the United States. These concerns will be present on my mind as I continue serving in Parliament.
Calgary Maker Faire
This weekend, I attended the Calgary Maker Faire and observed many interesting experiments and projects being developed by Calgarians and many others. This event first came to Calgary in 2012 and has been a great place for locals to highlight their talents in the years since. It was an enjoyable experience and it lived up to its moniker as the Greatest Show (& Tell) on Earth.
Trudeau is signing us onto a pandemic treaty this weekend. If your not fighting that your part of the problem