Juno News - February 15, 2022Bergen says Trudeau has an ＂ideological attachment＂ to covid restrictions
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Summary
The Prime Minister invoked the Emergencies Act yesterday, and there are more questions than answers about whether this is justified, questions around if the criteria is met, and questions around what this means to Canadians' rights and freedoms.
Transcript
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Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Prime Minister invoked the Emergencies Act.
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Twenty-four hours in and there are more questions than answers.
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Questions about whether this is justified, questions around if the criteria is met,
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questions around what this means to Canadians' rights and freedoms.
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Parliamentary approval is required in order for the Prime Minister to use this
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unprecedented sledgehammer. So, can the Prime Minister tell us
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when will Parliament be debating this? Will it be coming to us on Friday?
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And does he expect that we will look at it Friday but then rise,
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take a week off, and not actually deal with this until March?
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The Right Honourable Prime Minister, Mr. Speaker, after discussions with Cabinet and Caucus,
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after consultations with the Premiers of all provinces and territories, after conversation
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with the Opposition leaders, we decided to invoke the Emergencies Act to supplement provincial and
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territorial capacity to address the blockades and occupations. I want to be very clear, Mr. Speaker,
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the scope of these measures are time-limited and geographically targeted. They are reasonable
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and proportionate to the threats they are meant to address, and they are fully to be compliant with the
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Charter of Rights and Freedoms to reassure all Canadians that this is the right thing to move forward.
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I had a very simple question to the Prime Minister he was not able to answer. It would appear this could be more
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political drama for the Prime Minister. He name-calls people that he disagrees with, he wedges, he divides,
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he stigmatizes. Yet, in spite of all of his failure, Coutts border has cleared.
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Windsor has opened up. Provinces and police are doing their jobs and blockades are starting to come
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down. But the Prime Minister thinks that now is the time to use this extreme measure and invoke the
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Emergencies Act. Isn't it true that the Prime Minister's actions could serve to actually make things worse
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The right Honourable Prime Minister. Mr. Speaker, this is about keeping Canadians safe,
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protecting their communities and neighbourhoods, and ensuring their jobs and our economy.
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I'm afraid I'm going to have to interrupt the right Honourable Prime Minister. I'm trying to hear the
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answer and I'm having a very difficult time. There's some shouting going on. I'm going to have to ask the
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Honourable Members, maybe just keep it down. And if you've got something that you're not agreeing with,
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talk amongst yourself with someone next to you. You don't have to shout it out to the person across
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the floor. The right Honourable Prime Minister. Mr. Speaker, you are absolutely right. This is
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a time for responsible leadership, not crass partisanship. The situation requires additional
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tools not held by other federal, provincial or territorial law. It's what responsible leadership
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requires. These measures must be and will be compliant with the Canadian Charter of Rights
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and Freedoms. We will always defend the rights of Canadians to peaceful assembly and to freedom
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of expression. But these blockades need to end. And unfortunately, Conservative politicians continue
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Well, let's get down to the basics of what this is really about. This is about the Prime Minister's
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ideological attachment to keeping COVID restrictions and mandates. 63% of Canadians want the restrictions
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and mandates to end. Conservatives presented a motion yesterday asking simply for a plan,
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but the Prime Minister is in denial and is ignoring the science. He might as well
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be back at the cottage because he's doing nothing productive or constructive to help this situation.
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Can the Prime Minister tell Canadians when he will end the divisive, outdated and unscientific mandate
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and restrictions? The Right Honourable Prime Minister, Mr. Speaker.
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Like I said, this is a time for responsible leadership to end these blockades. Unfortunately,
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the Conservatives continue to play partisan games. The Conservative member of Provence, just yesterday,
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I'm sorry, I'm going to have to cut off the Prime Minister just for a second.
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And just, I mean, heckling is usually throwing one comment out. Clever, hopefully, although not
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always necessary. But what I'm hearing is someone bullying and trying to drown someone out. That's not
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heckling. I just want everyone to take a deep breath. And I'll let the Prime Minister start from the top, please.
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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Unfortunately, we see that even in a moment of
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extremely challenging times, when people are moving forward with responsible leadership and
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responsible tools, the Conservatives can't help themselves but play crass political games and
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divide. The Conservative member for Provence just yesterday embraced the leaders of this blockade
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and amplified their cause. The Conservative member for Yorkton-Melville said this weekend,
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the blockaders who ripped down fencing around our national war memorial are patriots. The Conservative
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leadership contender from Perlton continues to say he's proud.
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Honorable Deputy Nasser monsieur le Prat more participative.