A parliamentary committee is considering the government’s decision to make use of the emergency law, which it did to end a protest against the vaccines that hit Ottawa in January and February of this year. When Medicino appeared before the commission, he said the government had acted “on the advice of a non-partisan law enforcement professional”. However, RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki and Ottawa Police Chief Steve Bell testified that they did not ask the government to invoke the act. CLOCKS Conservatives accuse Public Security Minister of misleading Canadians over emergency law
Conservatives accuse Public Security Minister of misleading Canadians over emergency law
Conservatives call on Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino to step down from cabinet post amid lengthy questions about who wanted to invoke the emergency law – Liberal MP Yasir Naqvi, Conservative MP Dane Lalyd Alistair MacGregor joined Power & Politics on Tuesday to discuss. In a statement, caretaker Conservative leader Candice Bergen said Mendicino should resign because he “lied and misled Canadians about the emergency law”. “The minister has repeatedly claimed that the government invoked the emergency law only ‘on the recommendation of the police’, but the testimony of RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki and the head of the Ottawa Police Department show that this did not happen,” he added. In another testimony before the committee, Rob Stewart, the deputy secretary of public security, said there was a “misunderstanding of the minister’s words”. A Mendicino spokesman has not yet responded to a request for comment from CBC News.
The resignation question leads to a fiery QP
Bergen began a question-and-answer session in the House of Commons on Tuesday, asking Prime Minister Justin Trinto if he would ask Medicino to resign. Trinto did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but instead defended his government’s use of the act. “When illegal blockades paralyzed our economy, harmed workers and communities, the police, municipal and provincial leadership told us they needed more tools to end them,” Trindo said. “We heard, we determined that the emergency law had the necessary tools to end this and it worked.” Bergen kept pushing for an answer. “[Mendicino] “He is a lawyer and a former federal prosecutor,” he told the Commons. “He knows very well how to choose his words carefully. He knows very well how to be precise in his language. “However, he said again and again that law enforcement had asked for the emergency law. Those were his words. Now we know his words were not true. How can the prime minister believe in this minister? [Trudeau] ask this minister to resign? “ Trinto again did not respond, choosing to go on the attack. “What is clear is how much the Conservatives hope the Canadians will forget that they stood by the illegal blockers,” he said. Medicino defended his testimony during the interrogation period and gave no indication that he would resign. “I entered politics to make sure we could protect Canadians, and on this side of the House, we know what is needed when it comes to protecting the health and safety of Canadians,” he said. “That’s why we invoked the emergency law. Obviously we consulted the police, we asked for their advice. You heard the Commissioner say in front of the committee, we took that advice and we used it.” Lucki has testified to the commission that the RCMP used new powers under the emergency law to prevent people from participating in the Ottawa protest. “We used it as a big deterrent to people coming to the area. So, yes, in fact, we used the measures enacted in the emergency law, along with other principles we had,” he told a public opinion in February. meeting of the Security and National Security Committee. RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki speaks during a press conference in Ottawa on October 21, 2020. Lucki said the new police law under the emergency law acted as a deterrent to most of the protesters who joined the Ottawa occupation, but RCMP asked the government to invoke the act. (Adrian Wyld / The Canadian Press) Pressed to react to Mendicino’s statements on CBC Power & Politics, Ottawa Center Liberal MP Yasir Naqvi, who is also the parliamentary secretary of the emergency minister, said the government made its decision on the advice of the authorities. law enforcement. “When it comes to which laws should be used, this is the government’s decision. But based on this consultation, based on the advice the government has received from law enforcement… [the] “He invoked the emergency law so that they could be given these additional tools to end the illegal occupation and blockades,” Naqvi told host Vassy Kapelos. Dane Lloyd, the conservative emergency preparedness critic, said Mendicino’s statements indicated he wanted to render the decision to use the act in law enforcement. “It is very misleading because the minister said that after the recommendation of the police he referred to the emergency law, which was clearly designed to divert responsibility from the government,” Lloyd said. NDP public safety critic Alistair MacGregor said Mendicino could resolve the issue more transparently about what happened. “The minister’s duty to the committee is to be as transparent as possible, so that this committee has full access to the process in which the cabinet decided to invoke the [Emergencies Act]”, Said MacGregor. “In order to end this issue, the minister must be completely transparent with the committee.”
