Senators Grill Trudeau’s Gov’t on Emergencies Act – Opinion

We’ve been bringing you the fight of the Freedom Convoy against COVID restrictions in Canada. On Monday, it was dark. Instead of having government speak to citizens, the House of Commons approved the Emergencies Act. This gives the government excessive power and suppresses civil liberties.

It could be stopped by the Senate, as we mentioned. It hasn’t passed fully yet — Trudeau needs Senate approval.

It was first considered by the Senate on Tuesday.

Now, I’m not holding out a lot of hope for them to block it, but the grilling that the government’s representative, Marc Gold. The Senate moved on from it. Senators got to the bottom of the question, “Why do you need it?” If the protesters have left Parliament and aren’t blocking the streets. What’s the point besides a huge power grab by Justin Trudeau?

The Parliament also requested information on the intelligence and data that they used to base their Act request. That information was never given by the government. The government representative said they made the decision based on intelligence they “couldn’t share.”

“What is equally clear, as we all know, and as I stated in response to an earlier question, that I cannot share, and the government cannot share and should not share the intelligence that it may have received that helped inform their decision,” he continued.

How do you call yourself a free society when you say even to your Senate “Hey, just go along with us suppressing liberties, but we can’t even tell you why — it’s secret”? Get on board, men.

Senators were disturbed by this. This is right.

Senator Dennis Glen Patterson, who left the Conservative Senators Group in protest over some members’ support of the so-called Freedom Convoy, said: “there is a certain amount of ‘trust us’ in the government’s justification of these extreme measures.”

Senator Patterson joined the Canadian Senators Group and was worried about the lack of access for the joint parliamentary reviewing committee to unredacted security data to assess whether the Act’s enactment is absolutely required.

“This is a serious step that we’re contemplating here today,” said Conservative Senator Elizabeth Marshall. “What exactly happened that the government decided to invoke the act?… Because it seemed like for three or four weeks, there was nothing, they were just tolerating it.”

She continued to ask why the government appeared “to be so late in assessing this monumental threat that they’re talking about.” [….]

Julie Miville-Dechêne, from the Independent Senators Group, worried about the precedent this situation could create given that MPs and Senators are asked to make decisions on the basis of “secret information” for a crisis “that is not visible.”

“Could this exceptional law be invoked again solely on the basis of secret information, which would of course be difficult to accept in a democracy?” she asked.

Conservative Senator Leo Housakos had one of the greatest views about the issue. He chastised Trudeau for stoking the “flames of division” such as by trying to smear the protesters as “Nazis” who carried “swastikas.” He said he had spoken to the protesters (unlike Trudeau) and found them very measured people. He also blasted Trudeau for attacking a Conservative House member “child of Holocaust survivors” a “defender of the swastika.” “Can we cut this nonsense about what we do is more partisan and somehow what you do is God’s work?”

Justin Trudeau does not disclose his motivations for invoking Emergencies Act. He is just as transparent in his role in the Senate. @SenMarcGoldAbout its potential impact on Canadians, and the civil liberties of Canadians. pic.twitter.com/j2ocqDOhyz

— Senator Leo Housakos (@SenatorHousakos) February 22, 2022

Housakos opposed military-style security checkpoints. He pointed out the fact that these restrictions prevented people from moving freely around Ottawa. Housakos claimed that Parliament Hill was being closed to citizens in a way never before seen, violating an important right which is the right of every citizen. In response, the government’s representative lied and said the residents weren’t able to leave their homes without being harassed by protesters.

Housakos also pointed out how the Emergencies Act allows freezing protesters’ accounts when you even need a court order to freeze the bank account of a member of the Mafia.

There were a lot of questions grilling the government, so that’s encouraging. Some of Trudeau’s sales pitch was not being bought by some senators. It’s not clear when they will take a vote but if they don’t approve it, it would be revoked.