Posted on 02/21/2022 8:39:47 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Voting along party lines, a majority of MPs in the House of Commons voted on Feb. 21 to approve the extraordinary and temporary measures in the Emergencies Act invoked by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The governing Liberals and the NDP voted to pass the motion for confirmation of the declaration of emergency, while the Conservatives and Bloc Québécois voted against it.
The motion passed with 185 MPs voting for it and 151 voting against it.
Trudeau invoked the act on Feb. 14 to deal with the protests in Ottawa and elsewhere against COVID-19 mandates and restrictions.
Ahead of the vote on Feb. 21, Trudeau insisted that the use of the act is still necessary even though the border-crossing blockades and the protest in Ottawa have been effectively cleared.
“Even though the blockades are lifted across border openings right now, even though things seem to be resolving very well in Ottawa, this state of emergency is not over,” he said at a press conference on the morning of Feb. 21.
“There continues to be real concerns about the coming days. But we will continue to evaluate every single day whether or not it is time and we are able to lift the state of emergency.”
Trudeau also hinted that the vote on the motion for the declaration of emergency may be a vote of confidence.
“Anyone who votes no tonight is doing anything other than indicating that they don’t trust government to make incredibly momentous and important decisions at a very difficult time,” Trudeau said.
Conservatives asked for clarification ahead of the vote as to whether it was a confidence vote.
The Liberals’ government House leader Mark Holland didn’t answer the question, saying, “It’s time to vote.”
Interim Conservative leader Candice Bergen said following the vote that the current situation doesn’t warrant the use of the Emergencies Act.
“After weeks of dividing, stigmatizing, and wedging Canadians, the Prime Minister invoked the Emergencies Act,” Bergen said in a statement. “The Emergencies Act was not necessary to clear the blockades. The government already had all the tools they need under current Canadian law.”
Bergen added that her party has given notice of a motion to revoke the emergency.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said the act was needed because all three levels of government failed to act effectively against the convoy protests.
“Our support from the beginning has always been reluctant,” he said. “We were reluctant because it should have never got to this point.”
The convoy protests were started by truck drivers opposed to the federal government’s requirement that drivers crossing the border into Canada must be vaccinated for COVID-19. As support for the protest grew, it turned into a large-scale movement, with people opposed to various COVID-19 mandates and restrictions joining the cause.
Large convoys of trucks and other vehicles converged in Ottawa on Jan. 29, with many vowing to stay until all COVID-19 mandates were lifted.
Inspired by the trucker convoy protest in Ottawa, other protesters initiated demonstrations against mandates in different parts of the country, including at major border crossings.
Most border crossings, including the one at Ambassador Bridge which connects Windsor to Detroit, were cleared ahead of the government invoking the Emergencies Act.
Following the declaration of the state of emergency, Ottawa police escalated its operations against protesters on Feb. 18, making close to 200 arrests and towing close to 80 vehicles to clear the streets in the downtown core of the capital.
Under the act, the government has sweeping powers to deal with protests, including compelling towing companies to remove vehicles and freezing the bank accounts of those involved in protests declared unlawful.
Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith had said ahead of the vote that he wasn’t sure the use of the act was justified, but said he would still vote along the party line because “it is now a confidence vote.”
Fellow Liberal MP Joël Lightbound, who broke ranks with his party earlier in February, criticizing his party’s leadership for politicizing pandemic policies, said ahead of the vote that the act was “a slippery slope.”
Both MPs voted in favour of the motion on the evening of Feb. 21.
The Senate must now also vote on the government’s request to use measures under the Emergencies Act. If approved, the measures can be in effect until mid-March. The government can extend its use of the act beyond that period as long as it maintains the Parliament’s approval.
The Canadian Press contributed to this report.
Do it.
You won’t even need troops. Give us air superiority and the rest would ne handled.
We just lost Canada in a soft coup. People are having their bank accounts andestates seized based on thier political beliefs. I read over ha las hour that the farmer who allowed supply of the Coutts Crossing Truckers in Alberta has had his entore farm seized under the Emergencies Act.
Many thousands of people who gave money to the Freedom Convoy via crowd funding have had their bank accounts frozen. I know a woman who gave $20.00 who has all of her bank accounts frozen via legislation and regulation designed to prevent the funding of Islamic Terrorists.
Canada is no longer a democracy.
Its Red China, amd it has its own “social credit.” policy on who gets to retain wealth and who does not. Deputy PM Friedland said that thiose seizure provisions will be made permanent.
So now?
We ait and see what Canadians will do. Knuckle under to tyranny, or stand up and fight it.
Cnada is horribly divided now. The Liberal and NDP goverments are subject to a very deep hatred from over half of Canada. Justin Trudeau is seen as the Canadian equivalent of Ceucesceau.Really bad things are about to happen in Canada.
And how many of the citizens are cool with this?
Exactly and good point.
Candor7 wrote:
We just lost Canada in a soft coup. People are having their bank accounts and estates seized based on their political beliefs. I read over ha las hour that the farmer who allowed supply of the Coutts Crossing Truckers in Alberta has had his entire farm seized under the Emergencies Act.
Many thousands of people who gave money to the Freedom Convoy via crowd funding have had their bank accounts frozen. I know a woman who gave $20.00 who has all of her bank accounts frozen via legislation and regulation designed to prevent the funding of Islamic Terrorists.
Canada is no longer a democracy.
Its Red China, amd it has its own “social credit.” policy on who gets to retain wealth and who does not. Deputy PM Friedland said that thiose seizure provisions will be made permanent.
So now?
We ait and see what Canadians will do. Knuckle under to tyranny, or stand up and fight it.
Canada is horribly divided now. The Liberal and NDP goverments are subject to a very deep hatred from over half of Canada. Justin Trudeau is seen as the Canadian equivalent of Ceucesceau. Really bad things are about to happen in Canada.
It depends on where you ask. Alberta , Saskatchewan, Quebec, New Brunswick People are ready to kick ass.
I all other provinces it appears that the majority are knuckling under and kissing the hands of their oppressors, just like the loyalists did with Cornwallis back in 1777.There is a certain segment of Canada which throughout its history morbidly has insisted on kissing the king’s arse even as the king is whipping them. The think there is something admirable about “taking it” and remaining loyal, as if they have an abused wife syndrome.
But things might be different this time. A wind of rage in building in the Western part of Canada.Canada itself, and maybe even Trudeau himself, might not survive it.
It would not surprise me if we see politcally oppressed Canadians seek assylum in the USA, before this is over.
Are you Canadian? If you know of ways to help, let us know.
So long as they put their money in US real estate we're good, right?
Can we work out a swap agreement?
Very True Lucy. The noose will tighten over time.
Are you Canadian? If you know of ways to help, let us know.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Right now we are waiting to see whether Canadians will accept what their government has done.Anyone who helps the Truckers financially will have their bank accounts frozen.
When Canadians donated money to the Freedom Convoy before 15 Feb., it was not a crime. What Trudeau has doone is create a back dated crime, Its called ex post facto crime creation in the law of due process. And then Trudeau is using this to beat down his political enemies and punish them. Trudeau fears the Truckers because they are a grass roots populace movement that will defeat the Liberals and socialists and end all of their socialist schemes and taxes. The Freedom Convoy is a Canadian version of Make America Great Again,
......Imagine if Trump supporters were criminalized and arrested by the Obama government back in 2016. Thats what is happening in Canada.Watch Quebec closely. That is becoming a tinder box.The Block Quebequoise voted with the OCnservatives to deny the Emergency Act. And back in Quebec they are considering what to do next. Wil the beat down and extra judicial punishment of Cnadians be tolerated?
Hard to say. When we find out, then we will know whether you and others like you can help. Right now I wouldn’t mind seeing a division of US Marines posted in Ottawa as “Peace Keepers,” Putin style, with Turdeau escaping with nothing but a shirt on his back to Cuba, where he belongs.
The entire Candian Armed forces has a standing force in all branches of 70,000, of which about 10,000 are combat applicable. USA could take Red Commie Canada in 24 hours making sure a NATO allie is not taken over by communists.
shut it all down!
Yup....be smart...quietly stock up for about 2-3 weeks worth of food/supplies...every trucker in Canada stays home for a week.
No one moves. Liberals in the cities will find out real quick what life is all about.
What about Manitoba and Ontario ?
I’d posted that I believed the ‘emergency powers’ would be made permanent and sadly I was right.
I still expect Trudeau to indefinitely suspend parliament.
Further:
1. Elections will be suspended.
2. Members of opposition parties will start getting arrested.
3. Gun seizures are coming.
4. Property seizures have been happening and are about to become widespread.
5. Alberta, Saskatchewan, Quebec, and probably Manitoba will have their provincial governments suspended and their officers arrested.
6. Maybe not this year or maybe not in the open, but the executions of unpopular people in Canada are coming if they are not already occurring.
7. I don’t see the Canadian police or military doing a damned thing to stop this overthrow of free government. A curse upon them all.
Can’t they have no confidence votes and forced elections in their form of government? Or are the majority of Canadians whacked?
The Bloc members do seem much more down to earth and common sense than the other two left wing parties in Canada, most of whom are unhinged fascist bullies.
They don’t seem to be that stridently ideological, I think the lion’s share of the original Bloquistes, are people that voted for Mulroney back in the 80’s.
And like the actual French they aren’t keen on the Muslim face coverings.
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