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.
Ontario and Manitoba’s Premiers supported the use of the Emergency Act.Over half of their population did not.
right on
Actually, if you go to downtown Toronto (Ontario) and look around, you won’t find the same type of people that used to lead Canada fifty years ago, when the city was called “Toronto the good”.
Just basing on outward appearance, Toronto could well be more than 50-80% immigrant populations from various parts of the world...maybe more in fact.
Who is the leader of the NDP: a gentleman, I assume, with a last name of Singh.
So, while I have nothing against Sikhs per se, it should indicate to you that the Canadian people are no longer the ethnic whites that many US citizens believe them to be. I’d suggest that Canada’s current population is predominantly from those who’s parents and grandparents were not born in Canada. So who are Canadians? Hint: in terms of majority, they are not exactly the indigenous people of the North.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/canada-population
Quote:
Canada Demographics
32.3% of Canadians considered their ethnic origin to be Canadian.
Anecdotal evidence: I’ve seen entire crowds in Canada cheering on the sports team of a foreign nation over the Canadian team. That’s the Canadian “Mosaic”, (not melting pot), for you.
The Canadian military is who helps us keep tabs on what the Russians are doing. Be careful what you ask for, because you may get it.
+1
On the other hand, the Scottish nationalists in the UK that utterly despise all things British and constantly decry London's rule over them (even though they voluntarily agreed to sign on that!) were all-in for giving the EU total rule over the Scottish, vehemently opposing efforts to free themselves from that.
I guess they don't mind giving up local sovereignty as long as its to a CONTINENTAL government instead of a British Isles government.
Sorta like how the loudmouth "States rights!" secessionists here seem fine and dandy with bigger and more powerful government telling them what to do, as long as its from the STATE government instead of the District of Columbia government...
On a related note, the Bloc is left-wing ideologically but that just seems true of Quebec politics in general. Sadly, conservativism seems to be in the extreme minority over there (though they've probably elected one or two CINOs to Parliament, I'm guessing). We're fortunate that between the Liberals, the NDP, and the Bloc... the Blockheads are the LEAST odious of the three left-wing parties in Canada.
Heh. The “Conservative” Party of Quebec has an “openly gay” leader. He seems to want to be an even bigger CINO than ex-national “Conservative” Party leader Erin O’Toole.
These guys make the British “Conservative” Party look decent:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party_of_Quebec
Try to imagine the reverse... a self-declared “National Progressive Socialist Workers Party” in some country electing a “party leader who is a gun toutin’, abortion-hatin’ church pastor that routinely gloats about how much loves Trump!
Any sane official in the US should consider Canada to now be a potential national security problem.
I forgot there was a provincial level Conservative Party in QB. It’s a non-entity though they acquired one seat in the leg
https://globalnews.ca/news/7955063/claire-samson-booted-caq/
Conservatives there mostly voted for the CAQ and before it the ADQ.
Anyway, fag or not their leader seems ok. Against the COVID policies.
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