The reasons that justified the very first invocation of emergency measures in Canada should not be discussed behind closed doors, promise two elected officials who will co-chair the special parliamentary committee set up in Ottawa.
” [Il y a eu] possibly gross negligence, and that must be made public. I do not see what should be, for reasons of state security, kept confidential in there, “said Bloc Québécois MP Rhéal Fortin, in an interview with The duty Monday.
Mr. Fortin opposed, like his party, the idea of using the Emergency Measures Act to dislodge the trucks that were blocking several streets in the federal capital in mid-February. He is now one of the three presidents of a special parliamentary committee which will examine, in the coming weeks, the reasons why the Trudeau government deemed it necessary to dust off this law, which has never been used since its adoption in 1988.
In particular, the committee must examine the confidential information on which the government says it based its decision.
I don’t see what needs to be, for state security reasons, kept confidential in there.
” If there has [des secrets d’État révélés par le comité]I am not stupid, and I do not demand that we put national security at risk, nuance Mr. Fortin. [Mais] it is a concern for us that the truth comes out. There’s no point in doing an investigation if we put it in the file and we forget about it. »
Camera by default
The Emergencies Act, however, dictates that the work of the special committee must be conducted “in camera”. Its deliberations and the documents received will not automatically be made public. The members of the committee are still unaware of the exact procedure for having this secrecy lifted by default, since this is the first time that this structure has been set up.
“I will make sure that everything that can be public will be made public,” promises New Democratic Party (NDP) MP Matthew Green unambiguously over the phone. He even says that it is a “commitment to Canadians and Quebecers”.
The Ontario MP will be the other elected co-chair of the special committee, the third chair of the presidency being attributed to Senator Gwen Boniface. Matthew Green considers the “Freedom Convoy” to be a highly disturbing movement that had the real objective of overthrowing the democratically elected government. However, he is sorry to have been forced to take the Liberals at their word when they voted in favor of the emergency measures, since parliamentarians like him did not have the same confidential information as the cabinet.
Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino, for example, alleged that participants in the border blockade in Coutts, Alberta, had links with “leaders of an extreme right-wing organization who are in Ottawa”. Four Coutts protesters have been charged with conspiracy to commit the murder of police officers. This dam was dismantled without the need for emergency measures.
“The public needs answers. In the state the country is in, with division, misinformation, cynicism and lack of trust in government, it is our role as a parliamentary committee to restore that trust,” concludes Matthew Green.
No consensus
Even though the Conservative Party forms the official opposition, none of its representatives will chair the committee, nor will representatives of the Liberal Party. According to the government, too many conservatives have displayed sympathy for the Freedom Convoy to be considered impartial on the issue.
The latter sharply criticized the composition of the committee during the negotiations between the parties, seeing it as the result of a proposal for a “Liberal-New Democrat coalition”.
“Traditionally, oversight committees are chaired by the Official Opposition, not by a member of the fourth party who sees himself as an extension of government,” read a Conservative Party statement in late February. The following week, the Conservative MPs were the only ones to oppose this division of labor within the special committee. The duty could not reach a party spokesperson on Monday.
The Emergency Measures Act applied nationwide for ten days from mid-February. In the opinion of the Ottawa police, the new powers conferred on the authorities were useful in freezing the money of participants and requisitioning tow trucks. At least one person was injured during the slow and methodical police operation that succeeded in dislodging the trucks from downtown Ottawa on February 18 and 19.
The special parliamentary committee should begin its work in a few weeks. It will also examine police decisions, the financing of the convoy and the misinformation that may have motivated its participants. The federal government must also conduct its own investigation, the conclusions of which must be tabled within a year at the latest.