(Ottawa) The NDP maintains its support for the Trudeau government, which has decided to resort to Emergency Measures Act to end the illegal occupation of downtown Ottawa and prevent further blockades at border crossings. The Bloc Québécois maintains that the coordinated police operation demonstrates that it was not necessary to use this “atom bomb”.
Posted at 1:38 p.m.
Updated at 3:53 p.m.
The leader of the NDP, Jagmeet Singh, thus confirmed that his troops will vote Monday evening in the House of Commons in favor of the motion which allows the application of this exceptional measure. Justin Trudeau’s Liberals are in the minority in the Commons. They need the support of one of the three recognized opposition parties to continue to enforce the Emergency Measures Act.
At a press conference, Mr. Singh however indicated that his party could withdraw its support at any time, before the end of the 30-day application period, if he judges that the situation is sufficiently under control in the country.
We are still in a crisis. Our support since the beginning of this crisis has been reluctant and our support continues to be reluctant. […] This convoy was a group that attacked our democracy and wanted to overthrow elected officials.
Jagmeet Singh, leader of the NDP
The leader of the NDP shrugged off Justin Trudeau’s decision to make Monday night’s vote a vote of confidence. A rejection of the motion would therefore result in the defeat of the Trudeau government and would cause the holding of federal elections some six months after the last ballot.
“I always understood this to be a vote of confidence,” he said.
As for the duration of the NDP’s support, Mr. Singh indicated that it will depend on the evolution of the situation. “There are still people from the convoy who are in the Ottawa area and so the threat is still there,” he said.
“We should never have been in this situation. It is the failure of the federal government, the provincial government and the municipal government if we have come to this situation because all levels of government have not taken this threat seriously,” said Mr. Singh.
That said, the NDP leader maintained that the use of Emergency Measures Act should not be used as a precedent to prevent legitimate protests by environmental groups or First Nations seeking to defend their rights.
Useless, according to the Bloc Québécois
Bloc leader Yves-François Blanchet believes that the “well-orchestrated” police operation proves that it was pointless to use this legislation as a last resort.
“We are today in the middle of proof that it is neither useful, nor necessary, nor essential, the government should simply drop this exercise rather than mount public relations operations to justify its error a posteriori “, he argued from Wellington Street, now deserted.
In his opinion, the government would have done better to send officers from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to help the Ottawa police from the start instead of waiting several weeks before reacting. As for the tow trucks, he could have “pulled out his credit card” and used American companies instead of forcing local towing companies to move the trucks that were blocking the streets of downtown Ottawa.
“Bank accounts should not be subject to a temporary measure for the next three weeks,” he added. If the measure is legitimate and justifiable, let’s look at it on a legislative and permanent basis. »
The Bloc leader also criticized making tonight’s vote a vote of confidence. “He invokes the most restrictive law in the legal arsenal and because he is afraid of screwing up, he threatens to impose the constraint to make it a vote of confidence, he answers the question of The Press.
It is an acknowledgment of failure and it is certainly not proof of courage.
Yves-François Blanchet, Bloc leader
Mr. Blanchet is also asking for a public and independent inquiry to be held to understand why the authorities lost control and why the government chose to use, for the first time in its history, the Emergency Measures Act.