The senators spent the first hours of their debate on the use of the Emergencies Act trying to determine whether or not emergency measures are still required to permanently end illegal blockades.
After the deputies, it will soon be up to the senators to vote to ratify or revoke, by means of a motion, the use of this law decreed by the government of Justin Trudeau.
But while waiting to come to the vote, the representatives of the Senate have been opposing their arguments since the start of the debate on the question, which began on Tuesday morning.
The representative of the government in the Senate, Marc Gold, insisted on the fact that, according to him, the police force cannot really reach a resolution of the crisis without the maintenance of the emergency measures.
Secret information
Independent Senator Julie Miville-Dechêne for her part suggested that the Trudeau government had not publicly demonstrated that the current situation was still one of crisis.
“If the government can maintain the emergency measures at this time, as it is doing, when no crisis is visible, and if it invokes secret information to say that the risk is still too great to revoke the law, do we […] does not thus create a dangerous precedent for the future? “, she launched during her turn to speak.
“Could this emergency law be invoked again solely on the basis of secret information, which would obviously be difficult to accept in a democracy? “, also wondered the Quebec senator.
Senator Gold, who has the task of answering the barrage of questions during the debate, replied that the demonstration had been made although certain elements of information could not be shared.
“The reason the government says the job is not done is not based [sur des éléments] in secrecy that cannot be divulged,” he said.
The government representative in the Senate argued that the evidence is in the comments made by police forces as well as the threats made by actors in the anti-sanitary measures mobilization.
“We have proof, in public statements, that not everyone has returned to their homes [pour ensuite] open the television to watch je ne sais quoi on Netflix”, he illustrated.
The Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, Don Plett, for his part, did not fail to criticize Senator Gold for using his speaking time to repeat government rhetoric rather than offering clear information on the specifics of the Emergency Measures Act.
“The government has been anything but very clear,” he railed.
“When the Prime Minister invoked [cette loi]he claimed that [son recours] would be geographically targeted. And […] the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice has confirmed that the legislation applies throughout Canada,” said the senator from Manitoba.
On this subject, Senator Gold replied that extraordinary powers could only be used by police forces when necessary. “The whole country is at risk of events [tels que ceux] which resulted in the blockades on the bridges and the occupation and siege in Ottawa. »
Upcoming vote in the Senate
The House of Commons validated, Monday evening, a motion similar to that debated in the Senate. If the senators decided otherwise on their side, all the emergency powers decreed under the Emergencies Act would be immediately cancelled.
It is unclear when the vote on the motion will take place. That will happen when all senators and Senate group leaders have exhausted their respective speaking time, said Chloe Fedio, director of communications in Marc Gold’s office, on Monday.
The time for debate and the time for the vote will therefore vary depending on the number of senators wishing to speak.
Justin Trudeau’s government invoked the Emergencies Act last week for the first time in Canadian history. The exceptional powers, activated by decree, are in force for a period of 30 days, unless renewed.
The Prime Minister and his team have repeatedly stated that they intend the measures to be used for less than 30 days. The aim is to put an end to the “illegal blockades” carried out by opponents of sanitary measures and to prevent other dams from being erected, it was also pointed out.