OTTAWA, Ontario (LifeSiteNews) – The interim leader of the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) has stated that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ended the Emergencies Act (EA) only for “personal political gain.”
“Today’s announcement is proof that the Prime Minister was wrong when he invoked the Emergencies Act,” said Candice Bergen in a statement published yesterday, shortly after Trudeau announced he was revoking the EA.
“The Conservative Party knew it was wrong. Experts knew he was wrong. Canadians knew he was wrong. The PM was wrong when he invoked it. He was wrong when he voted to continue it at 8:00 pm on Monday. He was wrong when he made it a confidence vote.”
Today’s announcement is proof that the Prime Minister was wrong. pic.twitter.com/wNMe9O7RP6
— Candice Bergen (@CandiceBergenMP) February 23, 2022
On Wednesday, Trudeau announced he was ending the EA, saying “the situation is no longer an emergency.
Bergen said of the prime minister’s sudden reversal of the EA, “Trudeau introduced it in the first place for his personal political gain. He revoked it now for the very same reason.”
“Canadians want and deserve answers on why the Prime Minister invoked this sledgehammer in the first place that has had a direct impact on their lives,” she added.
Bergen noted that “[n]othing has changed between Monday and today other than a flood of concerns from Canadian citizens, bad press, and international ridicule.”
The CPC interim leader had earlier denounced the invocation of the EA as a form of “government overreach” and vowed that her party would “fight” until the Act was repealed.
Yesterday Bergen said that Trudeau knows he is “losing support” and that the CPC “will demand answers” from his government over enacting the EA.
Trudeau took the unprecedented step of invoking the EA on February 14, claiming he needed it to deal with the truckers from the Freedom Convoy. The demonstrators had been in Ottawa for the past three weeks protesting COVID mandates.
MPs from Canada’s House of Commons on Monday voted 185-151 in favor of maintaining the Emergencies Act.
Canada’s Senate was to have spent the week debating the EA, but it announced yesterday that it was withdrawing the debate due to the EA being dropped.
Many senators, including Conservative Senator Leo Housakos spoke out yesterday against Trudeau’s use of the EA.
“In these moments of an existential crisis, all prime ministers are obligated to bring the parties together, not to throw fuel on the fire, not to call protesters names,” said Housakos.
The EA had allowed the government the power to freeze the bank accounts of anyone associated with the convoy without a court order. It proceeded to put a block on several accounts.
While announcing the end of the EA yesterday, Canada’s Minister of Finance and Deputy PM Chrystia Freeland said most accounts have been unfrozen. She admitted that the reason they were frozen was to “convince” people who participated in the protest to “listen to reason.”
Freeland also said some accounts will remain frozen in perpetuity depending on who the person was.
Bergen said the focus of the CPC will now turn to demanding that the Trudeau government, “put forward a plan to end the unscientific mandates and restrictions.”
Police began to clear out the Freedom Convoy protesters this past Friday under the direct orders of Trudeau through the EA.
Most of the protesters on Parliament Hill in Ottawa were peaceful. During the clear-out, at least one elderly lady was violently trampled by police.
By Sunday, all trucks had been removed.
Conservative news sites True North and Rebel News are suing the Ottawa police for allegedly pepper-spraying their journalists. The latter alleges police also beat one of their female reporters.
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