OTTAWA (LifeSiteNews) – During a question period yesterday in the House of Commons, Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) MPs roasted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for his decision to trigger the Emergencies Act to deal with the trucker Freedom Convoy.
“The Emergency Measures Act is a declaration of a state of national urgency. It is a blunt force tool that should only be used under the most serious circumstances when legal powers have been exhausted. Canadians do not believe that this prime minister has exhausted all efforts,” Ontario CPC MP Dr. Leslyn Lewis said to Trudeau on Wednesday.
“The Emergency Measures Act gives extraordinary powers to the government. The prime minister would have received judicial advice from judicial officers. When will this prime minister make that advice available to the public?”
Trudeau responded to Lewis by claiming that “the Conservative Party is trying to have it both ways.”
Lewis told Trudeau that “Canadians are tired of talking points” and “want real answers.”
She then blasted him as a “failed leader” who robs “Canadians of hope and opportunity.”
“The prime minister’s own words created fear. What are we going to do with these people? These people are taking up space, he said. “These are the words of a failed leader who robs Canadians of hope and opportunity, and that is why they took to the streets.”
“When will this prime minister stop doubling down on his failed leadership and admit that it is? It is his divisive words and mandates that led to so much turmoil in this country.”
The Freedom Convoy arrived in Ottawa nearly three weeks ago and is demanding the government end at once all COVID mandates. Their protest of peaceful civil disobedience has made international headlines and spurred similar convoys in other nations such as in Australia.
Trudeau took the unprecedented step of enacting the Emergencies Act, which he claimed was needed to deal with the truckers from the Freedom Convoy. Trudeau’s new powers allow the government the power to freeze anyone’s bank accounts associated with the convoy without a court order.
During debate in the House of Commons on Wednesday, CPC interim leader Candice Bergen called out Trudeau as well for enacting the Emergencies Act.
“The prime minister calls people he disagrees with racist misogynist. He spent the last month wedging, dividing, stigmatizing, and traumatizing Canadians,” Bergen noted. “I understand the prime minister admires basic dictatorships, but let’s remind the prime minister this is Canada.”
“This is not a dictatorship. The prime minister is actually pouring gasoline on embers. Isn’t it true the prime minister is doing this for one reason, and one reason alone, it’s to save his own political career,” she added.
Also on Wednesday, Trudeau accused CPC MP Melissa Lantsman, who is Jewish, of standing with people who wave “swastikas” after she grilled the leader for losing his “way.”
Lantsman demanded an apology from Trudeau, but he left the Parliament and was nowhere to be seen.
No less than five provinces, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec, have already or will be soon dropping most COVID rules, with more saying they will do soon as well.
Despite the new threats from Trudeau, organizers for the Freedom Convoy said Tuesday that they would “hold the line.”
Both the House of Commons and the Senate are debating the Emergencies Act this week, and if either chamber votes against it, the Act could cease to be in effect, which means essentially a vote of no confidence against the Trudeau government.