Justice Paul Rouleau provided a very informative and thorough discussion of the why, what and how of the Emergencies Act inquiry last Thursday. It was a step forward in Canada for an act of parliament to require such an inquiry to be conducted after the act has been used.
One can only wish that we could retroactively have had such a clause in force in the previous War Measures Act that was brought into use by Pierre Trudeau in 1970. I felt very strongly, at the time, that such strong actions should not have been taken. Yet, to be fair, I did feel the act of 2022 was necessary. The difference was that in 1970, I did not feel we had given the Sûreté du Québec time to do its job. In 2022, we gave the Ottawa police service more than enough time to do its job. There was also the matter of the border blockades in Manitoba and Ontario as well as the one that Alberta did get cleared as the act was brought into force by Ottawa.
Along with millions of other Canadians, I was angry with the Ottawa police service for not doing the job they were paid to do. You did not have to be a follower of Canadian politics to be angry at police who were not doing their job. I am sure most of us will be particularly interested in their excuses for failing to act when they knew what was coming and the intent of the convoy.
I might live today in the middle of Ontario but I know every foot (or metre) of the area in Ottawa being occupied by those convoy people in their ignorance. Those loud and obnoxious boors were insulting our parliament, our parliamentarians, our flag, our country and our law-abiding citizens.
This might seem like a strange comment to add to this commentary, but I sincerely hope that this inquiry will not become politicized. It might be too late already. On the very first day, we were told by three provinces that they objected to the utilization of the act. These three provinces with their conservative governments were obviously not there to listen.
We already have too many divisions in this country. In English and French, we desperately need to work together. City and rural, we desperately need to work together. East and West, we desperately need to work together. We have a great country, with endless potential. We have built our country with the peoples of the world. We will only enjoy the bounty of this land if we work together. Shame on our neighbours to the south for being so divided. Shame on us if we follow.
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Copyright 2022 © Peter Lowry
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