Trudeau invokes Emergencies Act for first time ever in response to protests

Trudeau invokes Emergencies Act for first time ever in response to protests

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envoy and protest has been encamped now for uh going on three weeks here in the nation's capital before the prime minister speaks though we're going to take you to kutz alberta the rcmp are addressing the media 11 people were arrested earlier today with a a significant cache of weapons let's listen in live uh came at one of our members in the vehicle and they had to avoid him and then ended up with a tractor trailer semi that was involved in a coordinated effort and it was in an attempt to push or ram our police vehicle from there the occupants of the two vehicles ran and ended up going into an area where the protesters were located we were able to identify one of the males that were driving one of the vehicles and our investigation is continuing we know who that person is and we will release information upon that person's arrest our members have been up here and in general we haven't had many incidents involving violence but unfortunately an investigation started after a period of time when the initial protesters arrived shortly thereafter we began to receive imminent information of potential threats it took some time to investigate that and to determine facts which have led us to several arrests during the night last night these arrests and this investigation is continuing we have since made another arrest involving this uh the escalation of violence towards the members including having someone break one of our checkpoints this afternoon and just about hit one of our members on the road so we certainly have concerns about how this has developed and our investigation into what could be a number of different charges and a number of different acts has created a situation where we're investigating conspiracy to attempt to commit murder and then we have other investigations involving the firearms clearly so a search warrant was conducted last night in the air by it was approximately midnight 12 30 where three trailers associated to a group that had arrived separate to the original protesters but in ended up being a part of this whole situation and this group we conducted a search warrant into three trailers associated to them resulting in the seizure of weapons firearms ammunition as well as body worn armor that would normally be a police issue and these people were taken into custody we have determined that the investigation is ongoing and we will continue to investigate this for the safety of the public and for the safety of the police it's important for us to say that our message has always been to have the public safe and the police safe and as more and more information came to light it was important for us to have people leave the illegal blockade we encourage people to leave and uh unfortunately we were able to with the province of alberta secure an area for people to move to to peacefully protest that were interested in continuing to protest and at this point we hadn't had a lot of people go there they wanted to remain at the location both here at milk river and coats and we ended up having to act on our information due to the totality of the situation and obviously the increased danger to our police and ultimately if the police are at a risk the public is at a risk because we need to protect the public and we can't have our situation be where uh we don't have the ability to defend ourselves and then on top of that defend the public the threats uh were taken the time was taken to investigate them to get to this point and it is our investigation is continuing this isn't this isn't over at this point we have to continue to look into things we have asked for people to leave and continue to ask for people to leave we continue to ask for people to stay away because we couldn't guarantee at one point where things were going to go with regards to the safety of the members and as soon as it escalates to the point that a decision had to be made we acted and like i said this was a very complex layered investigation and some people might ask why it took so long these investigations aren't necessarily easy we have a team of people that are dedicated to investigate them and it took to the point where we knew what was about to happen or inevitably to happen and we acted as soon as we could any questions yeah i don't know when they arrived they were here in kutz can you take me through the volatility that has seemingly escalated in the last little bit here and how members of the better feeling well all of us are dedicated to serving the province of alberta and our citizens and it's troubling if you have people that are here to cause harm to our own members and we just want everyone to be safe and that was our entire effort here we wanted people to move away from the illegal blockade because of safety issues and we wanted to have this resolved where people could safely use the highway and the border to get across to do their business and to do their personal work and that was blockaded and then to have people coming as well like with heavy equipment and you guys have probably heard that three large pieces of equipment were i guess stopped from being able to be used and that was because our investigation led us that those pieces of equipment were coming here and we told them not to come here and we asked them to leave and then the risk is is that if we can't have more heavy equipment coming here for a fortification and they needed to go and they didn't so part of our situation is protecting the public but also not allowing it to go beyond that the trucks where you found the weapons were they located in the on the road in the blockade or elsewhere in coots so we've had different arrests they were the majority of the weapons that we located were in the three trailers and then earlier today we had an arrest on the highway where two uh two firearms were seized and a person was arrested as well but the trucks that you discovered were they in the blockade on the road or were no one of them was on the highway coming here and due to imminent threat we located that vehicle and arrested that person and then we had three trailers and i say trailers in as in not a truck or a tractor but three trailers that were here where a stash of weapons was located including firearms long barrel weapons and you have the list in town here associated down the road here is the um conspiracy to commit murder charges that in the incident in the trailers and that vehicle with all that that's correct okay and can you tell me what the status of those uh people who are charged are they in custody what's going on with them yeah we have people in custody and they have a court process that takes place where i don't believe any of them have had an information sworn where they would be charged as of yet and once that happens we'll do another release to update you all on that and including the charges that were that are considered so i spoke to one of the protest organizers uh before you put your release out i have to be transparent about that and the account that i got was very different than what what the rcmp is saying um one that the the truck and the trailer that were involved in the incident um that they were just basically warming their batteries up and driving around is that uh is there a possibility that that was what happened there the investigation that led to that that situation is not them warming up their vehicles and uh just moving around they came at our member in a vehicle that was parked on the road doing a block and that member had to move to avoid being pushed by this huge piece of equipment and then the other vehicle that was utilized was involved as well it was in my opinion coordinated and that will be resolved at court protest organizers in ottawa have already said that the police here are essentially lying that this is not true there are certainly a number of people in the protests here that have that belief as well how do you convince them that what you're saying is true the truth is is that this absolutely took place and i'm not going to argue with somebody who isn't going to listen to the facts i have no intention of doing that there are people with all sorts of opinions but the truth is is that there's a heavy stash of weapons and these weapons were brought by people who had the intent on causing harm and there are also people here who are here to protest and they very likely didn't know what was going on here but that is not up to me to decide as to what level things are at and you can you can imagine our situation and some people have asked for pictures and i'm sure they will come but people have to accept the truth and understand our situation is to protect the public and in order to do that we act on facts the investigation continues and if there's more to be found we'll find them that doesn't really answer that question though do you think you got them all in are you worried there i i don't know i'm not the investigator i certainly hope that if there is a situation where there's someone else involved that uh arrests happen clarity the investigation into the the charter conspiracy to attempt murder that the intended target was nursing fans yeah i don't know the fine details of the investigation i just know that a threat was against our member our members in general and that as you saw in the brief that we had docked on that information in your release you referred to it as organized crime what do you mean by that what sort of organization are we talking about i think that the investigation will reveal the in-depthness of that i don't know the exact uh characterization that it would be to lead this but there's certainly a group that came in after the initial group arrived within days and then this action began and it came to a point where for the safety of the members and for the safety of the public we certainly had to act and uh and act quickly you say that this group was sort of embedded in the larger group is that a fair assessment of it yes we had uh and we had also the difficulty of having two locations of unlawful protest separated by 18 kilometers so we had two different groups of people and i don't know how in depth their involvement is i don't know how many numbers of people were involved in this but that's up to the investigators to ensure that it continues to be investigated so is there a possibility that this group that you arrested were acting completely in their own silo and without others in the protest knowing about them i don't know that's going to come out through evidence at court i'm sure i know you just want to speak to um the events that have unfolded but can you give any update on on what's next from rcmp what's next is we're going to ensure that this border is opened and stays open safely and that the public is able to use the highways and use the border as it's meant to be and uh certainly uh our our opinion is is that uh any sort of protest that uh continues uh after this point the government of alberta has provided us equipment that we're going to use to remove people and it as i've said all along the best way to get the the vehicles off the road is to have people take them off themselves and drive away and if we have to come back and charge people we will any time well i the border needs to open so it's an it's very important and we already have people i've been advised pulling out and leaving and i guess we'll see how long that takes our goal is has always remained that we understand and everyone does that canadians have the right to peaceful protest in a lawful location in an unlawful pro process and clearly that didn't happen here and we acted on that as you mentioned the province has survived or at least is going to supply the vehicles of the machinery that's necessary to clear these rope blocks is that machinery here now uh it's it's coming today if not already here so 11 people arrested at the time of the release one more 12th person we're working on that i don't know where that stands yeah yeah it's a big piece of farm equipment to have coming at you making any special efforts to document the work of the officers in the field document the work of this this is a big investigation and we're documenting things yes what percentage of the officers are wearing body cams i i don't have that information and then sorry the driver of the semi-trailer have they been identified they've been arrested oh the semi truck that's i don't have that information i know that they were able to id for sure one person and the investigation continues are all the people arrested canadian citizens i don't have that information i can't comment on that okay thank you very much okay you've been listening to a live update from the rcmp in kutz alberta where as you heard there a number of arrests have been made overnight 11 people were arrested and possibly more they were charged with a variety of charges in relation to a cache of weapons that the rcmp found in three trailers over the course of the past couple a week or so where they were investigating but they also say that they are also charging at least one person with conspiracy to commit murder and that is in relation to um a large vehicle or a tractor that tried to ram into a police vehicle and the rcmp viewed that as a threat against their members so very serious escalation of things in kutz alberta although the police point out this was a small group of people that arrived that were not part of the original protest it all happens of course though on a day when we are expecting to hear from the prime minister in about 15 minutes time on the cabinet the federal cabinet's decision to invoke the emergencies act to allow the federal government to take extraordinary measures to respond to these kinds of events there's lots of details that we still don't know yet but let's bring in some of my colleagues to help us understand where things are at for now the cbc's hannah thibodeau is standing by and david cochran too who is guest hosting power and politics he is here as well i'm going to start with you david in terms of what we know uh or what we hope to know from the prime minister in about 10 minutes time yeah we certainly know that the prime minister is intent on moving ahead with use of the emergencies act the first time that's happened in this country it's the successor to the war measures act which is father famously used during the flq crisis this is a law that is a successor to that one but it is far more limited in scope and our understanding from talking to provincial sources who are brief today and federal sources who are aware of what's going on is that the measures that the prime minister announces today will be limited in both time and in scope i mean the immediate and urgent concerns are what's happening with the occupation of the downtown core of the capital city right here in ottawa which is on about day 20 now with hundreds to thousands of people at any given time dozens to hundreds of trucks clogging up the downtown making the prime minister's office itself inaccessible and generally making life miserable for people who live in the downtown and then there are of course the um the protests the like the one we saw at the ambassador bridge in windsor which clogged up the most important trade artery maybe on the planet um for several days caught you know three to five hundred million dollars worth of trade went across that bridge every single day so all of these things taken together with coots and everything constitutes a national emergency in the view of the federal government so the measures today an emergency cabinet meeting last night during the super bowl on a sunday night a caucus meeting this morning and then a meeting with the first ministers today and now a conversation with the country to some degree from the prime minister outlining exactly what these things will be the specifics exactly how it will work in each specific area isn't all clear right now but federal officials i've been speaking with today have made it clear that their goal here is to protect critical infrastructure and supplement the needs of local municipal and provincial law enforcement as necessary uh doug ford we know the ontario premier made it clear in the first minister's meeting that he wants the help that he needs the help uh lamenting the fact that you can't even get tow trucks to come in and tow trucks away because the death threats and fear that that some uh tow companies feel and also the fact that some tow truck companies even support these movements so there is a sense of helplessness certainly here in the capital city and a growing sense of frustration to the point rosie that we have seen groups of ordinary citizens go out and take matters into their own hand creating citizens blockades to keep the trucks out of the downtown core the counter protesters the risk of escalation the possibility of a flashpoint of violence all of this was discussed this morning and the consensus is that over the objections of some premiers that the prime minister will invoke the emergency act in a limited fashion to get control of the capital city and protect the border crossings with the united states and we'll talk more about some of those um concerns from premiers but just to remind viewers who are just tuning in that this is this would be will be the first time this kind of legislation or this legislation in particular has ever been used it was created uh in 1988 in brian mulroney's government after the war measures act which as david alluded to there was used by justin trudeau's father in response to the flq crisis um in quebec in the 1970s and uh it was a completely different act it suspended civil liberties and allowed police to arrest uh hundreds of people at once that is not what is on the table anymore this legislation as david points out limited in scope and make sure that there is no um i guess abuse of power would be the best way to put it hannah tibeto has been following the reaction from provinces and there has been uh a lot of reaction and not everyone is on the same page to say the lease tenant yeah absolutely under this emergencies act what you have to do what is required of the prime minister is that he must consult the provinces so he consulted the provinces early this morning in a first minister's meeting and when consulting with those provinces we heard from a lot of those premiers afterwards saying that they're not interested in having this apply to their province in particular they can't veto this by any means however we heard from example for example alberta premier jason kenney he says that they are fine with the situation there you saw the situation in kutz alberta where the rcmp feel they have that well underhand and he also said along with saskatchewan premier uh scott moe that he felt by invoking the emergency measures act that it would embolden the protesters so those two provinces are against it also quebec was one of the provinces we figured would be against this as well they feel it's their jurisdiction they feel their sq it's called their police force in that province has matters well underhand as well manitoba against this new brunswick coming out saying it's not necessary as well but all of them couching it as well rosemary saying that if it is needed in the national capital area they understand that but also citing the fact that police were able to get the uh situation at the ambassador bridge under control within a couple of days too that was up almost a week but it took them about two days before they cleared the trucks and they have the vehicles flowing again there today but there are provinces that are in favor of this and one of the big provinces is the province that we live in ontario and we heard from premier doug ford a little bit earlier today here's what he had to say i'll support the federal government and any proposals they have to bring law and order back to our province to make sure we stabilize our businesses and trade around the world as the world is watching us right now wondering if it's a stable environment to to open up businesses and expand businesses these occupiers they're doing the total opposite what they they say they're there to do so clearly doug ford wants the help in particular you know looking at the ottawa situation we heard from david there that you know over the weekend we have seen maybe it's they're peaceful but they're lawless you know they are not following the rules of this city and it's been almost three weeks now and there was very little sighting of police in this city to get this under control the ottawa police the ottawa mayor have said they need about 1800 more officers to get this under control here in this city whether they have those numbers is still unclear as well i was working this weekend we couldn't get that answer from either the ottawa police or the ottawa mayor if they have that but one of the things that the ottawa mayor did do rosie is he did negotiate a plan some type of plan with one of the leaders her name is tamara leach and what they did is now they're starting to move some of the trucks out of residential areas and putting them in that main area in front of wellington street so smack dab in front of the parliament buildings as well as the prime minister's office so they've started moving some of those trucks up there so behind the scenes we saw that the ottawa mayor was able to negotiate some form of deal with one of the leaders but then other leaders are coming out and telling truckers not to move their vehicles so a lot of confusion about that yeah certainly an impasse in in the nation's capital and certainly a police force that seems to be overwhelmed which is uh probably at least in part what the prime minister will point to when he explains to canadians in just a few moments why this is needed and where it will apply to and what the goal is what kind of measures this emergency measures this emergencies act will will use we are also to understand as the leader of the block quebecois told reporters just moments ago that he has also the prime minister reached out to opposition leaders uh he met with them last week but we are told that he spoke to them today to i imagine brief them on the situation the black quebecois perhaps not surprisingly given quebec's past experience with the war measures act not in favor of the use of the emergencies act here's the leader of the bloc francois it's then clearly that quebec quebec government and us do not want this law to be implemented to be implemented sorry on the territory of quebec it is not legitimate and it is useless so we don't want it and we don't want the extent of the powers that the federal government could give itself to go as far as eventually using the army obviously not in quebec but i believe nowhere but this is a decision which is or position which seems to be the decision of the government of quebec as well as ours just as a follow-up there sir uh the what has been happening in ottawa has spilled across the bridges into gatineau into chelsea into massanje this whole region has been affected and this that includes parts that are in quebec should there not be some action for the greater ottawa gatineau area there is that does that not apply there is no civil disorder in quebec now which is not well contained by civil authorities and police that's the leader of the black quebec let's go outside uh just outside of parliament uh of the parliament buildings evan dyer is down near the protesters um and before we get to the prime minister evan i wanted to check in there with what you're hearing from protesters about the news that this is about to come from the prime minister well we did indeed hear some reaction roseanne you won't be surprised if you've been speaking to these protesters as so many of us have down here uh to hear that their reaction is one of bravado essentially and saying that they're not going to alter their posture here i mean actually as we just heard from hannah there have been some changes in their posture but far from leaving the city they've actually moved further downtown i think perhaps we should just show you some of that briefly because wellington street today looks quite different from how it did before you can see all of these trucks parked like sardines side by side we saw about 14 or 15 trucks brought in here with police escort and uh basically stacked in this manner uh tight together to vacate albert street a couple of blocks away from here as part of that agreement between the mayor and organizer tomorrowlich that hannah was referring to so uh definitely a relief i guess for the people who live on albert street but of an added complication here on wellington street making all of this even harder to remove even harder to tow if it ever does come to that some protesters responded today to this announcement of an emergencies act by saying well it's it's not justified it's not called for it's too much others we're simply defiant let's listen to two acting like a bunch of spoiled kids throwing a temper tantrum really i mean emergencies act for kids playing hockey in the street in bouncy castles you know come down here and talk to us and listen like let's let's move ahead with this and all they want to do is they just want to use the iron fist and they just yeah they want to force us out that way after you've got so many people even if they try and put an emergency act whatever that entitles they can't do anything to us like they can try and take down a few people but we've got so many people that they can't stop us all so there you go some defiance there from protesters other protesters saying that they find these measures excessive but nobody we met today told us that they planned to leave ottawa to shelter this evan dyer thank you for that evan dyer and parliament hill giving us the latest on the convoy the prime minister is speaking in just moments this is a cbc news special presentation hello there i'm rosemary barton here in the nation's capital we want to welcome our viewers now on cbc television and cbc news network you are watching special coverage this hour as we await the prime minister of canada to tell us what we have been reporting through the day that his government his cabinet is set to take an unprecedented step in response to these protests convoys and blockades that have occurred across the country the biggest one here in the nation's capital starting going on almost three weeks now day 18 of the nation's capital being held hostage essentially by these protesters the act the emergencies act has never been used since its creation in 1988 it will give the federal government extra powers specific powers for a limited time of a period of time to deal with the protests across the country it is unclear at this hour if they will be applied nationwide or to specific regions of the country where these protests have broken out as you know if you've been following these these protests these are largely people who oppose vaccine mandates and other public health restrictions some people who oppose vaccines entirely and have been demanding that the federal government remove uh mandates that they put in place certainly some provinces moving in that direction already alberta saskatchewan manitoba and ontario signaling that as well today but there have been also threats and promises to try and overthrow the government the democratically elected government of this country the protests have not been violent but they have been threatening and intimidating for many people who live in the nation's capital and the police of this city have been overwhelmed we will see what the prime minister has to say and how he justifies the use of this unprecedented measure and how it will apply in the case here in ottawa and perhaps in other parts of the country too we've got both the cbc's hannah thibodeau and david cochran standing by for analysis and reaction and you saw too evan dyer he's outside getting reaction from the protesters who for now as he was telling us remain defiant in the face of the use of the emergencies act i'll start with david again if i can obviously i'll cut you off as soon as we see the prime minister appearing david um it it you know i think it ramped up over the weekend this conversation around the use of the emergencies act bill blair did tell me that it had been on the table from the get-go but it'll be interesting to hear from the prime minister what led them to believe that this was the only way out of this situation provided of course that it does uh result in some sort of de numa yeah rosie a little bit more information that we've got just now just to let you know what we're hearing and my colleague chris hall has also gotten some of this information we're going to get the proclamation of the emergency today but we may not get some of the very specific measures until tomorrow but as we've been talking about throughout the day the measures are going to be limited in scope they're going to be time limited this will not be these measures under the emergency act will not apply countrywide but we'll focus on specific areas most notably here in the capital city the national capital here in ottawa and at border crossings i i've been hearing from high-level officials all day that the idea is to protect critical infrastructure clear it out keep it clear and then supplement the needs and the abilities of local and provincial law enforcement to deal with this and they're also so to do that is going to be things like granting the rcmp the authority to insist to assist in enforcement of municipal and provincial laws like here in ottawa they can come in and start enforcing some of the bylaws and these things that are or the injunction on blowing horns that are being openly ignored uh 20 days or so into this occupation and there's also going to be an attention announced to go after the financing of these movements in some form i'm going to be quiet now because i see the prime minister is there that's right here's the prime minister of canada flanked by some of his cabinet ministers to uh tell us what we've been reporting all day that he will and his cabinet will invoke the emergency measures i'm here to give you an update on the illegal block cades can i tell you about our efforts to support ukraine facing potential russian invasion but let's begin with the situation here in canada of course illegal blockades that have been disrupting the lives of too many canadians here in our capital city families and small businesses have been enduring illegal obstruction of their neighborhoods occupying streets harassing people breaking the law this is not a peaceful protest at the borders in different parts of the country the blockades are harming our economy and endangering public safety critical supply chains have been disrupted this is hurting workers who rely on these jobs to feed their families yesterday the ambassador bridge was reopened between windsor and detroit our team and i have been working with ontario and the city of windsor around the clock i want to thank the officers on the ground including the rcmp who played an active role we now have a responsibility to make sure that the bridge stays open with each illegal blockade local law enforcement agencies have been acting to keep the peace within their jurisdiction despite their best efforts it is now clear that there are serious challenges to law enforcement's ability to effectively enforce the law on friday ontario invoked a state of emergency to respond to the blockades this was the responsible and necessary thing to do today to continue building on these efforts the federal government is ready to use more tools at its disposal to get the situation fully under control after discussing with cabinet and caucus after consultation with premiers from all provinces and territories after speaking with opposition leaders the federal government has invoked the emergencies act to supplement provincial and territorial capacity to address the blockades and occupations i want to be very clear the scope of these measures will be time limited geographically targeted as well as reasonable and proportionate to the threats they are meant to address the emergencies act will be used to strengthen and support law enforcement agencies at all levels across the country this is about keeping canadians safe protecting people's jobs and restoring confidence in our institutions here's how the measures we're taking today will help get the situation under control the police will be given more tools to restore order in places where public assemblies can constitute illegal and dangerous activities such as blockades and occupations as seen in ottawa the ambassador bridge and elsewhere these tools include strengthening their ability to impose fines or imprisonment the government will designate secure and protect places and infrastructure that are critical to our economy and people's jobs including border crossings and airports we cannot and will not allow illegal and dangerous activities to continue the emergencies act will also allow the government to make sure essential services are rendered for example in order to tow vehicles blocking roads in addition financial institutions will be authorized or directed to render essential services to help address the situation including by regulating and prohibiting the use of property to fund or support illegal blockades and finally will enable the rcmp to enforce municipal bylaws and provincial offenses where required this is what the emergencies act does let me be equally clear about what it does not do we're not using the emergencies act to call in the military we're not suspending fundamental rights or overriding the charter of rights and freedoms we are not limiting people's freedom of speech we are not limiting freedom of peaceful assembly we are not preventing people from exercising their right to protest legally we are reinforcing the principles values and institutions that keep all canadians free with cabinet caucus after consulting the premiers of all provinces and territories and after speaking with the leaders of the opposition parties the federal government has invoked the emergency measures act to complete provincial and territorial powers in order to manage the illegal blockades and occupations i want to be very clear these measures will be limited in time and geographically targeted they will be reasonable they will and they will be proportional to the threats to canada's security the emergency measures act will strengthen and support the work by the police we are not using the emergency measures act in order to deploy the military we will not be suspending fundamental rights as articulated in the charter of rights and freedom we are not limiting the right to peacefully protest or assemble what we want to do is protecting canadians protecting their jobs and reinstating confidence in our institutions something that's been used ever but it exists for a reason invoking the emergencies act is never the first thing a government should do nor even the second the act is to be used sparingly and as a last resort right now the situation requires additional tools not held by any other federal provincial or territorial law today in these circumstances it is now clear that responsible leadership requires us to do this these measures must be and will be compliant with our charter of rights and freedoms indeed the emergencies act was created in the late 80s to flow from and uphold the charter we'll always defend the rights of canadians to peaceful assembly and to freedom of expression but these blockades are illegal and if you're still participating the time to go home is now on a separate track from the emergencies act i want to reassure people that the canadian border services agency is already turning back non-canadians trying to enter canada to participate in blockades and of course while we get the situation under control we'll continue to have canadians backs i want to remind affected businesses that if you're facing revenue losses support is available through our wage and rent subsidy programs we know that downtown ottawa businesses in particular have been hard hit by these illegal activities in the coming days we'll be launching specific support for those businesses i know that everyone is tired of this pandemic we're hearing your frustration with covid and even with the temporary measures we had to put forward to keep people safe i know people are frustrated i hear it you have a right to express that frustration and even your anger with the government or government policies it's something we'll always defend in this free and democratic country but blockading streets and critical infrastructure and depriving your neighbors of their freedoms is a totally different thing rather than participating in illegal activities and dangerous activities as mr duclos said last week public health measures are constantly being reassessed and we will continue to modify them according to science in fact we will be making some announcements on that subject in the coming days today i also want to speak briefly about our support for ukraine on saturday i spoke with president zielinski to reaffirm canada's steadfast support and to continue to do whatever we can to support ukraine i also spoke to the michelle as well as chancellor schultz of germany and president gudat of poland part of the collective g7 response to support ukraine's economic resilience today we're announcing that canada will offer a loan of up to 500 million dollars to the government of ukraine i want to thank deputy prime minister freeland for her leadership on this file and underlying that this is in addition to the 120 million dollar loan offered earlier in january on top of financial support canada has already taken steps to help ukraine defend itself including with the extension of the training mission operation unifier in light of the seriousness of the situation and following conversations with our ukrainian partners i've approved the provision of 7.8 million dollars worth of lethal equipment and ammunition this responds to ukraine's specific request and is in addition to the non-lethal equipment we've already provided the intent of this support from canada and other partners is to deter further russian aggression given the seriousness of the situation and after having closely studied the issue i asked i i told you can you send them arms and munitions so canada is joining the united states the uk bulgaria czech republic lithuania the netherlands and poland in sending arms the goal of the support from canada and our other partners art is to dissuade russia from pursuing its aggression towards ukraine confrontation with russia but the situation is intensifying rapidly and we are showing our resolve it's important for canadians and the world to know that canada will continue supporting ukraine and its independence integrity sovereignty including its right to defend itself i will now give the floor to deputy prime minister freeland thank you prime minister hello everyone across the moan across the world liberal democracies are being confronted with serious and repeated threats perhaps we thought perhaps and we perhaps even hoped that canada would be spared the last two and a half weeks we have realized that this is not the case this siege and these blockades are causing major damage to our economy and are harming our democratic institutions as well as canada's reputation in the world international confidence towards canada as a good place to invest and do business has been shaken barricades are doing great damage to canada's economy and to our reputation as a reliable trading partner the blockade of the ambassador bridge has affected about 390 million dollars in trade each day this bridge supports 30 percent of all trade by road between canada and the united states our most important trading partner in kutz alberta about 48 million dollars in daily trade has been affected by the blockades in emerson manitoba about 73 million dollars in daily trade has been affected by the blockades these costs are real they threaten businesses big and small and they threaten the livelihoods of canadian workers just as we are all working so hard to recover from the economic damage caused by covid we fought so hard to protect canada's privileged relationship with the united states during when we were negotiating nafta we stood up to tariffs 232 which were illegals and unjustified we will never let those hard-won victories be tarnished the world is watching us our jobs our prosperity and our livelihoods are in danger that is why our government is acting we are resolute and determined these illegal blockades must be lifted and they will be invoking the emergencies act we are announcing the following immediate actions first we are broadening the scope of canada's anti-money laundering laundering and terrorist financing rules so that they cover crowd funding platforms and the payment service providers they use these changes cover all forms of transactions including digital assets such as crypto currencies the illegal blockades have highlighted the fact that crowdfunding platforms and some of the payment service providers they use are not fully captured under the proceeds of crime and terrorist financing act our banks and financial institutions are already obligated to report to the financial transactions and reports analysis center of canada or fintrac as of today all crowd funding platforms and the payment service providers they use must register with fintrac and they must report large and suspicious transactions to fintrac this will help mitigate the risk that these platforms receive illicit funds increase the quality and quantity of intelligence received by fintrac and make more information available to support investigations by law enforcement into these illegal blockades we are making these changes because we know that these platforms are being used to support illegal blockades and illegal activity which is damaging the canadian economy the government will also bring forward legislation to provide these authorities to fintrac on a permanent basis second the government is issuing an order with immediate effect under the emergencies act authorizing canadian financial institutions to temporarily cease providing financial services where the institution suspects that an account is being used to further the illegal blockades and occupations this order covers both personal and corporate accounts third we are directing canadian financial institutions to review their relationships with anyone involved in the illegal blockades and report to the rcmp or csis as of today a bank or other financial service provider will be able to immediately freeze or suspend an account without a court order in doing so they will be protected against civil liability for actions taken in good faith federal government institutions will have a new broad authority to share relevant information with banks and other financial service providers to ensure that we can all work together to put a stop to the funding of these illegal blockades this is about following the money this is about stopping the financing of these illegal blockades we are today serving notice if your truck is being used in these illegal blockades your corporate accounts will be frozen the insurance on your vehicle will be suspended send your semi-trailers home the canadian economy needs them to be doing legitimate work not to be illegally making us all poorer it's all about following the money it's about putting an end to the funding of these illegal blockades consider yourselves warned if your truck is used in these blockades your corporate accounts will be frozen the insurance on your vehicle will be suspended send your rigs home the canadian economy needs them to do legitimate work and not make us all poorer illegally we will be we've enforced these taken these measures after deep thought i have discussed this with the heads of canadian banks i thank them for doing what is necessary to ensure laws are being complied with and that canadian democracy is being protected as well as our economy the past two years we have trusted one another we've leaned on one another what we are facing today is a threat to our democratic institutions to our economy and to peace order and good government in canada this is unacceptable it cannot stand and it will not stand thank you and i'll now turn over the floor to my colleague or attorney general minister of justice david lemitti thank you deputy prime minister thank you prime minister colleagues canadians good afternoon canada is a rule of law country by declaring a public order emergency under the emergencies act we are following the law and we are acting within it there are clear conditions set out in the emergencies act in order for a public order emergency to be declared our government believes that those conditions have been met and that requires the government of canada to act the emergency measures act has existed since 1988 and replaced the war measures act it is different from the previous act for in two important ways first of all the emergencies act has several ways of safeguarding measures including parliamentary review secondly measures taken under this act must comply and observe the canadian charter of rights and freedoms specific serious circumstances that amount to a national emergency for a situation to be qualified as a national emergency three conditions must be met first we must be in a situation that either seriously endangers lives health or safety of canadians and exceeds the capacity or authority of a province to deal with it or seriously threatens the ability of the government of canada to preserve the sovereignty security and territorial integrity of canada second the provinces and territories capacity to handle the situation must be considered insufficient or must show gaps and third we must conclude that the situation cannot be handled adequately under any other canadian law including provincial laws and territorial laws declaring once the emergency has been declared the emergencies act allows the federal government to adopt rules or decrees in order to intervene our government respects canadians rights and freedoms as protected under the charter it is our intention to use only the necessary reasonable reasonable and measured powers in order to resolve this crisis quickly and safely also contains a number of significant limits checks and safeguards as required by the act earlier today and on occasion over the past week the prime minister and members of cabinet have consulted with premiers and members of their respective governments having now declared a public order emergency we will table the declaration in parliament as required within seven days in the coming days a parliamentary committee will be struck to provide oversight while the emergency is in effect the declaration only lasts for 30 days unless renewed however we can and sincerely hope to revoke the emergency much sooner parliament also has the ability to revoke the declaration of the emergency as set out clearly in the act once an emergency is declared the emergencies act permits the federal government to make necessary orders or regulations to deal with the emergency the prime minister gave the broad outline of these in his remarks there are six specific measures we feel are needed to bring this situation under control first the regulation and prohibition of public assemblies that lead to a breach of peace and go beyond lawful protest what we are seeing in ottawa and what we saw what we are seeing at the ambassador bridge are not lawful protests second designating and securing places where blockades are to be prohibited this could include borders approaches to borders and other critical infrastructures or ottawa directing persons to render essential services to relieve impacts of blockades on canada's economy and this could include tow trucks and their drivers for compensation of course authorizing or directing financial institutions to render essential services to relieve the impact of blockades including as we have heard from the deputy prime minister regulating and prohibiting the use of property to fund or support the blockades measures enabling the rcmp to enforce municipal bylaws and provincial offenses where required and finally the imposition of fines or imprisonment for a contravention of any more order or regulation made under section 19 of the emergencies act these measures that will allow us to move forward under the act will soon be developed and tabled before parliament in the two days following their implementation as as required by law parliament has the power to revoke the emergency which means that all measures taken will be reasonable enclosed and appropriate i want to emphasize one point clearly these measures are temporary we intend to impose them for only as long as needed to restore order across the country thank you merci thank you minister alamedi the prime minister and ministers will be taking 30 minutes of questions starting in the foyer starting with david turton from cbc hi prime minister a number of premiers today have come out and said that they don't want or need the federal government to exercise its emergency powers in their provinces so i'm just wondering how do you respond to the premiers who've come out today and said that i thank the premiers for having had the conversation with me this morning it was extremely important to talk about what was happening right across the country we have seen challenges across the country that are linked to what we are seeing here in ottawa what we're seeing at border crossings but allow me to repeat what i said before the measures brought in today are geographically specific and targeted only to where they are needed these are not blanket powers across the country these will be tools that can be used where and when necessary so that the police of jurisdiction dealing with blockades or occupations have the tools necessary and can draw on rcmp resources as necessary to keep canadians safe to restore confidence in the rule of law and in our institutions and to make sure that our economy continues to recover from the impacts of covet 19 over the past two years at least one other premier said that invoking this act is like putting oil on a raging fire words along those lines do you think you're inflaming the situation even more by invoking this my focus is on canadians who've had a long two years who've been through a pandemic who've lost loved ones who've seen businesses struggle lost jobs and just want this to be over they're exhausted we're all exhausted we're all frustrated by the pandemic but those people who disagree with the measures that governments put in place to keep canadians safe to ensure that we would make it through this pandemic better than many of our peer countries those people have gone from protesting and disagreeing with those measures to limiting and blocking the freedoms of their fellow citizens hurting jobs hurting lives and livelihoods endangering public safety and weakening our country not just right now but for times to come in the eyes of our most important trading partners these illegal blockades are hurting canadians and they need to stop every step of the way we have been there to support the police of jurisdiction we've been there with tools and resources to help end these blockades but it is clear that there are more tools necessary and that is why we are moving forward with time limited geographically specific extremely bounded measures and additional powers that will allow us to get through these blockades and occupations and get back to the business of rebuilding our lives and our country after this pandemic next question is [Music] would you be prepared to go forward and er to move forward in provinces who do not agree with the application of this act answer in conversations uh that we're having across the country as well as with uh with premiers and as as well as with police services we are working on managing various situations across the country and those conversations will continue the emergencies act is there to provide us with additional tools and provide additional tools to the police services that are on site in order to automatically manage situations as they emerge it's not automatically an intervention by the federal by the federal police or a direct intervention by the federal government we're here to provide more tools including additional authorities whichever police it has jurisdiction and is there it's quite possible and we even hope that the tools we have provided to police services across the country will not have to be resorted to though certainly not for very long these premiers who say that they have the situation in hand will continue to be able to do so but on a national level we have reached criteria forcing us to act to provide more tools to those who maintain order in our country to protect all canadians across the country question you're saying that it's unnecessary it's been through we're in the third week of the of this these protests in ottawa now why did you not do this two weeks ago don't you think that you failed in your leadership responsibilities and moving forward on this earlier answer some people will say that we move too quickly other people will say no we should have acted weeks ago the reality is this the emergencies act is not something to take lightly we were there to provide additional resources from the very beginning to ottawa's local police service and elsewhere we were there to support them in the work that they were doing and in the last few days during meetings i had with ministers with our partners unreasonable are what we will be using through the emergencies next question that the rcmp now have the ability to enforce provincial and municipal laws does that mean that they'll be the lead police force agency here in ottawa and when can we expect more police officers from the rcmp to work with the city of ottawa because they've been asking for that for a substantial period of time um as i said the invocation of the emergencies act gives more power to the police of jurisdiction it does not make the rcmp automatically police of jurisdiction anywhere across the country as we have been we will ensure that the rcmp continues to work to support local police of jurisdiction uh and that's what we have been doing in ottawa but i think on this question i'm happy to turn to minister mendocino who can give uh further uh further information on uh on the situation in ottawa yeah thanks very much prime minister um from the very beginning of the illegal blockades the federal government has been working closely with local law enforcement where they are the police of jurisdiction including here in ottawa i would point out that we've sent three install installments of reinforcements to ensure that that ottawa police service has the support they need but i think as we've seen without question there have been many many challenges on the ground to restoring public order on the streets and one only has to look at the situation on wellington street over the past number of weekends i think it's difficult to overstate the impact of those scenes the conduct that has that has unfolded by those who are participating in illegal blockades it is not just an inconvenience it is not simply a matter of a trivial interruption we've seen intimidation harassment and expressions of hate and at times the scenes on the streets of wellington have seemed completely lawless and that is one of the reasons why we've had to take the very careful and deliberate step of introducing the emergency emergencies act today and the declaration and the specific powers which again are very targeted they're very proportionate and they're time limited so that there can be greater agility between the rcmp who will work seamlessly with local law enforcement including in in ottawa to to restore order i would also say that while we have seen progress for example in windsor that we should not assume that that progress is linear and that is one of the reasons why these measures through the declaration are also necessary we want to be certain that local law enforcement has the the concrete tools that they need for example tow trucks which have been very hard to come by in addition to that the kind of jersey barriers which will assist uh with with crowd control that will ensure that trade and traffic can move very efficiently and in addition to that uh when it comes to um the the relationship between the rcmp and local law enforcement and provincial enforcement um the provision that is within the declaration will allow the rcmp uh to be more efficiently assigned to those areas

2022-02-19 17:32

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