HomeNationalMendicino will work with Emergencies Act commissioner but claims 'cabinet confidentiality'

Mendicino will work with Emergencies Act commissioner but claims ‘cabinet confidentiality’

As the investigation into the use of the Emergencies Act to quash the “freedom convoy” protests gets underway, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino says the government is dedicated to full transparency. He wouldn’t agree to release confidential cabinet documents, though.

The government is focusing on the protesters rather than the actions of the government and deviating away from their task to hold the government accountable to the people and instead is holding the people accountable to the government and claiming cabinet confidentiality.

Because many of the discussions surrounding the convoy and the Act were held behind closed doors at the cabinet table, the Liberals are under pressure to waive cabinet confidentiality so Rouleau has unrestricted access to critical information.

“We will be there to work with Judge Rouleau to ensure that there is transparency and most importantly, to be sure that he has the information that he needs to validate and to review very, you know, with great scrutiny,” Mendicino said in a interview with CTV

According to CTV on April 25, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the creation of the independent “Public Order Emergency Commission,” and appointed the case to Judge Rouleau, a former Liberal member and a recent Liberal donor.

Rouleau is expected to have his final report in to both the House of Commons and Senate in both official languages, by Feb. 20, 2023

The inquiry is set up to hold the public accountable instead of the government like it is supposed to. Instead of looking in to the details as to why the government chose to invoke the Emergencies Act and what evidence was used to justify their actions, the Trudeau government is holder peaceful protesters to account and looking in to the actions of the public.

“the evolution of the convoy, the impact of funding and disinformation, the economic impact, and efforts of police and other responders prior to and after the declaration,” with the hopes of preventing similar events from happening again, according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office. reported CTV

Mendicino statement on CTV

“We will be there to work with Judge Rouleau to ensure that there is transparency and most importantly, to be sure that he has the information that he needs to validate and to review very, you know, with great scrutiny,” he said.

Asked what the government’s threshold was to proceed with the Act, in stating that all other laws were insufficient at resolving the issue, the minister said there were many factors.

“We were not looking at any one of these events in isolation. We were looking at the entire country and we were looking at the fact that our corridors had been blocked. And while there was some progress, there were significant risks going forward, that those blockades could come back,” he said.

“The advice that we got from our law enforcement officials was that the existing authorities were not effective – and this word is very important because it’s built into the test under the Emergencies Act – were not effective at restoring public safety,” he said.

What critics are saying

The Conservative Party called the inquiry a “whitewash,” taking issue with both the scope and depth of Rouleau’s mandate.

“The Liberal government is doing everything in their power to ensure this inquiry is unsubstantial and fails to hold them accountable,” reads a statement from Conservative public safety critic Raquel Dancho, emergency preparedness critic Dane Lloyd, and industry critic Gerard Deltell.

Should Cabinet confidentiality be waived?

Conservative MP Glen Motz asked both Minister of Public Safety, Marco Mendicino and Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, David Lametti, for them to share with the committee and the judge the information the government used to justify to invoke the Emergencies Act.

Motz retreated Canadians have a right to know what the details and information the government used to invoke such a over the top response and reach for that last resort solution because Canadians are not going to just take the government word for it. The government is responsible to the people and owes the transparency and oversight tot he people.

Marco Mendicino and David Lametti, both said they will cooperate with the inquiry but they refuse to give up confidentiality.

On CPAC’s Prime Time Politics they had 3 guests, Conservative strategist Melanie Paradis, NDP political commentator Kim Wright and Liberal political commentator Greg MacEachern.

Melanie believes that “cabinet confidentiality is an easy excuse to avoid that transparency” and says we need to have no disclosure on the use of the Emergencies Act, and concerned what kind of transparency the judge will have access to.

Kim Wright says the transparency aspect is necessary because this is the first time the Emergencies Act is bein used. She believes Canadians are looking for clarity for in what context was the Emergencies act used. Then unfortunately she starts rambling off topic trying to hold Pierre Poilievre accountable for something when the inquiry is about Trudeau and his Liberal governments reasons to invoke the Emergencies Act.

Greg MacEachern thinks ya we should have transparency but then says it exists for a reason and do we really want to go down that road and asks if we can then “open up some of the decisions Harper made”.

Harper did not use the Emergencies Act and never blanket suspended Canadians civil liberties and fundamental rights.

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