Conservatives reject proposal for Emergencies Act oversight committee

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This article was published 23/02/2022 (939 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA—The Conservatives rejected a government proposal on Thursday for the makeup of the Emergencies Act oversight committee, arguing it would give the minority Liberals a “working majority.”

The government is proposing that seven MPs (three Liberals, two Conservatives, one Bloc Québécois and one New Democrat) sit on a joint House-Senate committee that will have to review the exercise of powers under the Emergencies Act.

The federal government triggered the never-used act on Feb. 14 in response to the so-called “Freedom Convoy” protests gridlocking the capital city’s downtown core and blockades snarling key border crossings.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday declared an end to the public order emergency, promising — as is required under the act — to strike a committee overseeing the government’s actions and launch an inquiry into why the measure was needed in the first place.

The Liberals have also proposed that four senators, one from each Senate group, should sit on the committee, with three co-chairs: one senator and MPs from the Bloc and NDP.

“The chair would be neither a Liberal, whose government invoked Emergencies Act, nor a Conservative, whose party led the way in supporting protesters,” said Government House Leader Mark Holland in a statement Thursday.

The Conservatives blasted the proposal on Thursday, saying it would give the Liberals “a working majority,” given that the NDP voted with the Liberals to support the unprecedented use of the act in the House of Commons.

They said the proposal would also give the Senate a “disproportionate role,” and that the co-chair position would go to a “fourth party that sees itself as an extension of the government.”

Opposition House Leader John Brassard and Deputy Opposition Leader Luc Berthold said in a statement that traditionally, an oversight committee would be chaired by the Official Opposition, which is the Conservatives.

They said the party had delivered a “viable alternative” to the committee’s membership, but did not provide specifics.

“Conservatives refuse to support this balanced proposal,” Holland said. “They have insisted from the start that they co-chair and they are now demanding that both co-chairs be Conservative.”

He said the government intends to submit its proposal to a vote next week when the House of Commons returns.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, whose party supports the proposal, agreed Thursday that the committee should be opposition-led.

“That way there can be true accountability and full transparency,” Singh told reporters. “And that means asking questions around (whether it was) required, the scope of the powers used, and its effectiveness.”

The party’s house leader, Peter Julian, told the Star in a statement that committee work must get underway quickly.

“We have urged all parties to work together to strike the committee immediately, and we have proposed that the committee be as small and nimble as possible,” he said. “It’s disappointing to see the Conservatives seemingly want to delay this.”

The debate over a review of the act’s invocation happened on the same day that Ottawa’s interim police chief Steve Bell said the federal act, along with the declarations of states of emergency at the municipal and provincial levels, were “absolutely beneficial” in clearing out the protests.

“The removal yesterday of that act created, initially, some dialogue and concern for us in terms of how we would manage the situation through the weekend,” he said at a meeting of the Ottawa Police Services board Thursday morning.

Bell said the city still has assurances that the RCMP and the OPP will remain on the ground “until there’s nothing left” of the demonstration.

“We also have commitments from other municipal police agencies, particularly as it relates to public order capacities,” he told the board. “The ability for them to operate in our city is maintained and is lawful, even without the assistance of emergency act.”

Under the Emergencies Act, the parliamentary committee’s members must include at least one member from each party in the House of Commons that has 12 or more MPs. The committee must also include at least one senator from each party in the Senate that is represented on the committee by a member of the House.

The Senate was divided along party lines when the act was passed in 1988, but the Conservatives are now the only party that has affiliated members in the upper chamber.

The government’s motion recognizes this new dynamic by proposing that a senator from each of the four Senate groups, including the Conservatives, sit on the committee.

Concerns remain about what kind of information the committee will have access to in order to do its job. It emerged during the Senate debate this week on the declaration of emergency that committee members would not have access to confidential security information.

“This issue of intelligence gathering and sharing should be at the heart of our parliamentary review,” Nunavut Sen. Dennis Patterson told the Star in an interview Thursday. “How can these measures meant to serve as checks and balances do the job if they aren’t fully informed?”

Jacques Gallant is a Toronto-based reporter covering politics for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @JacquesGallant

Raisa Patel is an Ottawa-based reporter covering federal politics for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @R_SPatel