(OTTAWA) Conservatives continued their all-out attack on Wednesday to solicit the head of Public Safety Secretary Marco Mendicino for comments on the decision to invoke the Emergency Act, this time accusing the Prime Minister of sexism in his decisions to show.
Posted at 5:42 p.m
Michel Saba The Canadian Press
“It’s very interesting to see that when strong women stand up and tell the PM the truth, he has no problem firing them,” interim Conservative leader Candice Bergen questioned and worried during the legislature on Wednesday for riot in the House of Representatives Commons.
“However, if a Crown Minister misleads Canadians, that is very acceptable, he allows it,” she continued.
Photo PATRICK DOYLE, The Canadian Press
Federal Minister for Public Security Marco Mendicino
“Wow, Mr. President,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau replied. He said the attack showed “how desperate the Conservatives are” in their attempt to distract from the fact that the Conservatives “supported the illegal blockades”.
Conservatives are accusing Minister Mendicino of falsely claiming that police asked the government to invoke the Emergency Act when a so-called “freedom convoy” swept through downtown Ottawa in February.
After Minister Mendicino was likened to “Pinocchio” on Monday and unsuccessfully demanded for the first time that he be shown the door on Tuesday, revelations were made Tuesday night before a committee got grist on their mills.
Emergency Preparedness Secretary Bill Blair and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland also said they had not received such recommendations from police. Several police forces have also denied making such requests in recent weeks.
As Conservatives yelled on the issue on Wednesday, Prime Minister Trudeau, who has been attending practically from home since contracting COVID-19, said he wanted “to be very clear”.
“The police do not grant themselves any extraordinary powers. The government is doing this,” he said, adding that “parliament debated and voted on it.”
In her fifth straight question on Minister Mendicino’s remarks, Ms Bergen added a layer of it, believing Mr Trudeau is “keeping a disgraced minister in his cabinet” after “defending the former defense secretary who alleged sexual harassment.” covered up the army”, based on Harjit Sajjan.
However, Mr. Trudeau “demotes women MPs who oppose him,” she continued.
The Tories specifically referred to Justice Secretary and Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould and Treasury Secretary Jane Philpott, who resigned after disagreements with the Prime Minister.
The Bloc Québécois also joined the fray, accusing the Trudeau government of “misleading the Quebecers and Canadians.”
“Who doesn’t tell the truth? Which minister does not tell the truth? And the Prime Minister, what does he say? asked block leader Yves-François Blanchet.
Mr Trudeau gave him a similar response to the previous ones, repeating that the Emergency Act gave the police the powers they needed to do the job and that the police had asked for “more tools to dismantle these levees”.
Asked by journalists as they exited the building that houses the House of Commons, Minister Mendicino said it was “fundamentally wrong” to use an emergency situation to turn it into a partisan affair.
“And if anyone needs to apologize, it’s Canada’s Conservative Party interim leader, Candice Bergen,” he added as he continued on his way.