Kitchener Centre MP votes against extended Emergency Act

A local federal representative has voted against extending the Emergencies Act meant to help deal with blockades in Ottawa and around the country.

On Monday, the motion to confirm the declaration of emergency powers passed 185-151 in the House of Commons.

While the NDP supported the Liberals in the motion, Conservatives and Bloc-Quebecois voted against it.

The two Green Party MPs were split on their decision. This included Kitchener Centre MP Mike Morrice voting against, even while agreeing the threat from the groups behind the occupations still persists.

"We can't understate that threat,” said Morrice. "I don't mean to understate that whatsoever in this conversation or in statement I've made or with respect to my vote, but I think it's possible to both recognize that threat and recognize that we have existing tools and existing law enforcement to address that threat.”

Morrice believes the Act, and the broad powers it brought, wasn’t required. In his assessment, police services had the laws and the tools necessary on their side to end the blockades and occupations.

"In my view, the Ottawa Police Service and other policing organizations, they chose not to enforce the law over the course of three weeks. There's plenty of by-laws on the books."

The Emergencies Act required banks to freeze accounts of those participating in the illegal protests, allowed for 'no-go' zones for the public, and made tow trucks essential services.

Morrice says military support could have cleared big rigs and courts were already equipped to target funds, as a court did in freezing $20 million in assets of convoy fundraisers on Feb. 18 separate from the emergencies act.

The Kitchener Centre MP hopes the temperature can now be brought down as it relates to the conversation over COVID-19 measures and hopes for a more constructive discourse going forward. Morrice also says he wants to see a plan from the federal government to relax pandemic protections; however, Morrice adds some of the hate on display at the protests needs to be dealt with and among the solutions he’d like to see includes pass a private member’s bill brought forward by a B.C. Member of Parliament to ban hate symbols.

The measures will stay in effect until mid-March at the latest, and with the parliamentary oversight required by the Act, another vote in the House of Commons would be required to extend the measures. Currently, the measures are awaiting a senate vote.