(File photo/northeastNOW staff)

By northeastNOW staff

Emergencies Act

‘Complete overreach’: MP Block calls out federal government’s decision to invoke emergencies act

Feb 22, 2022 | 11:14 AM

The MP for Carlton Trail-Eagle Creek is calling out the federal government’s decision to invoke the Emergencies Act against the freedom trucker convoy.

On Monday, the federal Liberals and NDP parties both voted in favour of approving the move which aims to end the protests in Ottawa and at border crossings across the country.

Kelly Block, who voted against the motion, released a statement on Tuesday where she called the move a “complete overreach.”

“Legal experts, civil liberties, and many other organizations are sounding the alarm stating that emergency legislation threatens our democracy and our charter rights and should not be normalized.”

This is the first time the Emergencies Act has been invoked since 1970 when it was called the War Measures Act. At the time, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s father, Pierre Trudeau, ended up using the legislation during the FLQ Crisis where Quebec’s Minister of Immigration and Minister of Labour Pierre Laporte was kidnapped and killed by the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ), a militant Quebec independence movement.

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Block explained this decision will set a dangerous precedent.

“The Government of Canada should not have the power to close the bank accounts of hardworking Canadians simply on the suspicion of supporting causes of which the government doesn’t approve. This is a slippery slope, and not how the government should operate in a free and democratic society.”

Block isn’t the only Saskatchewan MP to voice their concerns with the move. When the plan was first announced, Randy Hoback, MP for Prince Albert, called the decision a “power grab.”

This same term was again used by Block who added she plans on fighting to revoke the Act.

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Jaryn.Vecchio@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow