In January, a Federal Court judge ruled that the February 2022 invocation of the Emergencies Act by Justin Trudeau was unconstitutional and violated Canadians’ Charter rights. In his decision, Justice Richard Mosley wrote that the invocation of the Act, which was used to arrest protesters and freeze bank accounts, “[did] not bear the hallmarks of reasonableness.” Justice Mosley went so far as to state that Trudeau invoked the Act even though “there was no national emergency.”

Although the Liberals claimed that the protests could have given rise to dangerous situations as justification for invoking the Act, Mosley dismissed these claims as “only speculation.” He further slammed the government’s actions in freezing protesters’ bank accounts as “overbroad” by “permitting unreasonable search and seizure.”

Since then, the Liberal government has begun claiming that police asked the government to invoke the Act—something the RCMP and the Ottawa Police have both denied. This is a desperate attempt by the Liberals to deflect responsibility for this political decision—one made to crush peaceful protesters and punish Trudeau’s political opponents by abusing the powers of the state.

My Conservative colleagues and I will continue to hold Justin Trudeau’s Liberals to account for their authoritarian and illegal invocation of the Emergencies Act. A common-sense Conservative government will protect the Charter rights of Canadians by ensuring that the Emergencies Act will never again be used absent a true national emergency.