Conservative MPs free to attend 'freedom' protests this summer: Bergen
Conservative MPs free to attend 'freedom' protests this summer: Bergen
Conservative MPs free to attend 'freedom' protests this summer: Bergen
With the nation's capital bracing for anticipated anti-mandate "freedom" movement protests during Canada Day weekend, interim Conservative Leader Candice Bergen says her MPs are free to attend.
"I support peaceful and legal demonstrations, and if my MPs want to be there, they're free to do whatever they want, and they'll answer to their constituents," Bergen said in an interview on CTV's Question Period airing on Sunday.
Events are set to take place in Ottawa around the national holiday, in protest of the remaining COVID-19 restrictions. Participants from this winter's "Freedom Convoy," occupation of Wellington Street and the parliamentary precinct are expected to return. One group, Veterans for Freedom, has indicated they plan to set up camp all summer on the outskirts of the city—to continue protesting the remaining COVID-19 restrictions.
Ottawa police have said they plan to call in support from the RCMP and will be setting up a motor vehicle control zone in the core for the national holiday, vowing they won't allow a repeat of the anti-vaccine mandate and largely anti-government protests that gridlocked downtown streets and tormented residents in January and February.
Last week, a few top convoy figures returned to Parliament Hill and met with more than 20 Conservative MPs, during which the organizers made anti-vaccine and anti-mandate presentations.
One of the presenters was James Topp, a soldier who has been marching across Canada against vaccine mandates and is set to return to the capital to complete his march by reaching the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on June 30. His arrival there is expected to coincide with the anticipated Canada Day protests.
Bergen did not attend the recent event, and isn’t planning to be in Ottawa for Canada Day, but she did meet with convoy participants this winter. At the time, newly in her leadership role, Bergen advised senior Conservative MPs not to tell members of the trucker convoy to leave Ottawa and instead make the protests the prime minister’s problem, according to an internal email obtained by CTV News.
Asked what message she thinks it sends that her caucus members are considering themselves allies of the convoy participants, Bergen said it shows they are willing to listen to those who wanted to be heard, and that the Conservatives "very much support Canadians who were, and still are against the mandatory vaccines."
After voicing support for the truckers and those involved in the convoy protests that blockaded Ottawa streets and border crossings this winter, the federal Conservative caucus has been highly critical of the government's invocation of the Emergencies Act.
Bergen is continuing to call for Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino to resign over what she views as his misleading of Parliament as it pertains to whether police asked for, or required the unprecedented emergency powers granted by the emergency declaration.
"There's a very high threshold for invoking the Emergencies Act on Canadians. We've always said that we did not believe that the government would meet that threshold, and what you're seeing now by the fact that they misled Canadians, that they probably have not met the threshold," said Bergen, suggesting that the Liberals have "discredited" the ongoing committee examination and national inquiry.
In a separate interview for Sunday's show, when asked whether he thinks the minister misled Parliament, Government House Leader Mark Holland said that he thinks his colleague has been clear.
“The question here is, were the police consulted? Yes. Did the police use these tools? Yes. Afterwards have the police made it clear that these tools were critical in lifting just a terrible situation with a city under siege, that had no end in sight? Yes.”
BERGEN 'SHOCKED' BY REMPEL GARNER COMMENTS
In a recent blog post detailing why she decided against running for leadership of Alberta's United Conservative Party (UCP), Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner wrote about her concerns and observations of both the provincial and federal parties.
"In both parties there have also been squabbles that have erupted in the pages of national media, public meltdowns, nearly missed physical fights, coups, smear jobs, leaked recordings and confidential emails, lack of consensus on critical issues, caucus turfings, people harassed to the point where they resign roles, and hours long meetings where members have been subjected to hours of public castigation,” reads her post.
Shortly after this was published, the Toronto Star reported that some of her fellow Conservative MPs have threatened to get her removed from the federal caucus.
Asked about the comments from her colleague, Bergen said she was "absolutely shocked," and that while it may be Rempel Garner’s experience, it was "not an accurate description."
"I've not experienced that,” Bergen said. "We have had an amazing last six months. And you know, even when we do disagree… yeah, there's been there's been squabbles, but my message to caucus is we can disagree and still be united.”
With files from CTV News Ottawa and CTV National News producers Mackenzie Gray and Rachel Hanes
Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair and RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki took turns Monday denying pressuring the RCMP, or interfering in the police investigation into the Nova Scotia mass shooting, saying that their approaches were appropriate and warranted, given the unprecedented nature of the situation.
Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem says Canada's inflation rate is set to remain 'painfully high' for the rest of the year. In an exclusive interview with CTV News, Macklem says the path to a 'soft' economic landing is 'narrowing' but at this point the central bank is not projecting a recession.
Five months ago, the first 'Freedom Convoy' trucks rolled into Ottawa. After the federal government took the unprecedented step of invoking the Emergencies Act to end the protests, a series of inquiries and probes have been initiated. With the nation's capital bracing for more protests over the Canada Day weekend, CTVNews.ca takes a look at where the main commissions and studies stand.
Now that the House and Senate have adjourned for the summer, CTVNews.ca breaks down what key pieces of legislation passed in the final days of the spring session, and what key government bills will be left to deal with in the fall.
The Conservative Party leadership race is well underway as contenders hold rallies, duke it out in debates, and slowly release more details of their policy platforms. Here's a snapshot of where the five candidates stand on the economy, housing, climate, defence and social issues.
'After a weeks-long survey of just about everyone I've met ... the overall judgment on Justin Trudeau is one of being a political write-off,' writes Don Martin in an opinion column for CTVNews.ca. 'He’s too woke, too precious, preachy in tone, exceedingly smug, lacking in leadership, fading in celebrity, slow to act, short-sighted in vision and generally getting more irritating with every breathlessly whispered public pronouncement,' Martin writes.
It's time for the whiners to win and the government to reopen the skies, a return to those glory times of flying when the biggest complaints were expensive parking, a middle seat and stale pretzels, commentator Don Martin writes in an exclusive opinion column for CTVNews.ca.
In an exclusive opinion column for CTVNews.ca, Don Martin says Doug Ford coasted to majority re-election victory in Ontario by sticking to the middle of the road: 'Not too progressive. Not too conservative.'
There's a lesson for Canada's political leaders in the short life and quick death of Jason Kenney as premier of Alberta, writes Don Martin in an exclusive opinion column for CTVNews.ca.
It's becoming a make-or-break week for two Conservative premiers as their futures pivot on a pair of defining moments, writes Don Martin in an exclusive opinion column for CTVNews.ca.
Ontario MP Pierre Poilievre remains the heavy favourite to be the next Conservative party leader but he trails opponent Jean Charest for support among Canadians as a whole.
An Ontario nurse is facing charges in connection with the alleged assault of a two-year-old boy with “significant medical limitations” in Niagara Region.
With inflation rising at its fastest pace in nearly 40 years, the cost of everything from food to gas has skyrocketed. Canadians across the country are feeling squeezed, but big families with multiple children are at times shouldering much of the higher costs — and changing demographics and consumer patterns have left some of them more exposed to inflation than in previous generations.
Exposure to synthetic ‘forever chemicals’ often polluting the environment has been linked to the most common type of liver cancer, according to a recent study.
A new study found that people with regular menstruation cycles and those who typically do not menstruate either experienced a heavier flow or breakthrough bleeding after being vaccinated against COVID-19.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump will be questioned under oath Wednesday in the New York attorney general's long-running civil investigation into his dealings as a real estate mogul, he confirmed in a post on his Truth Social account.
The ingredients in a 2,300-year-old ancient Chinese chemistry formula have finally been identified, revealing new secrets about metallurgy in ancient China.
An ICU physician is criticizing Ont. Premier Doug Ford's throne speech, saying the government 'has no plan' to help health-care workers and may not believe 'there's any type of crisis' in the province's overburdened hospital system.
A state of emergency remains in place in central Newfoundland due to out-of-control forest fires, but a major highway that had been closed for days has been reopened, allowing supplies to be delivered to stranded communities.
Ontario is set to introduce legislation today to give large municipal leaders so-called strong mayor powers as a way to get housing built more quickly.
With inflation rising at its fastest pace in nearly 40 years, the cost of everything from food to gas has skyrocketed. Canadians across the country are feeling squeezed, but big families with multiple children are at times shouldering much of the higher costs — and changing demographics and consumer patterns have left some of them more exposed to inflation than in previous generations.
An Ontario nurse is facing charges in connection with the alleged assault of a two-year-old boy with “significant medical limitations” in Niagara Region.
The man who claims to be one of the people seen 'surfing' on the roof of a moving subway train in Toronto is speaking exclusively to CTV News about his stunts and the looming threat of a police arrest.
China on Wednesday reaffirmed its threat to use military force to bring self-governing Taiwan under its control, amid threatening Chinese military exercises that have raised tensions between the sides to their highest level in years.
A former Twitter employee has been convicted of failing to register as an agent for Saudi Arabia and other charges after accessing private data on users critical of the kingdom's government in a spy case that spanned from Silicon Valley to the Middle East.
Police announced a breakthrough Tuesday in the killings of four Muslim men in Albuquerque, New Mexico, charging a man from Afghanistan – himself a Muslim – with two of the slayings and identifying him as a prime suspect in the other killings that put the entire community on edge.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump will be questioned under oath Wednesday in the New York attorney general's long-running civil investigation into his dealings as a real estate mogul, he confirmed in a post on his Truth Social account.
As Britain swelters through a roasting summer, and braces for a cold financial reckoning in the fall, calls for the Conservative government to act are getting louder.
Ontario MP Pierre Poilievre remains the heavy favourite to be the next Conservative party leader but he trails opponent Jean Charest for support among Canadians as a whole.
The government is working hard to meet its end-of-year deadline to deliver dental-care coverage to kids, the deputy prime minister said Tuesday, but added providing new services is 'complicated.'
Expressing concerns over the RCMP's yearslong use of spyware in major investigations, privacy and civil liberties experts say the previously undisclosed tools are 'extremely intrusive' and they are calling for stronger oversight and regulation of spyware Canada-wide.
A Nebraska woman has been charged with helping her teenage daughter end her pregnancy at about 24 weeks after investigators uncovered Facebook messages in which the two discussed using medication to induce an abortion and plans to burn the fetus afterward.
A new study found that people with regular menstruation cycles and those who typically do not menstruate either experienced a heavier flow or breakthrough bleeding after being vaccinated against COVID-19.
Two new features being introduced on WhatsApp, which will let you choose who can see when you're active, and to leave groups silently, will start rolling out to all WhatsApp users this month.
Snapchat on Tuesday introduced its first parental control center, nearly 10 months after an executive from the company told Congress it was developing tools aimed at helping parents keep their teens safe.
The ingredients in a 2,300-year-old ancient Chinese chemistry formula have finally been identified, revealing new secrets about metallurgy in ancient China.
Socially conscious rockers The Tragically Hip, eminent broadcaster Barbara Frum and music video visionary Director X are among the homegrown icons set to be inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame.
Bob Odenkirk has said he would have been 'dead in a few minutes' if he had not received CPR after suffering a heart attack on the set of 'Better Call Saul' last year.
Firefighters on Tuesday finally overcame what officials described as the worst fire in Cuba's history that over five days destroyed 40% of the Caribbean island's main fuel storage facility and caused massive blackouts.
European stock markets opened higher while Asia fell Wednesday ahead of the release of U.S. inflation data that traders worry will show upward pressure on prices still is too strong for the U.S. Federal Reserve to ease off interest rate hikes.
Three years after new rules came into force, the regulator overseeing Canadian airlines has not issued any fines related to passenger compensation claims for flight delays and cancellations.
TripAdvisor has ranked the best excursions in Canada, according to travellers. The activities include driving an ATV through the wilderness of B.C., exploring snow-blanketed caves in Alberta, and whale-watching in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Issey Miyake, the Japanese fashion designer whose timeless pleats made him an industry favorite, has died aged 84. He died of cancer on August 5, his office confirmed to CNN on Tuesday.
Not only will Team Canada be playing on home soil when they face Latvia in their first game of the tournament on Wednesday, they'll be doing so during a period of intense scrutiny for Canadian hockey.
The World Cup in Qatar could start one day earlier than scheduled with FIFA looking at a plan to let the host nation play Ecuador on Nov. 20, a person familiar with the proposal told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
Denis Shapovalov's rain-suspended match was over shortly after it resumed Tuesday afternoon as he dropped a 7-5, 7-6 (4) decision to Australia's Alex de Minaur at the National Bank Open.
Bolivia's decision to open an alternate route to its historic 'Death Road' - a serpentine dirt path across the towering Andes hills known for its deadly cliffs - has led to a resurgence of wildlife in the area, according to an environmental group.
Bicycles have long been a means of transport in China and once outnumbered cars on city streets. Now cycling is increasingly also seen as a sport by an urban middle class that has benefited from China's growth into the world's second largest economy.
The new plan to encourage Americans to buy more electric vehicles built in North America, instead of just the United States, has cleared its tallest hurdle, and for the Canadian auto industry, the stakes are enormous.
