Emergencies Act review committee to hold first meeting Monday

The newly formed Emergencies Act Parliamentary Review Committee will be holding its first meeting on Monday, as it begins its work scrutinizing the government’s invocation of a national public order emergency to end the trucker convoy protests.

Monday’s meeting appears to be focused on committee setup housekeeping matters, but the clock is ticking for the panel of MPs and senators to complete and submit at least an initial report shortly after Parliament reconvenes on March 21.

The committee includes seven MPs: Liberals Rachel Bendayan, Yasir Naqvi, and Arif Virani; Conservatives Larry Brock and Glen Motz; Bloc Quebecois MP Rheal Fortin; and, NDP MP Matthew Green.

It also includes four senators: Independent Senators Group Sen. Gwen Boniface; Conservative Sen. Claude Carignan; Progressive Senate Group Sen. Peter Harder; and Canadian Senators Group Sen. Vern White.

Fortin, Green and Boniface have been tapped to be the committee’s three co-chairs, while the Liberal and Conservative vice-chair roles will likely be determined on Monday.

Given the Emergencies Act has been revoked, the committee will have to issue its first report back to both the House and Senate within seven sitting days.

Co-chair Green recently told CTVNews.ca that he was trying to speak with as many committee members this week as possible to get a sense of what the initial steps should be.

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“That will be— I'm assuming— a negotiated process of routine motions at the first committee meeting,” Green said.

“I'm in no particular rush to see this move forward without having clear systems and principles that will ensure fairness and transparency and accountability, so that it doesn't devolve into a hyper partisan circus,” he said.

“Otherwise, if we go in without that type of clarity then we could risk, you know, being the parliamentary version of the occupation, and just be in deadlock and gridlock for weeks at a time.”

The Conservatives opposed the structure of the committee, saying it “weakened” accountability, but failed to get enough support from other parties to change it. In a fundraising email to supporters on Wednesday, Conservative House Leader John Brassard wrote that the Liberals’ use of the Act is “unjustifiable.”

“Justin Trudeau’s use of the Emergencies Act is unprecedented. He forced it through the House of Commons under threat of an election, and is now trying to avoid accountability and avoid admitting he never needed the powers in the first place,” Brassard wrote.

The Liberals have sought to defend the committee composition by noting the current standings in the Senate are greatly different from when the Act was passed in 1988, and that the Conservatives’ role is reflective of their “bias in cheering on the illegal occupation.”

The joint House and Senate Parliamentary Review Committee has the responsibility to review the government’s actions under the Act starting on the day it was invoked, and ensure the government used its powers responsibly through the 10 days it remained in effect. 

Green said that the first report will be “a report” and not the only report the committee completes, citing a desire to spend the coming months digging into what the government knew and when they knew it about the need for enacting unprecedented federal powers.

In invoking the act, the government said it did so to respond to concerns over “serious violence against persons or property… for the purpose of achieving a political or ideological objective.”

“I want to make sure that this is not limited to such a narrow scope, that when it's done, Canadians will not be any better for it,” he said.

Every member of the committee and all staff tasked to work with it will have to take an oath of secrecy, so Green is hopeful that the committee will have high-level access to key intelligence and other information that has not been made public surrounding the convoy, such as the policing and financing elements.

The motion to create the committee also notes the requirement under law for much of the committee’s work to be done behind closed doors, though it does carve out that should the content of the meeting be able to be aired publicly, that audio or video broadcasting be allowed.

A majority of the 11 committee members have legal backgrounds, while others have law enforcement and public policy experience.