Banff-Airdrie Member of Parliament Blake Richards says the Trudeau Government must end its overreach of authority against protesters in Ottawa, calling it a shameful blow to democracy.

The police action taking place on Parliament Hill led to a House of Commons debate cancelled on the Emergencies Act. The Conservatives are asking for its withdrawal and a vote is expected on Monday.

Richards was among those scheduled to speak in the House yesterday (February 18) and he now expects that will take place today.  

The act replaced the War Measures Act and authorizes the federal government to take extraordinary temporary measures to respond to public welfare emergencies, public order emergencies, international emergencies, and war emergencies.

"This is meant for situations of terrorist or foreign invasions or civil wars. This situation is none of those things, not even close to any of those things."

"The idea that the government can come in and freeze bank accounts, cease assets of people who might have given 50 bucks because they wanted to see an end of the lockdown... the government doesn't have the right to cease the bank accounts of people they disagree with. That is completely and utterly inappropriate, and not fitting of a democracy."

"It's a pretty big overreach, to say the least when they could have started with trying to have a conversation with people, or maybe they could look at ways they could help the situation. I think people expect to see an end or at least a plan to end the mandates and restrictions."

Earlier this week, a motion by the Conservatives to have the government present such a plan by the end of the month failed. Only one Liberal MP sided with the Conservatives and none of the NDP MPs.

Richards says the government can invoke the Emergencies Act for up to 30 days.

"The government has given us no indication of what their true intentions are here, and their justification for even putting it in place, to begin with, is pretty slim. There's not a lot of meat to the explanation they've given us."

In his presentation, he will point out a series of other situations that are far more concerning right now, including a violent attack at the Coastal GasLink site that has left workers shaken and millions in damages in Northern B.C.

"In B.C., there are attacks on critical infrastructure in this country. People are swinging axes and trying to light cars on fire with people in them. That's far more of an emergency situation than some trucks illegally parked on a road."

He acknowledges there were some inappropriate actions on Parliament Hill but says they are far from threatening the future of our country.

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