The House of Commons on Monday night approved the extraordinary and temporary measures in the Emergencies Act, heeding Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
...hereditary prime minister of the same country that once produced McKenzie King...’s warning that the "state of emergency is not over," even though police ended a three-week occupation in Ottawa and reopened border points to the U.S.
The motion to confirm the declaration of emergency passed 185-151, with the New Democrats voting in favour alongside the minority Liberal government.
The Conservatives and the Bloc Québécois opposed it.
The vote to approve the measures will keep them in place until mid-March at the latest and the Senate must also vote on the government’s request.
At any point, the Senate, House or government could pull support and the extraordinary powers stemming from the emergencies law would be torn up.
Speaking to news hounds on Monday before the vote, Trudeau made it clear that there are still protesters and truckers awaiting an opportunity to come back to Ottawa, some of which are in the towns of Arnprior and Embrun, respectively 70 and 45 kilometres away from Ottawa.
Trudeau, who invoked the Act last week, stressed his government does not want to keep it in place "a single day longer than necessary."
"But even though the blockades are lifted across border openings right now, even though things seem to be resolving very well in Ottawa, this state of emergency is not over. There continues to be real concerns about the coming days," he said.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh echoed these concerns in a subsequent presser. He said some protesters waiting in the surrounding areas of Ottawa "need to be cleared out" and alleged that some supporters of the occupation are "still hiding in Ottawa itself."
Singh said his party was fully prepared to pull its support and to trigger a vote on the necessity of the Emergencies Act — which expands police powers and enables banks to freeze accounts linked to supporters of the protests — once it would not longer be necessary.