Conservatives call for Minister of Public Safety to resign for misleading Canadians

Ottawa, ON – The Hon. Candice Bergen, Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada and the Official Opposition, released the following statement on Liberal Minister for Public Safety, Marco Mendicino:

“Justin Trudeau’s Minister of Public Safety has misled Canadians. He cannot be trusted.

“Marco Mendicino has lied and misled Canadians to justify the Liberal government giving itself unprecedented emergency powers. This is unacceptable.

“Minister Mendicino must resign for lying to, and misleading Canadians about the Emergencies Act.

“The Minister has repeatedly claimed that the government only invoked the Emergencies Act ‘at the recommendation of police’ but testimony from RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki, and the Chief of the Ottawa Police Service prove that this was not the case.

“We now know that the police never requested the government invoke the Emergencies Act. This confirms what Conservatives have known all along about the Prime Minister invoking the Emergencies Act; that it was unnecessary, and Liberals were unjustified when they invoked it.

“The Emergencies Act gives the government unprecedented war-time-like powers. That is why the Liberal government must be honest, open, and transparent with Canadians about why they granted themselves these powers.

“It is unbecoming of Minister Mendicino to believe that Canadians do not deserve a truthful account of why these powers were invoked, and it is unacceptable that he is attempting to spin a web of mis- and dis-information to mislead Canadians from the truth.

“Conservatives will demand answers. We are calling on Minister Mendicino to resign and for the Liberal government to come clean with Canadians.

“Conservatives will continue to fight for Canadians. We will hold the Liberal government to account, and we will use all the tools at our disposal to ensure the Prime Minister justifies his actions to Canadians.”