My question is we have seen world government especially on the federal level take some rather crazy borderline Draconian steps to crack down on this virus.
Now the issue is if the situation arises in Canada to take such steps who.has spricfic Power to do what?
Because based on the history of this country the federal and provincial governments dont have much experience in doing such policies... and frankly this is we're going to require coordinator response across the confederation.
Some rather mean or harsh policies will have to be enacted and be brutally honest we don't have a history of being that way...
Ok, there's a bit to disentangle here.
Lets separate out what may or should happen from what is possible.
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The Federal government of Canada has control of Canada's airspace, international ports and border controls.
The Federal government of Canada also has powers during times of national emergency.
These are set out in the Emergencies Act, which replaced the War Measures Act famously used by Trudeau Senior during the FLQ crisis in Quebec. (for the younger set, this was about a group of pro-separation terrorists who planted bombs and kidnapped a Quebec cabinet minister). The armed forces were deployed and mass arrests carried out at that time.
From Wikipedia:
The
Emergencies Act (
French:
Loi sur les mesures d’urgence) (the
Act) is an
Act of the
Parliament of Canada to authorize the taking of special temporary measures to ensure
safety and
security during national emergencies and to amend
other Acts in consequence thereof.
It received
royal assent on July 21, 1988, replacing the
War Measures Act.
The
Emergencies Act differs from the
War Measures Act in two important ways:
- A declaration of an emergency by the Cabinet must be reviewed by Parliament
- Any temporary laws made under the Act are subject to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Thus any attempt by the government to suspend the
civil rights of Canadians, even in an emergency, will be subject to the "reasonable and justified" test under
section 1 of the Charter.
From the text of the Emergencies Act itself:
3 For the purposes of this Act, a national emergency is an urgent and critical situation of a temporary nature that
- (a) seriously endangers the lives, health or safety of Canadians and is of such proportions or nature as to exceed the capacity or authority of a province to deal with it, or
- (b) seriously threatens the ability of the Government of Canada to preserve the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of Canada
and that cannot be effectively dealt with under any other law of Canada.
***
public welfare emergency means an emergency that is caused by a real or imminent
- (a) fire, flood, drought, storm, earthquake or other natural phenomenon,
- (b) disease in human beings, animals or plants, or
- (c) accident or pollution
***
- 8 (1) While a declaration of a public welfare emergency is in effect, the Governor in Council may make such orders or regulations with respect to the following matters as the Governor in Council believes, on reasonable grounds, are necessary for dealing with the emergency:
- (a) the regulation or prohibition of travel to, from or within any specified area, where necessary for the protection of the health or safety of individuals;
- (b) the evacuation of persons and the removal of personal property from any specified area and the making of arrangements for the adequate care and protection of the persons and property;
- (c) the requisition, use or disposition of property;
- (d) the authorization of or direction to any person, or any person of a class of persons, to render essential services of a type that that person, or a person of that class, is competent to provide and the provision of reasonable compensation in respect of services so rendered;
- (e) the regulation of the distribution and availability of essential goods, services and resources;
- (f) the authorization and making of emergency payments;
- (g) the establishment of emergency shelters and hospitals;
- (h) the assessment of damage to any works or undertakings and the repair, replacement or restoration thereof;
- (i) the assessment of damage to the environment and the elimination or alleviation of the damage; and
- (j) the imposition
- (i) on summary conviction, of a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars or imprisonment not exceeding six months or both that fine and imprisonment, or
- (ii) on indictment, of a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars or imprisonment not exceeding five years or both that fine and imprisonment,
- for contravention of any order or regulation made under this section.
Full text of the bill is here:
https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/e-4.5/page-1.html
