Canadian Procurement Minister Anita Anand said Sunday that she would not rule out any options that could help Canada contain a third wave of the COVID-19 outbreak, including invoking the Canada Emergency Act.
Asked in an interview with The West Block whether Canada would consider the act, the minister said the federal cabinet would reconvene over the weekend and early next week to “consider all options.
Source: Global News
The Canada Emergency Act would give the federal government the power to issue executive orders and deploy public funds quickly, subject to parliamentary review.
The Act has never been used in Canada’s history. During the first wave of the outbreak last March, the federal government did not declare a state of emergency, although many provinces declared a public health emergency and initiated emergency measures.
The Emergency Act, formerly known as the repealed War Measures Act, allowed the federal government to take action to ensure safety and security during national emergencies. The War Measures Act was implemented three times in Canada’s history: during the First and Second World Wars, and during the October 1970 crisis, when members of the Front de libération du Québec kidnapped the then Lieutenant Governor of Quebec and British diplomats.
Canada is now mired in a serious third wave of the outbreak, triggered by a new, more contagious variant of the new coronavirus, and has brought the country’s health care system to the brink of collapse, with many provinces declaring lockdowns.
Anand said the federal government is doing “everything possible” to help the provinces and territories. She said the federal government has acquired several mobile health facilities for COVID-19 hotspots in Toronto and Hamilton, including one at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto.
But she sidestepped the question of whether the federal government has failed in vaccine supply, stressing that Canada has received more than 12.7 million doses of the vaccine. For a country that has not produced a new crown vaccine, it has done well.
Recent Comments