Conservative Party leader Candice Bergen is calling for Minister for Public Safety Marco Mendicino to resign, claiming he misled Canadians on the federal government's implementation of the Emergencies Act..“Marco Mendicino has lied and misled Canadians to justify the Liberal government giving itself unprecedented emergency powers. This is unacceptable," Bergen said..“Minister Mendicino must resign for lying to, and misleading Canadians about the Emergencies Act.".Mendicino has been the subject of criticism in recent days over his comments made about the Liberals' reasoning for implementing the act in response to the Freedom Convoy protests of early 2022..The minister repeatedly claimed the government only invoked the act "at the recommendation of police." But testimony from both the RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki, and the former Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly, indicated this was not true..Lucki said on May 11 there was "never a question" of requesting the act, while Sloly said on June 2 he was, "not aware of anybody else in the Ottawa Police Service," who asked for it..Last week, Deputy Minister of Public Safety Rob Stewart said there was a "misunderstanding," of Mendicino's words, adding that "the intention that he was trying to express was that law enforcement asked for the tools that were contained in the Emergencies Act.".In response to this, Conservative leadership candidate demanded Mendicino resign last Thursday. .“The minister made false statements. If he messed up, then he’s incompetent. If he lied, then he’s dishonest. Either way, he can’t keep this important job," he said..Bergen said the Emergencies Act gave the federal government, "unprecedented war-time-like powers," which is why the Liberals must be "honest, open, and transparent with Canadians about why they granted themselves these powers.".She said it was "unbecoming" of Mendicino to believe Canadians did not deserve a truthful account of why the powers were invoked, and she accused him of trying 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."
