Green Party leader Elizabeth May in a private email to cabinet wrote she was sad a caucus colleague opposed the invocation of the Emergencies Act. MP May also thanked Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino for “being so good at your job!”.According to Blacklock's Reporter, the email exchange is dated February 21, the same day cabinet asked the House of Commons to confirm its use of emergency powers against the Freedom Convoy. MPs voted 185 to 151 to uphold cabinet’s decision..Green MP Mike Morrice (Kitchener Centre, Ont.) opposed use of the Act. Morrice told the Commons he worried it set a precedent in dealing with future protesters “such as indigenous land defenders and climate activists, for example.”.May (Saanich-Gulf Islands, B.C.) supported the Act after claiming to be undecided on the issue. “I am trying to make up my mind on how I am going to vote,” May told the Commons February 21..May that same day sent a personal email to Attorney General David Lametti, Government House Leader Mark Holland and Minister Mendicino. “Sad to say our unwhipped caucus is divided,” wrote May. “Hope you will not feel let down by this. Xo.”.“Thank you Liz,” replied Mendicino. “I appreciate very much your input and our conversation.”.“I am grateful for your openness and for being so good at your job!” wrote May..May in a separate email that day circulated false media allegations of Kremlin involvement in the Freedom Convoy. “Hair raising,” she called it..“It seems to me that the convoy exposes white supremacists and racism in a well-organized, alt-right network that is fueled by social media, Facebook and Russian sites, not just here but also elsewhere,” May told the Commons at the time. “The problem is the Emergencies Act can only last 30 days. We are uncovering a cesspool that will take years to clean up.”.May in an Emergencies Act debate said she considered the protests outside Parliament to be a form of torture forbidden by international law. “It was an occupation,” said May..“It caused millions of millions of dollars of damage to this city and its residents,” said May. “Honking horns all night actually qualifies under the Geneva Convention as torture. One is not allowed to do that to prisoners. The people of Ottawa have been imprisoned by occupiers.”.“They may not have known what they were doing,” said May. “This is quite likely for many of them, especially the ones who seemed so surprised they were ultimately going to get arrested. Non-violent civil disobedience has a long tradition, which I will not go through, that includes knowing one is going to be arrested because one is breaking the law and has done this on principle.”
