Friday Parliamentary Debate on Invoking Emergencies Act Cancelled by 'Police Operation'" Justified Under Emergencies Act
The House of Commons will not be sitting on Friday because parliamentarians have been exhorted to avoid downtown Ottawa due to a "
police operation to remove Freedom Convoy protestors throughout the day."
Curiously enough, the ongoing police action was invoked against Ottawa protesters under the provisions of the Federal
Emergencies Act, essentially a declaration of martial law, invoked by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday.
Parliament was in the midst of debate to consider whether or not to ratify the Act, when the Friday sitting was cancelled due to an "emergency". MPs were originally scheduled for a marathon extended session to vote on the Act, from Thursday, February 17th until Monday February 21st at 8pm EST.
As outlined in the legislation, the Act must be either ratified or rejected by members of both Parliament and the Canadian Senate over the next few days.
As noted in the February 18th, 2022 National post article,
Speaker cancels Emergencies Act debate on Friday due to 'police operation'," Canadian MPs:
... were expected on Friday to continue the debate on the Liberal government’s invocation of the Emergencies Act to deal with Freedom Convoy protests across the country.
Government House leader Mark Holland said today’s pause will not affect the outcome — MPs who want to speak will have a chance to do so, possibly as soon as Saturday, and a vote on the Emergencies Act motion will take place early next week.
NDP House leader Peter Julian, in a tweet, says that he and his counterparts from other parties agreed around 4:30 a.m. EST to cancel the sitting scheduled to start at 7 a.m. EST.
The government debate over the Emergencies Act is currently scheduled to resume on Saturday, unless Parliament decides to postpone the debate a second time.
Before the police action was announced, Federal MPs were afforded easy access to the House of Commons, where the debate was and is being held.