The Member of Parliament for Windsor West is renewing his call for the Liberals to provide compensation for those affected by this winter's blockade at the Ambassador Bridge.
MP Brian Masse of the NDP rose in the House of Commons Friday afternoon to urge the government to be more forthcoming with how it will support residents and business owners who were affected when a protest shut down Huron Church Road near the bridge for a week this past February.
"The City of Windsor stepped up to clear the blocked Ambassador Bridge in a professional way that became an example for Ottawa, but it came with a price tag of $5.7-million," said Masse. "And who is paying the price? Windsor residents, including the affected area that has high child poverty, low-income families and immigrants. And who has not paid? The Federal government. What will it take for this government to respect the people of Windsor and pay for the harm their lack of action has caused?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JDcyHLBQAI
In response, federal public safety minister Marco Mendicino thanked Masse and Windsor-Tecumseh MP Irek Kusmierczyk for supporting those business owners.
"That's precisely why we invoked the Emergencies Act," said Mendicino. "We invoked the Emergencies Act to not only restore public safety, but to maintain public safety, and we will continue to work with the City of Windsor and other communities which were unprecedentedly affected by this, to ensure they are made whole."
Masse's question came as the Public Order Emergency Commission (POEC) concluded weeks of public hearings on the invocation of the Emergencies Act. The Act was proclaimed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, for the first time ever, to force out protestors that had paralyzed the capital.
