SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 39

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
March 2, 2022 02:00PM
Context: House Hansard - 39 - Mar/2/22
Mr. Mark Gerretsen (Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons (Senate), Lib.)
  • Mar/2/22 4:28:36 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what we have before us is a very good proposal that allows both the party that put forward the utilization of this measure, that being the government, and the party that was most drastically opposed to it to not be involved in the chairship. We have actually assigned the chairship to two other parties: the Bloc and the NDP. I am curious if the government House leader can try to provide some insight as to why he thinks Conservatives are just hell-bent on chairing the committee. What kind of power are they looking for—
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Context: House Hansard - 39 - Mar/2/22
Hon. Mark Holland
  • Mar/2/22 4:30:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the impasse seems to be on that very point. My hon. colleague is correct that the impasse is on the Conservatives' insistence on chairing a process when they had taken such a clear side. One of their members called it “Canada Day times a thousand”. They are yelling across the aisle because I understand they do not want to wait for their questions. Neither do we, and that is why we are not chairing. Perhaps the hon. member will understand that we have given up the chair and that they have taken a strident position of being in favour of the illegal activities and cheerleading those activities and that therefore they would be inappropriate to be the chair. That is why we have moved this reasonable proposal.
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Context: House Hansard - 39 - Mar/2/22
Ms. Lianne Rood (Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, CPC)
  • Mar/2/22 4:37:24 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this is a very important piece of legislation. We did not see any legal interpretation when the government invoked the act. We still have not heard that, and we have asked many questions on where the legal interpretation was that it met the threshold. If we read this act, it clearly states that a member of the official opposition or of the opposition, and we are recognized as being the official opposition, should be chairing this committee. It is normal practice that any committee that oversees and scrutinizes the government is chaired by an official opposition member. I am just wondering if you had a legal opinion to interpret the act in the way you are interpreting it, because you are saying it should be co-chaired by two members of different parties, not by the official opposition.
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