SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 68

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 10, 2022 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 68 - May/10/22
Mr. Mark Gerretsen (Kingston and the Islands, Lib.)
  • May/10/22 2:07:15 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to welcome representatives from Queen's University to Parliament Hill today for Queen’s Day on the Hill. Queen’s is a leading university, with more than 27,000 students from across Canada and from 126 countries around the world. In my riding of Kingston and the Islands, Queen’s contributes one in every 10 jobs to the community and has helped more than 600 start-up companies grow. Its students, staff and faculty raise more than $1 million annually for local charities like the United Way. Queen’s produces highly skilled graduates and groundbreaking research. Research like that from Professor Cathleen Crudden, which was supported by a $24-million grant from the new frontiers in research fund, is changing the world by making new coatings that could stop bridges from rusting or be used to fight cancer. Internationally, the recently announced Times Higher Education impact rankings placed Queen’s University seventh in the world out of 1,500 universities for advancing the United Nations' sustainable development goals. I encourage all members of the House to join us later this evening for an official reception hosted by Queen's University, starting at 5:30 p.m. at the Metropolitain Brasserie. Once again, I welcome Queen's University to the Hill and offer best wishes for a successful day.
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Context: House Hansard - 68 - May/10/22
Mr. Garnett Genuis (Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, CPC)
  • May/10/22 5:34:39 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I do not know why the member would object to praying for the Queen. He might want to use the prayer from Fiddler on the Roof: “May God bless and keep the czar far away from us.” That might be the kind of prayer the member would prefer. In seriousness, he made a general argument against tradition, saying that some things have changed and other things can change too. Of course things can change and some changes have been good changes. However, that does not absolve us of the responsibility to critically evaluate the reasons that a tradition might have been in place previously and if there are downsides to removing that tradition. In this case, we have a brief prayer followed by an opportunity for reflection, and that seems to be an inclusive formula. People have an opportunity to engage in secular reflection as they may wish, and there is also a very open-ended monotheistic prayer that really anybody from a monotheistic religious tradition can buy into. Does the member at least accept that making this dramatic change to tradition in one opposition day is not the best way to proceed?
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