44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 30, 2022 11:00AM
- May/30/22 7:17:54 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, my colleague the hon. deputy House leader brings up a very important point about debate in this place. What I see and what I have referred to today as you were in the chair is a decline in democracy. It seems as though bills are being rushed through. Very important pieces of legislation are being rushed through this place without proper debate and without proper input on behalf of members of the opposition. This decline in democracy that we are seeing is very real, as things are moving straight to committee rather than being debated in this place.
I remind members that there are millions of voices represented in this place. There are millions of people who sent members of Parliament here to be their voices. I wonder if the member can comment on his perception of what we have been seeing throughout our institutions, which is a decline in democracy.
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- May/30/22 7:18:50 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I entirely agree with the opposition House leader. That was an excellent question, and I could not have done it better myself.
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- May/30/22 7:19:04 p.m.
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It is my duty to interrupt the proceedings on the motion at this time. The question is on the amendment.
If a member of a recognized party present in the House wishes to request a recorded division or that the amendment be adopted on division, I would invite them to rise and indicate it to the Chair.
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- May/30/22 7:20:52 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would like a recorded division, please.
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- May/30/22 7:20:57 p.m.
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Pursuant to order made on Thursday, November 25, 2021, the division stands deferred until Tuesday, May 31, at the expiry of the time provided for Oral Questions.
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moved:
That it be an instruction to the Standing Committee on Finance that, during its consideration of Bill C-19, An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on April 7, 2022 and other measures, the committee be granted the power to divide the bill into two pieces of legislation:
(i) Bill C-19A, An Act to amend the Department of Employment and Social Development Act and other acts, containing divisions 26, 27, 29 and 32 of Part 5 and Schedule 3 of the bill,
(ii) Bill C-19B, An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on April 7, 2022 and other measures, containing all the remaining provisions of the bill.
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Madam Speaker, here we are again, and it is ironic that the last question we heard from the House leader was about not having an opportunity to debate issues. We just went through the process of listening to a concurrence debate for three straight hours in the House, for nothing more than for Conservatives to prevent any form of legislation coming through and being adopted by the House.
What were we supposed to talk about today? I realize we only have a few short minutes remaining in our official day today. What were we supposed to debate today? It was Bill C-18, a bill that the Conservatives, at least in their election platform, support. It is an idea that they brought forward and that they ran on. They were interested in helping independent small news organizations throughout the country when it was an election. Once they were elected but realized they were not going to form government, they suddenly no longer had an interest in advancing this objective for Canadians.
I hope that Canadians are watching this today, because they are now seeing not one but two motions introduced into the House for no reason other than to purposely obstruct the business of the House and to make sure that debate on Bill C-18 cannot continue today, which is just remarkably ironic. The irony is literally oozing through this place right now, after the member for Barrie—Innisfil just stood up and asked his deputy, “Oh, tell me more about why it is we do not have the opportunity to debate in the House. Why are they rushing through all this legislation? Tell us how important it is, deputy.”
What was his response? His response was, “Oh yes, what an incredible question the opposition House leader just had there. He hit the nail on the head. Are we not all so great?”
Do we see what is going on here? I hope that Canadians are tuned in to this today, because what we are seeing is, time after time, Conservatives obstructing any way possible to get any legislation through the House.
They are laughing right now, but we are talking about a piece of legislation that they put forward in their election platform. They ran on it, and now that it is before the House, an opportunity to pass a piece of legislation that everybody will agree on because it is in the best interest of Canadians, what are they doing? Routinely—
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- May/30/22 7:25:08 p.m.
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The member for Barrie—Innisfil is rising on a point of order..
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- May/30/22 7:25:10 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, we would like a vote on the motion, and then we can get to government business after that—
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- May/30/22 7:25:22 p.m.
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That is a matter of debate.
The hon. parliamentary secretary has the floor.
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- May/30/22 7:25:25 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, by the way, to the member for Barrie—Innisfil, I want to extend my best wishes to his former colleague, the Liberal candidate Jeff Lehman, who is running in Barrie in the upcoming election on Thursday. I send best wishes to Jeff. I hope he is successful in the provincial election and that he becomes a good Liberal MPP representing the city of Barrie, providing representation that I know is so badly needed right now in Queen's Park.
To that member, I would hope that he would extend that congratulations—
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- May/30/22 7:25:56 p.m.
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The hon. member for Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies is rising on a point of order.
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- May/30/22 7:26:04 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, this member should know that this place is the federal Parliament for the country and not the provincial parliament for Ontario, so I think—
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- May/30/22 7:26:16 p.m.
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That is not a point of order.
The hon. parliamentary secretary.
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Madam Speaker, I guess that one stung a little. I apologize. I will get back to the subject at hand.
What is happening in the federal Parliament right now is that the House leader for the opposition is not doing his job. Because, quite frankly, the Conservatives are leaderless other than him right now, his job—
An hon member: Thank you. I am the leader.
Mr. Mark Gerretsen: Madam Speaker, finally the member for Barrie—Innisfil has informed Canadians that he is leading the Conservative Party of Canada. It certainly is interesting to know that because Canadians have been wondering, as have I and so many other people, but to know that the member for Barrie—Innisfil is now the de facto leader of the Conservative Party of Canada truly is eye-opening and refreshing. It certainly would explain the hostile nature of the House and the way it is deliberating.
Back to my point, the job of the House leader for the Conservative Party, the official opposition House leader, is to coordinate his MPs to make sure they play a constructive role in developing better policy for Canadians, which will impact their lives and make their lives better, and the one policy we want to talk about so much is a policy that they ran on in the last election. They ran on the supports in Bill C-18, but they were not interested in—
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- May/30/22 7:28:05 p.m.
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Order. There is some yelling on this side of the House and some participating when there should not be, and I would just let members know that there will be 10 minutes of questions and comments, so if they have any thoughts or questions, they can jot them down, and they will get an opportunity to ask questions and make comments.
The hon. parliamentary secretary.
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- May/30/22 7:28:21 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, what I was saying was that the Conservatives' job here is to help inform policy and to make policy that is better for Canadians. What do they have before them? It is not only a policy the government feels would be better for Canadians, but a policy that the Conservatives ran on, a policy that they are interested in and a policy they saw as beneficial, at least during election time. Then, they lost the election, and suddenly they are no longer interested in these policies for Canadians that they ran on.
The opposition House leader instructed his MPs to put forward a concurrence motion earlier today, which burned three hours of House time. We have spent three hours debating a concurrence motion of a report that this Parliament's ethics committee did not even produce. It did not do the research. It did not study it, and it did not create the recommendations. The Conservatives literally grabbed the report from the last Parliament and retabled it as their own in this one, then they moved a concurrence motion on it, which is rare on its own, let alone on a report that was not even from a committee in this Parliament.
After the opposition House leader did that, he asked the question earlier through the member for Calgary Shepard about more debate time and wanting more debate, notwithstanding the fact that they had already filibustered the motion we had to give them that.
Members might remember Motion No. 11. That motion was about giving the House more time to debate issues, because the Conservatives were concerned that they were not getting enough time, but then they filibustered Motion No. 11, which was to give them more time. Now, the member comes forward and moves another motion still within the motions proceedings we are in during the daily Routine Proceedings, just to kill more time.
If it is, indeed, true, and the member for Barrie—Innisfil is the de facto leader of the Conservative Party now—
An hon. member: You are the only one saying that.
Mr. Mark Gerretsen: Madam Speaker, no, I am not the only one saying that. As a matter of fact, I said it earlier. I will respond to their heckles, if they want—
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- May/30/22 7:30:51 p.m.
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Order. Again, if members have questions and comments, they should wait until it is the appropriate time.
The hon. member for Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon is rising on a point of order.
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- May/30/22 7:30:58 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the member for Kingston and the Islands fully knows well that the leader of the Conservative Party—
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- May/30/22 7:31:06 p.m.
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I am sorry, but that is not a point of order.
The hon. member for Kingston and the Islands.
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