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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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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès)

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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Mr. John Brassard (Barrie—Innisfil, CPC)

May/30/22 7:20:57 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-19

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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Mr. Mark Gerretsen (Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons (Senate), Lib.)

May/30/22 7:22:21 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-18

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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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès)

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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Mr. John Brassard

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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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès)

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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Mr. Mark Gerretsen

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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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès)

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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Mr. Bob Zimmer

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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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès)

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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Mr. Mark Gerretsen

May/30/22 7:26:18 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-18

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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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes)

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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Mr. Mark Gerretsen

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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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes)

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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Mr. Brad Vis

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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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes)

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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Mr. Mark Gerretsen

May/30/22 7:31:11 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, earlier I was giving my speech in the House and I said that it appears the member from Barrie—Innisfil, the opposition House leader, is the leader of the party. He said, “Thank you. I am the leader.” He said that. I only picked up on his own words. An hon. member: I said I was House leader. Mr. Mark Gerretsen: Madam Speaker, was he being facetious? It is quite possible, but I would suggest that he only be serious in the House so we make sure we have all the right information. That is what he has done here. He has now introduced another motion in an attempt to burn more time, so that we cannot debate the important issues that Canadians have. It is ironic. Now they are heckling me and asking me to stop talking, but the irony is that this is the same individual who, only moments ago, asked why we could not talk more. He said that we need to talk more and that we need more debate. The incredibly rich hypocrisy from the member for Barrie—Innisfil and Conservatives generally speaking is absolutely breathtaking. I see the games they are playing and the manner in which they are conducting themselves, and they are not interested in anything that is their job. When I was in an exchange in the previous debate with the member for Regina—Lewvan, he even said that they were going to keep bringing forward issue after issue in the hope that Canadians would eventually get to the point where they say they do not trust the government. That really stuck with me because it highlighted what the Conservative objective and agenda is here. It is not to do their job. The Conservatives' job as Her Majesty's loyal opposition, as they like to call themselves, is to make— Some hon. members: Oh, oh!

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes)

May/30/22 7:33:32 p.m.
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Again, it is not yet time for questions and comments. I would ask members to respect the fact that there is someone else who has the floor who has been recognized. If they wish to be recognized, they can either wait for questions and comments, or wait for the next time I call for debate. The hon. parliamentary secretary.

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Mr. Mark Gerretsen

May/30/22 7:33:48 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-18

Madam Speaker, I say that they like to call themselves that because they want to assume the role, but they do not know how to do it. It is a pretty basics politics 101 course to figure out what the job of the opposition is. It is not to put up roadblocks and to prevent things from coming through. There was another really interesting part that came out of the previous debate with the member for Regina—Lewvan. When I asked him if it was not his job to make policy better and said that all he was doing was putting up roadblocks to stop legislation from getting through, his response to that was that they could not let bad legislation go through. That is not how it works. They are entitled to their opinion on the legislation. They are entitled to put forward their ideas. They are entitled to try to make the legislation better, but at the end of the day, the way that democracy works is that, if the majority does not agree with them, then we move on. That is how democracy works. However, the Conservatives do not know what the role is in the House. Their role is not to be obstructionist and to put up a roadblock in front of every single issue. Their role is to come forward and to propose ideas, and to try to convince others, a majority in the House, that their idea is better, and to advance that objective. As I said earlier, the irony here is that the issue we are talking about right now, Bill C-18, the one the government has tabled to actually discuss, the one the Conservatives keep filibustering, is an issue that they ran on in the election. It is an issue that they support. Even the issues the Conservatives support, they are refusing to let move through. I find it extremely—

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