44th Parl. 1st Sess.
June 12, 2023 11:00AM
- Jun/12/23 9:53:26 p.m.
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I will allow the hon. member to answer because I do have other individuals who want to ask questions.
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- Jun/12/23 9:53:33 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to remind the member for New Westminster—Burnaby, when he is citing the Harper record, that his party, the New Democratic Party, so far has supported time allocation 37 times in this Parliament, so it is awfully rich for the NDP members to be claiming it is an opposition party when they are supporting time allocation here in the House of Commons.
Ms. Heather McPherson: You did it 115 times.
Mr. John Nater: I would remind the member for Edmonton Strathcona—
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- Jun/12/23 9:54:00 p.m.
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Order. I think there are other individuals who are trying to have their say here, but it is not time. I have not recognized them.
Before I go to the hon. member for Perth—Wellington, I want to remind hon. members who are online that I will not recognize them unless they have their headsets on.
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- Jun/12/23 9:54:21 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, in response to the member for Edmonton Strathcona, 37 times her party has supported time allocation to ram through the Liberal government's agenda. The New Democrats used to be an opposition party to hold the government to account, and now the member for New Westminster—Burnaby and others are raising this issue. They talked about the Harper regime. There was a cake at that time. We were going to bake a cake for the NDP to celebrate—
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- Jun/12/23 9:54:48 p.m.
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Questions and comments, the hon. member for Vancouver Centre.
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- Jun/12/23 9:54:56 p.m.
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Madam Chair, excuse my voice. I have asthma, and I am suffering from the pollution syndrome right now.
I just want to say that there was some misinformation that went on in this House, and I want to correct it.
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- Jun/12/23 9:55:10 p.m.
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The member's mike is not working properly. I will ask her to unhook it and hook it in again.
In the meantime, I will go to the hon. member for Salaberry—Suroît, and I will make sure that the hon. member's mike is plugged in properly to go back to her.
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- Jun/12/23 9:55:28 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I have a fairly simple question for the member who just gave his speech. All evening we have been talking about work-life balance, how nice it would be if we could all be in our constituencies with our husbands, wives and children and perhaps have a more balanced life. Of course, I think that every working person in the world would like to have a job where they work at home with their family close by. However, that is not possible.
My question is quite specific. There are a number of things the government can do, but is not doing, to make it easier to have work-life balance. I have the parliamentary committee schedule in front of me. Before the pandemic, I think even in the winter and spring of 2020, parliamentary committee meetings were not held on Fridays. Since we have started sitting in a hybrid Parliament, committees sit from Monday to Friday, full time.
Do you not think, sir, that this measure is getting in the way of work-life balance, yet it is tolerated in a hybrid Parliament?
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- Jun/12/23 9:56:39 p.m.
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I must remind the hon. member to address her comments to the Chair and not directly to members.
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- Jun/12/23 9:56:46 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the government is doing a number of things that are not good for families. Tonight, tomorrow night and the night after that, we are sitting until midnight. That is not good for families, but that is what the government is doing.
I want to say to the member for Vancouver Centre that we have been doing Parliament virtually now for three years, and we have to plug in our headsets in order to participate.
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- Jun/12/23 9:57:18 p.m.
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Yes, I want to remind members that, if they want to participate, they should make sure their headsets are on and plugged in. Let us try that again.
Questions and comments, the hon. member for Vancouver Centre.
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- Jun/12/23 9:57:29 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is always interesting to watch when someone is trying to be personal and nasty. People can make assumptions. My headset was plugged in. It just did not work for that moment.
I just wanted to say that there was a great deal of misinformation and, may I say, disinformation that went on with the hon. member's speech. If the hon. member will recall, the hon. member mentioned the clause-by-clause discussion of one of the very contentious bills on his committee. The committee did not work, and we had problems; we had to come back to the House to ask the House to set time limits for how we dealt with clause-by-clause. The reason for this was that his party filibustered every second clause. There was filibustering going on, and that was what created a dysfunctional committee, not my being hybrid, not my being there. I had everything in front of me. It was working extremely well.
Let us not be nasty and mean to people who have problems and sometimes could be ill.
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- Jun/12/23 9:58:50 p.m.
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The microphone was showing as either not being plugged in or not being plugged in properly.
The hon. member for Perth—Wellington.
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Madam Speaker, unfortunately, the member for Vancouver Centre is incorrect. We had not proceeded to clause-by-clause until the Liberals brought in a guillotine motion in the House of Commons. To say that we were filibustering clause-by-clause is 100% inaccurate, so perhaps the member could refresh her memory, because that is not what happened. They came with a guillotine motion, literally in the dead of night, to force every clause through without debate or discussion. Every debate was debated in the dead of night.
To remind members who are wondering at home, the bill in question was Bill C-11. This was the Liberal effort to regulate the Internet and to try to force user-generated content to be subject to CRTC regulations. We all know that if we want something to be done poorly, we give it to the CRTC.
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- Jun/12/23 9:59:52 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I have been listening tonight. We know that democracy is going to be changed with this virtual Parliament.
I wonder if the member has heard if the Liberal government has tabled or is going to table a stop-work order on Centre Block to save billions of dollars. Should we then, with their arguments, just make all of Parliament virtual? Do we need to spend $3 billion on Centre Block now? Should we act like a battery plant and put a stop-work order on Centre Block tonight?
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- Jun/12/23 10:00:32 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, Centre Block has a carving in the old House of Commons chamber, and part of that carving represents the 20 members who must contribute to quorum. The current Liberal government would be doing away with the constitutionally mandated quorum requirement that, at all times, 20 members must be present in the House of Commons. Because of the Liberal-NDP coalition agreement, they would do away with something as fundamental as the constitutionality of quorum, where members must be physically present in order to do that. It is disappointing to see the efforts of the Liberal government to avoid accountability on these important issues.
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- Jun/12/23 10:01:17 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I have a very quick question before I get the opportunity to speak. Could the member give a clear indication of why the members of the Conservative Party seem to oppose the voting app? Do they support the app?
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- Jun/12/23 10:01:35 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, in our dissenting report, we were open to a compromise to allow all elements of hybrid Parliament to proceed for one year. Our clear requirement was that there ought to be a sunset clause so that, one year after the start of the next Parliament, the new Parliament would have a vote on whether to maintain those provisions. This was the compromise that, as opposition MPs, we were willing to make. Although we do not particularly like the provisions of hybrid Parliament, we were willing to make that compromise in order to come to a consensus among parliamentarians, but the requirements were the sunset clause and the vote one year into the next Parliament.
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- Jun/12/23 10:02:17 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is an interesting point the member just raised. He says that the Conservative Party would support everything we are talking about if there were a sunset clause. If I am understanding what the member just said, he would then be in full support of the motion; I look to him to give clear indication that my statement is, in fact, correct.
Mr. John Nater: That was in the dissenting report.
Mr. Kevin Lamoureux: Madam Speaker, he is reaffirming that by his comments across the way.
I think we have to put things into proper perspective here, and part of that is recognizing the role the Conservative Party plays today on the floor of the House of Commons. I would suggest that it is very much a destructive force. They talk about the NDP voting with us on time allocation, and they try to give the impression that there is a solid coalition and so forth. However, the member does not realize that, in the last federal election, Canadians decided that it would be a minority government.
In a minority government, it is not only the party that has the majority of seats that is afforded the opportunity to continue to govern, as we were given. It also ensures that the government works along with opposition parties. The Conservatives, virtually from the get-go, made it very clear that they do not see themselves as a co-operative—
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- Jun/12/23 10:04:06 p.m.
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The hon. member for Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame is rising on a point of order.
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