SoVote

Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Lib.)

Dec/6/23 5:25:39 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, it is with pleasure that I present the following questions that will be answered today: Nos. 1849, 1850, 1854, 1855, 1858 and 1860.

25 words

The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes)

Dec/6/23 5:26:14 p.m.
Watch

Is it agreed? Some hon. members: Agreed.

7 words

Dec/6/23 5:26:14 p.m.
Watch

Question No. 1848—

Questioner: Pat Kelly

With regard to Canada’s immigration system, labour shortages, and housing shortages: (a) for each year, since January 1, 2016, how many successful applicants for permanent residency were skilled tradespeople; (b) how many of the immigrants in (a) were qualified to work in residential construction in the province in which they settled; (c) what proportion of the immigrants in (a) did immigrants in (b) constitute; (d) how many of the immigrants in (b) found work in their respective trades within (i) one year, (ii) two years, (iii) three years; and (e) how many of the immigrants in (b) were employed in their respective trades as of October 1, 2023?

Question No. 1851—

Questioner: Todd Doherty

With regard to government financial forecasting: what is the projected interest rate and the range of possible interest rates that the government is using to make its forecasts, broken down by year, for each of the next five years?

Question No. 1852—

Questioner: Todd Doherty

With regard to the Benefits Delivery Modernization programme: (a) what are the total expenditures through the programme, broken down by year, since 2020; and (b) what are the details of all external contracts signed by the government as part of, or in relation to, the programme, including, for each, the (i) date, (ii) vendor, (iii) amount, (iv) description of the goods or services, including the scope of work, (v) manner in which the contract was awarded (sole-sourced, competitively bid)?

Question No. 1853—

Questioner: Todd Doherty

With regard to government contracts with Avascent, since January 1, 2016, broken down by department, agency, Crown corporation, or other government entity: (a) what was the total value of the contracts signed with Avascent, broken down by year; and (b) what are the details of each contract, including, for each, (i) the date, (ii) the vendor, (iii) the amount, (iv) a description of the goods or services, (v) the purpose of the contract and the scope of work, (vi) whether the contract was awarded through a competitive bid or sole-source process?

Question No. 1856—

Questioner: Marilyn Gladu

With regard to palliative care: (a) how much has the government spent on palliative care, including, but not limited to, funding for the provision of palliative care, the training of medical staff, and the development of the framework for palliative care across Canada, broken down by year, for each year from 2018 to date in 2023; and (b) what is the breakdown of (a) by item and type of expenditure?

Question No. 1857—

Questioner: Jasraj Singh

With regard to the federal carbon tax or price on carbon, since 2018, broken down by year: (a) what was the average dollar amount collected by the government from (i) individual Canadians, (ii) individual Canadian business; (b) what is the breakdown of (a)(i) and (a)(ii) by province or territory; (c) what was the per capita dollar amount collected by the government; (d) what is the breakdown of (c) by province or territory; (e) what was the average climate action incentive payment received by (i) individual Canadians, (ii) businesses; and (f) what is the breakdown of (e)(i) and (e)(ii) by province or territory?

Question No. 1859—

Questioner: Tracy Gray

With regard to Employment and Social Development Canada’s Benefits Delivery Modernization programme: (a) what is the total number of government employees or full time equivalents who worked on this project from 2017 to present, broken down by year; (b) what are the government’s projections of how many staff will be required to complete this programme, from now until 2030, broken down by year; (c) which consulting companies have been contracted in relation to the programme, including, for each, the (i) scope of their work, (ii) contract value; (d) what was the cost of the PwC Case Study referred to in the Auditor General of Canada’s report on Modernizing Information Technology Systems, published on October 19, 2023; and (e) what is the estimated annual cost to administer the programme, in total, broken down by (i) type of cost, (ii) year from 2017 to 2030?

664 words

Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Lib.)

Dec/6/23 5:26:14 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, furthermore, if the government's responses to Questions Nos. 1848, 1851 to 1853, 1856, 1857 and 1859 could be made orders for return, these returns would be tabled immediately.

31 words

Dec/6/23 5:26:14 p.m.
Watch

Question No. 1849—

Questioner: Randall Garrison

With regard to the Enhanced Defence Agreement between Canada and the Republic of the Philippines announced in May 2023: (a) what is the status of the Enhanced Defence Agreement and has it been signed by both countries; (b) what examinations of the human rights situation in the Philippines were conducted before the Enhanced Defence Agreement was negotiated; (c) will ongoing human rights monitoring be included in this agreement and will it be a condition of Canada’s continued participation; (d) if human rights monitoring is included in the agreement, how will that be accomplished; (e) will the agreement be subject to periodic review, conducted by a parliamentary body such as the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs or the Standing Committee on National Defence, to hear from witnesses on the ongoing human rights conditions in the Philippines; and (f) when will the terms of the agreement be made public?

Question No. 1850—

Questioner: Ed Fast

With regard to the fourth annual report on medical assistance in dying in Canada 2022: (a) why wasn't the report tabled in Parliament prior to the date on which this question was filed; and (b) when will the report be tabled?

Question No. 1854—

Questioner: Karen Vecchio

With regard to the workplace assessment conducted by BDO for the Canadian Museum of History and completed in April of 2021: (a) how much was BDO paid to complete the assessment; (b) what was the start date and end date of the related contract; and (c) what was the specific assignment and scope of work provided to BDO?

Question No. 1855—

Questioner: Marilyn Gladu

With regard to medical assistance in dying (MAID): (a) how much has the federal government spent on MAID, including, but not limited to, funding for the provision of MAID, the training of medical staff, and the medications for MAID, broken down by year, from 2016 to 2023; and (b) what is the breakdown of (a) by item and type of expenditure?

Question No. 1858—

Questioner: Tracy Gray

With regard to the Auditor General of Canada’s report on Modernizing Information Technology Systems, published on October 19, 2023: (a) what are the names and descriptions of each government software application that the Auditor General identified as being in poor health; and (b) what are the names of the 562 software applications that the Auditor General identified as essential?

Question No. 1860—

Questioner: Shuvaloy Majumdar

With regard to the statement by the Director of Communications to the Minister of International Development that “We will continue to support civilians with life-saving humanitarian aid, while ensuring that no money goes into the hands of Hamas”: (a) what specific measures is the government taking to ensure that no money goes into the hands of Hamas; (b) has the government issued any type of directives, to all foreign aid recipients in the region, to take measures to ensure that they are not aiding Hamas in any way, either directly or indirectly, and, if so, (i) what were the directives, (ii) who issued the directives, (iii) on what date were the directives issued; and (c) is the government aware of any foreign aid, or money or goods purchased with foreign aid, including any bilateral or multilateral aid, ending up in the hands of Hamas at any point in the last five years, and, if so, what are the details and the government’s response to each instance?

2404 words

Mr. Kevin Lamoureux

Dec/6/23 5:26:33 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, finally, I ask that all remaining questions be allowed to stand.

13 words

The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes)

Dec/6/23 5:26:39 p.m.
Watch

Is that agreed? Some hon. members: Agreed.

7 words

Mrs. Rachael Thomas

Dec/6/23 5:26:59 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The hon. member for Fleetwood—Port Kells spoke in the House a moment ago. He just put a tweet out into the public realm with regard to the leader of the official opposition. It insinuates that the leader of the official opposition should commit suicide, so I would like to give the member the opportunity to apologize for the statement and retract it.

73 words

The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes)

Dec/6/23 5:27:23 p.m.
Watch

This is social media information, so I am going to need to review the issue the hon. member is bringing before the House and come back to the House if need be. On a point of order, the hon. member for Kingston and the Islands.

45 words

Mr. Mark Gerretsen

Dec/6/23 5:27:47 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, did I hear correctly that you are going to be coming back to the House with something on that? If so, I would like to contribute.

28 words

The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes)

Dec/6/23 5:27:55 p.m.
Watch

I mentioned at the beginning that it was a tweet and not something that happened in the House. I have just clarified that it is not the responsibility of the House to look at social media to decide whether or not something has been done. Therefore, I will not, after all, be reviewing a social media post. I can only review Hansard and what has been said in the House.

70 words

Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Lib.)

Dec/6/23 5:28:42 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, I would ask that all notices of motions for the production of papers also be allowed to stand at this time, please.

24 words

The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes)

Dec/6/23 5:28:49 p.m.
Watch

Is that agreed? Some hon. members: Agreed.

7 words

Mr. Blaine Calkins (Red Deer—Lacombe, CPC)

Dec/6/23 5:29:31 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, I will be splitting my time with my colleague from Calgary Rocky Ridge. We are continuing in the debate. We just had a vote in this place, in which we amended the motion. I am a member of the procedure and House affairs committee, which, if this motion is passed, will be dealing with the question at hand. The amendment that my colleagues have just made says that the procedure and House affairs committee would deal with the matter within the first 24 hours of the passage of the motion I am currently rising to debate, and report back to the House by December 14. That would be next week, before the House adjourns and rises for the Christmas break. I frankly cannot believe that I am witnessing what I am witnessing, as a member of the chamber for what will be 18 years in January. It is a rare thing indeed to have a member of Parliament get elected as Speaker and then have to resign in the middle of a parliamentary term. Normally, the member of Parliament who is elected to be Speaker jokingly resists being cast into the Speaker's chair, because, supposedly, nobody wants the job. However, it is actually an important job and an important role to serve as the independent arbiter of all of the rules by which we conduct the debates and the business of the nation. A Speaker's resigning is something I have not seen in the last 18 years. As a matter of fact, we would have to go back a long time in our history to recall a previous Speaker's resignation due to issues in this place. Now, just two months after we have replaced one Speaker in an unprecedented situation, the House is seized with a privilege question about whether the replacement of the resigned Speaker, a new Speaker, ought, himself, to resign. I am a Conservative member of Parliament, and my party has been very clear about whether or not we think that what the Speaker has done should constitute grounds for the individual's resigning. We are not the only political party; our Bloc Québécois colleagues in this place have also indicated that they have lost confidence in the current Speaker. I guess we will wait and see whether the motion passes the chamber. Given the fact that it was unanimous to amend the motion, as all MPs in this place just moments ago voted in favour of an amendment, one can only presume that the question would be referred to committee and the matter would probably be dealt with in the 24 hours after the vote. Likely, if it does not happen today, it would happen tomorrow, which means that the procedure and House affairs committee would be seized with this matter as early as tomorrow, or, at the very latest, Friday of this week, and report it back to this place next Thursday at the latest. The procedure and House affairs committee is seized with a number of issues. We are dealing with a question of privilege regarding our colleague, the member for Wellington—Halton Hills, in relation to foreign interference in his duties as a member of Parliament. The procedure and House affairs committee is also still seized with the general question of foreign interference in our elections. In addition, the procedure and House affairs committee has yet to begin its study on the matter of the previous Speaker's issue of having invited a former Nazi into this place during the visit of Ukrainian President Zelenskyy. Now, it seems that the very busy procedure and House affairs committee would have to study the question at hand as a matter of precedence either today or tomorrow, should the motion continue to get support and pass. Here is why the procedure and House affairs committee is seized with all of these issues: Trust has been broken. At the end of the day, this is all about trust. It is about trusting that the government has the best intentions and the ability to manage not only the institutions of government but also the institution of Parliament. I would submit to my colleagues here in this place that we need to get to the bottom of this in a timely fashion, because it is another stain, I would call it, but perhaps that might be too strong a word. It is a stain on the reputation and credibility of this place. I should note that if we were to count the number of members of Parliament in this place who serve in the Bloc Québécois caucus and in the Conservative caucus, they constitute almost half of the MPs in this place. I do not know how everybody voted. Sometimes the person who is the Speaker is somebody I voted for, and sometimes the person who is the Speaker is not somebody I voted for. That is okay because up until now, I have been able to get by in this place knowing, with some confidence and semblance of trust, that the referee who was elected, whether I voted for them or not, was actually able to carry out the duties of Speaker in a way that at least appeared non-partisan. However, here we are. The Speaker has used the privileges of his office, put on his robes and recorded a video acknowledging that he is the Speaker of the House of Commons, for an address to an Ontario Liberal Party partisan event. That is beyond inappropriate. Anybody who has just undertaken the responsibility of Speaker would, I assume, have been given briefings. They ought to have known the roles and responsibilities of being the Speaker before they put up their hand, or in this case, not removed their name from the list, allowing their name to stand for Speaker. It is this overt partisanship after having been elected Speaker that has put us in this scenario today. It is a question of trust. If my privileges or those of any other member of the House are in some way impacted, we would expect that the Speaker would be able to carry out a non-partisan view of the rules and protect not only the integrity of this institution but also the integrity, the rights and the privileges of every member of Parliament. This is fundamental to the ability of our democracy and our democratic chamber to proceed with confidence, the confidence not only of the House but also of all Canadians. I will just remind my colleagues in this place that this is not the first time that the individual who is currently the Speaker has gotten himself in trouble for being partisan. I remember quite clearly that the member wrote letters, in his capacity as a former parliamentary secretary, that breached some of the ethical provisions we have in this place. I also remember the individual's vehemently defending the Prime Minister when it came to the “elbowgate” matter with former MP Ruth Ellen Brosseau, and then his actually calling into question the integrity of Ms. Brosseau; if I remember correctly, he actually said that the incident was being exaggerated by her. One can only draw some conclusions that the individual has shown his true colours and cannot help but be partisan in a role that is specifically designed to be non-partisan. That is why I would implore my colleagues in this place to vote for the motion and refer the issue to the procedure and House affairs committee so we can deal with the matter forthwith.

1278 words

Resignation

Mr. Mark Gerretsen (Kingston and the Islands, Lib.)

Dec/6/23 5:39:26 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, the member has already made up his mind. He sits on the procedure and House affairs committee, like I do. I am going to vote in favour of the motion to send it to committee for committee to do the work. However, if he has already made up his mind, what is the point of even supporting the motion? He already knows what the outcome is going to be at committee. He is not going into it from an objective point of view of listening to all of the information and then making a decision. He is, effectively, a judge in this case. As a judge, he is coming before the defendant and saying that he already knows they are guilty but that he wants to hear what they think so he can make a decision. It is absolutely ludicrous. Why even bother voting for the motion if he already knows the outcome he plans to execute when he is at committee?

164 words

Mr. Blaine Calkins

Dec/6/23 5:40:16 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, far be it from me to know the inner workings of the mind of the member for Kingston and the Islands, even though he purports to know what is in the hearts and minds of everybody else in this chamber. Of course I will listen objectively to all the witnesses who will come to the committee. I have been here longer than the member for Kingston and the Islands and everybody who seems to be supporting him. I have seen this show before, and I will say to any colleague willing to listen to what I have to say that I am looking forward to hearing from not only the Speaker, who I hope will come to the procedure and House affairs committee, but also all the other witnesses who would know what the conduct ought to be in the role of Speaker. I will make a determination at that particular point in time. I alone am not judge and jury on the procedure and House affairs committee. I am just one member. I will have my questions, and I expect that I will get fulsome answers from all the witnesses who appear, including the Speaker.

198 words

Ms. Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné (Terrebonne, BQ)

Dec/6/23 5:41:27 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, I have a question for my hon. colleague concerning the party's position. The first position was not as clear as the one we have today. In other words, they were not originally calling for the Speaker to resign, and then they were. Now, they are asking for this matter to be studied in committee. Can my colleague quickly summarize the Conservative Party's position on the subject?

70 words

Summarize

Mr. Blaine Calkins

Dec/6/23 5:41:59 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, the procedure to deal with this is the procedure when there is a prima facie case. We brought the issue up in the chamber, the Speaker had to make a ruling and we waited for the ruling. The Speaker found a prima facie case, which then invoked the moving of a motion. The Conservative House leader moved that motion, which is what we are debating right now. I am not sure what the member does not understand about the process. We are following the process as it is laid out, and we will see what happens should this motion get passed on to the procedure and House affairs committee. I would like to thank her party, which has been clear in what it stands for. We in the Conservative Party want a fair and objective Speaker. We believe in this country, in this institution and that the person sitting in the Speaker's chair—

157 words

The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès)

Dec/6/23 5:42:59 p.m.
Watch

In the interest of giving the same time for questions as answers, I have to give someone else a question. The hon. member for Kitchener Centre.

26 words

Mr. Mike Morrice (Kitchener Centre, GP)

Dec/6/23 5:43:06 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, I am encouraged to hear the point of view of the member for Red Deer—Lacombe with respect to this going to PROC. My question for him is to understand better his perspective as someone who has been here longer than I have. My aspiration is for the process to be less partisan and more focused on the best interests of Parliament, separate from any political party. I wonder if the member could comment on whether he shares that aspiration and, if he does, whether he has any advice on how the members of PROC could proceed in a way to follow that approach.

107 words

SoVote

House Hansard - 263