SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 311

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 8, 2024 02:00PM
Context: House Hansard - 311 - May/8/24
The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès)
  • May/8/24 9:07:44 p.m.
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There is a point of order on both sides. The traitor accusation started on one side and there was an answer by the person who had the floor. The hon. member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan.
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Context: House Hansard - 311 - May/8/24
The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès)
  • May/8/24 9:24:51 p.m.
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We have to go to questions and comments. The hon. member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan.
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Context: House Hansard - 311 - May/8/24
Ms. Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands, GP)
  • May/8/24 9:33:45 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am rising for the first time in the course of the debate around the hon. member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan's question of privilege. I know it is going to PROC. I have been listening to the debate tonight. I hope I can do this without sounding too schoolmarmish, which is one of my worst failings. I think that if we could all just think about us as Canadians dealing with foreign interference, as the Speaker and as the parliamentary secretary said, this is fairly novel. I put my brain back to when I first started thinking about foreign interference in politics. It was during the election when Hillary Clinton, in the United States, was running against Donald Trump. Her operative said, “That was a story planted by the Russians.” I am a big fan of Hillary Clinton, and my first thought was, “That was overreaching. She is sounding a bit nuts. Who would think that could be true?” We now all know it was exactly true, and we now all know that Canada is not immune. There are many countries that may want to do this. I would just ask members, when we debate, not to impugn each others' motives across party lines, but to assume we are all in this together, we want to get to the bottom of it and we want better protocols to protect our democracy.
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Context: House Hansard - 311 - May/8/24
Mr. Peter Julian
  • May/8/24 9:59:39 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I do not always agree with my colleague from Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, but I do in this case. It was an error, and it is not just an error I recognize personally. It is also very clearly coming from the Hogue commission's preliminary report that it was an error. The government has not been good at communicating information, whether it is to candidates in an electoral forum or to members of Parliament who are doing their jobs. There is no doubt. I understand parliamentary secretaries perhaps get their fingers rapped if they admit to the government making an error. There is no question here that there was an error made and the members of Parliament were not informed. It is fair to say there is a consensus on this. The members of Parliament who are involved in this particular question of privilege include members of both the Conservative and Liberal parties. The member for Scarborough—Guildwood and the member for Humber River—Black Creek have both indicated that they were very concerned about not being informed about this information. I do not even think that is a question of debate. I do not think it is a question of opinion. There is a systematic pattern of the government erring in how it potentially gets information to candidates during an election or to members of Parliament. That needs to change. That is why we need to refer this to Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs to come up with protocols and suggestions for action.
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