44th Parl. 1st Sess.
November 25, 2021 10:00AM
- Nov/25/21 6:41:39 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, congratulations on being in the chair. It is great to see you there. I hope, together with the Speaker, you will vigorously defend the rights and authority of parliamentarians in this Parliament as much as he did in the last Parliament.
I will be splitting my time with my esteemed colleague from Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles.
As this is my first speech in Parliament since the election, I want to quickly thank my family, particularly my wife Raechel for supporting me always.
I also want to thank my campaign team, my manager Luke Inberg; my board president Susan Evans; and members of my team, Rick Solomon, Tom Cox, Barb Costache, Imelda McLaren, Kristine Alex, Rebecca Van Middelkoop, Roger Hebblethwaite, Scott Hawkings, Julia Roy, Scott Brummet and many others.
Finally, I want to thank the good people of Sturgeon River—Parkland for placing their faith in me a third time. I will not let them down.
Today, we are debating a motion that would govern at least the next seven months of our nation’s Parliament. We have a clear choice. We can move forward with a hybrid system that we have used for the past year and a half or we can move back to the traditional system, with enhanced safeguards to protect public health.
It is important to reflect on what we saw under the hybrid system imposed in the last Parliament. That is the best indication of what we will see going forward should this system be restored.
In the last Parliament, I remember sitting in the House on multiple occasions with over a dozen members from my party and several members from other opposition parties, and yet only one, sometimes two members of the government caucus would show up. Of those one or two physically present members, there was rarely a minister or any member who could speak with authority.
This is not what accountability should look like, seeing one or two of the same MPs taking questions, while the rest of the government caucus and the ministers look on over Zoom or do not show up at all.
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- Nov/25/21 6:46:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I actually anticipated that the government would be bringing up a point of order on that subject. I am not referencing the absence of any members who are in Parliament today, and this is substantive to the debate that we are having here over the quality of Zoom virtual Parliament versus in-person Parliament. If we are not allowed to talk about that, then that is making a mockery of the House of Commons. However, I will continue.
We need a critical mass of members in this House to ensure that it functions as it was envisioned to function, as a vibrant marketplace where ideas are presented and challenged vigorously for Canadians to reflect upon. Canadians expect to see their members of Parliament and their government members physically in this House, dealing with the matters before this country. While we made hybrid Parliament work for the sake of continuing this important business, this situation cannot be allowed to continue to the detriment of the interests of Canadians and our democracy.
There is something so special and important about being together physically in this House, with the opposition and the government benches participating in great debates over the direction of this country. How often have we seen in the past that a well-appointed and executed question or response has shifted the entire direction of this country, or when an impassioned plea rallied parliamentarians and our nation to take action?
In our hybrid Parliament, we did not see these things happen. Though many significant points were made and important debates were had, there was no one here to listen, to be inspired or to be drawn to take action. Instead, this became a dead place where members, from the comfort of their homes and offices or even their mobile phones, signed in to listen but not meaningfully participate, a place where a few members came in person and heard their statements echo off the walls. That is not what we should want and it is not what Canadians want for the most sacred chamber of democracy in this country. It is evident, however, that this is what the government wants.
I find that disturbing. It is always tempting for a government to undermine an effective Parliament, because without Parliament, the government is free to govern without accountability from the people's elected representatives. Under a hybrid system, the government got away with keeping Parliament going on life support, giving it barely enough oxygen to function but not enough for this institution to thrive.
We know that the Liberal government has impressive resources at its command: entire departments, bureaucracies and the bully pulpit of the Prime Minister. However, Canadians have only their parliamentarians fighting for their interests in Parliament. Under this hybrid system, our ability to vigorously fight for Canadians and hold the current Liberal government accountable has been severely limited.
For example, we saw numerous times that critical committee studies and exchanges were interrupted for lack of resources. This was very convenient for the government, because we know that committees are a vital tool to enable opposition parties to get to the facts, to hold ministers accountable and to advance alternative solutions. These disruptions did not happen when parliamentarians were meeting in person, and they should not be allowed to happen again under a hybrid system.
After many months of working out technological challenges, we did manage to create some semblance of a working hybrid Parliament over Zoom. However, the fact is that Parliament did not function in a way that the Canadians who elected us would expect. Unfortunately, the system remains flawed, with many casualties that are not spoken of enough.
I think about the interpreters, many of whom suffered from auditory injuries because of this hybrid system. Well over 100 have had issues, and this has placed tremendous strain on Parliament's ability to function. I want to thank our hard-working interpreters for the difficult work they do every day and for their very real sacrifices in terms of their personal health.
I do not know if we have a solution to these auditory issues. I know there are many people who have had to go on leave, but I am not confident that the government has done all it can to protect the health of interpreters. By pushing for a virtual Parliament, we are putting those interests above the interests of some of the people who work here.
It is time to get this Parliament back in session in person. Other parliaments around the world have already gone back, and if it is safe enough for the Prime Minister and his delegation to attend a climate change summit in Glasgow in a room full of thousands, often people not wearing masks, then it is safe enough for 338 members of Parliament to meet in this House.
I am not advocating that we ignore the realities of the pandemic or that we throw caution to the wind. We have put in place a system of tests and a system of vaccination. We have instituted one of the strongest protections for public health in any workplace in Canada. These are the rules that the government set and they are being followed by everyone in the House, and now government members are complaining that they do not like the rules. Well, they made the rules.
In fact, the system for parliamentarians is so strong, stronger than the system for federal civil servants, and yet this government is asking civil servants to prepare to go back to work. What kind of message does it send when the government is saying that it wants to give parliamentarians the right to work from home for the next seven months at least, yet civil servants will not be afforded that same treatment? Why are the Liberals demanding special treatment and accommodation that regular Canadians could never hope to receive?
Speaking personally, I know first-hand how a hybrid Parliament can be beneficial to families. I welcomed my daughter in May 2020, just as the pandemic was beginning, and in the last 18 months, it has been a blessing to be able to use hybrid Parliament during this pandemic. I know how convenient it is to vote at the touch of an app or to log in from my home office or my work office, but I am not here to vote for my self-interests. I am here to represent the interests of my constituents and the common good of my country. I believe today that this common good calls for a return to traditional Parliament, where we can focus on bringing real accountability for Canadians.
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- Nov/25/21 6:54:43 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is not surprising to me to hear a Liberal talking about how they could benefit. That is what Liberals like to do.
When we have these members talking about these provincial legislatures, the fact is that there are a number of provincial legislatures that are also sitting, and there are a number of parliamentary bodies across the world that are sitting. If the member wants to cherry-pick individual jurisdictions and say that we should be like them, he is welcome to do that; this is a debate.
However, what I am here talking about is what I think Canadians want to see from our Parliament, and they want to see a Parliament that is back in session, where there are safeguards for public health, and where we can vigorously fight, present our views, challenge the government and have the government bring forward legislation so that we can actually move forward as a country.
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- Nov/25/21 6:56:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member and his party for largely collaborating with Conservatives on what we both agree is a very fundamental issue for Canadian democracy.
The fact is that the Board of Internal Economy met and imposed a set of rules, and those rules are in place right now. There are people in this country who receive medical exemptions, and I trust our non-partisan, impartial, professional House administration to do the best job possible to keep members and staff safe. I completely trust our House staff to take care of us.
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- Nov/25/21 6:57:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I congratulate my colleague on his re-election. It is well deserved.
I am very confident in the House administration and the safety protocols that we put in place, and I think we should keep them going forward. There may be cases where COVID-19 comes up, but we know that vaccination rates in this country are high and thankfully getting higher every day, so we can look forward. We need to lead as a Parliament. We cannot just wait for all the provincial legislatures and all the other Parliaments around the world. We should not be the last Parliament to move forward. We should be taking a leadership position.
Maybe it was a slip of the tongue, but it is irresponsible of the government House leader to suggest that folks who were vaccinated but contracted COVID-19 should still be allowed to come to work. It is very confusing to Canadians when they hear things like that, and we cannot have that. We need clarity from the government on what the rules are, not changing the goalposts every time they do not suit the government's needs.
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- Nov/25/21 7:00:17 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I find it ironic that the party in the House that claims to stand up for the rights of workers and organized labour is suggesting that we need to create a system to ensure that sick people continue to work. Sick people should be taking time to get better, not forced to show up to work. That is what I think.
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