SoVote

Nov/25/21 11:51:05 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, there were portions of my hon. colleague's speech that I agreed with and there were some portions of it that I have real trouble with. The portion I agreed with was the ability for us to come together as parliamentarians and learn from one another. That is a valid point. The member talked about the definition of work of a member of Parliament. I unfortunately had to be home in Nova Scotia because of the circumstances during the last Parliament. I would ask the member to check the Hansard and check the e-blues. Does she think that I was not working? At the end of the day, in this Parliament, if I have a brush with COVID I want to be able to participate. Right now, she is going to be denying that with her position here in this House. Can the member answer that?

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Context: House Hansard - 4 - Nov/25/21

Mr. Kody Blois (Kings—Hants, Lib.)

Nov/25/21 12:17:12 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the member for Calgary Nose Hill explained at one point in her speech just now about MPs working. As the member would know, I would sit up on that screen, probably sitting in my seat at home in Nova Scotia, and would participate in the debates and be involved in the committee work. Could my hon. colleague to speak to that fact? Let me be very clear that I intend to be here, but in the case that either my fiancée, who is a lawyer in Halifax, may be exposed to COVID, or maybe I could be exposed while travelling back and forth from Nova Scotia, I still want to have the privilege to be able to bring the voice of my constituents to this place, whether it be here physically or virtually. Can my colleague speak to the fact that working as a member of Parliament can be done virtually? It can be done here, but it needs to happen.

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Context: House Hansard - 4 - Nov/25/21

Mr. Kody Blois (Kings—Hants, Lib.)

Nov/25/21 1:47:51 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have a couple of points of clarification before I get to my question. One is that I do want to be here, but I want to ensure that the privileges of parliamentarians are extended in cases that they need to be. Second, the member for Mégantic—L'Érable who spoke previously poked fun at some of the ministers' responses to the questions they had to get by email. I sit on this side of the House and I think Canadians liked and were fine with the answers the ministers provided. What about a situation where the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Immigration, the Prime Minister or our frontbench had exposure to COVID? By the Conservatives not allowing a virtual hybrid Parliament, are they not denying the accountability that they seem to want? I want to hear from the Minister of Finance when she answers questions, but we need to have that in case something, God forbid, does happen.

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Context: House Hansard - 4 - Nov/25/21

Mr. Kody Blois (Kings—Hants, Lib.)

Nov/25/21 1:53:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this morning I will be sharing my time with my hon. colleague from Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook. I will begin by taking a moment to congratulate you on your appointment to the chair, Mr. Speaker. It is good to see a fellow Nova Scotian in the chair. I wish you good luck for the day ahead. I also want to take this opportunity to thank all the staff and people involved who allowed parliamentarians to participate in the 43rd Parliament. I want to thank the interpreters in particular, especially now, as I know my French is far from perfect. Today we are here to talk about government Motion No. 1 to create a hybrid Parliament. I had the privilege of sitting in the House for the first time after the 2019 election. I had roughly 12 weeks of parliamentary sittings before the world changed completely. I remember taking the plane home on March 12, 2020, and we were thinking this might last two weeks. Of course the situation was far more serious than we thought. The Atlantic provinces restricted travel and ended up creating the Atlantic bubble. I had to quarantine for two weeks to come back and take my seat in the House of Commons. The hybrid Parliament system allowed me to do my job when I otherwise would not have been able to. Would I rather have been in Ottawa in person? Absolutely, but the circumstances forced us to work remotely. Although it sometimes felt isolating, I think we all need to remember that we were privileged to have been able to work remotely. When I look at this motion, I truly believe that it is reasonable. Let us identify some of the realities of where we are today. COVID is still prevalent. We are still in the midst of a global pandemic. The United Kingdom, just three days ago, reported over 40,000 cases on that day alone. We see in Europe that in some situations there is truly a fifth wave occurring right now and variants remain a challenge. While we are in a different situation than we were over a year ago and members of the House are able to gather, the reality is that provincial and territorial health protocols still dictate that if an individual is exposed to COVID or contracts COVID, they are required to isolate for two weeks. This motion at its fundamental core is about allowing individual parliamentary privilege. I have had the opportunity to be here all morning to talk about this motion, and I stress this point to my colleagues: I want to be here in person in Ottawa. I will commit publicly that I will be here in Ottawa. However, what if something arises, like my fiancée is exposed? I mentioned to my colleagues that she is a lawyer in Halifax. She works with her colleagues. What if one of them is exposed and she is required to self-isolate? Do I want to potentially bring COVID back to my colleagues as we sit shoulder to shoulder in the House? I would like for my colleagues not to be exposed to COVID-19, although my preference, of course, is to be here. Today, the Conservatives seem to be talking a lot about accountability. I just asked a member opposite about those in our front bench, such as the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and the Minister of Foreign Affairs. I want to hear from them. If members have questions, I want to hear the ministers respond. They will have the opportunity, if God forbid they are exposed to COVID, to be able to do so virtually. Otherwise they would not be able to participate. Right now the member for Beauce has been exposed to COVID-19 and is unable to join us. That is a sin. He should have that opportunity, and that is exactly what this motion seeks to do. There has also been a lot of talk about the work of members of Parliament. As I mentioned earlier in my speech, I had 12 weeks before the world changed and the parliamentary precinct as we knew it had become fundamentally different. If members look at the Hansard record or the committee evidence, they will see that I was absolutely working, as were all of my colleagues on this side of the House and indeed, I presume, on the other side of the House. However, it was done in a virtual manner. Do I take the point raised by some of my colleagues in the debate here that there is a benefit to being together? Absolutely; I do not disagree. However, why is there such a restraint on the other side of the House to allow flexibility, given the fact that we are still in the midst of a pandemic? I look around and see masks everywhere, which is a sign that we still have to protect one another against COVID-19, so I have real difficulty in understanding why there is such hesitation on the side opposite. I am proud to be the chair of the Liberal rural caucus. There is one very important part of this motion about holding votes at specific times in the week, but I have not heard much talk about it. Many of our colleagues from rural regions do not have transportation options to travel to Ottawa. Not only are these provisions fair and equitable for them, but they are also reasonable for all members. I had the opportunity to speak to the Minister of National Revenue this week, who is also the member of Parliament for Gaspésie—Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine. It is quite a struggle for the hon. member to get to Ottawa. She is dedicated and will be here, but she does not have the ability get here by plane the same way. She has to go from her riding to Quebec City to Montreal and then to Ottawa. Members like her need to have the ability to participate. I see I am coming to the end of my time. I look forward to continuing this after members' statements.

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Context: House Hansard - 4 - Nov/25/21

Mr. Kody Blois (Kings—Hants, Lib.)

Nov/25/21 3:22:11 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we talked about the opportunities of the 2019 class in the previous Parliament. One opportunity I did not have then was to give a speech that ran out of time just before we went to members' statements, so I will try to pick up where I left off. I was explaining that as the chair of rural caucus for the governing party, I have had the opportunity to speak to my colleagues. I mentioned the Minister of National Revenue and that I had spoken to the her about the challenges she has in being able to get to Ottawa because there is not the same availability of flights. I am tying that back to the provisions of the motion under consideration right now, which allows us to look at certain votes and make sure they happen at certain times of the week. It is responsible, it is equitable to members from far-flung parts of this country who are not within driving distance and it is a reasonable piece. I also want to mention to my colleagues who have been expressing some level of concern over the motion that this is time limited. As I have said, we are in the middle of a pandemic. I look around and I see people with masks on. We know that COVID still exists, but the motion is not going to continue indefinitely. It has a date of June 23, I believe. I do not have the text right in front of me, but it is June 2022. It is a reasonable motion to make sure that we can continue debate. Some of my colleagues may not have been in the chamber before question period, but I mentioned that I intend to be here. However, I want to make sure that all of my colleagues and I have the ability to practise our parliamentary privilege in the event that one of us or someone close to us contracts COVID. The fact that the member for Beauce has COVID-19 right now is a prime example of that. I want to make sure that his privilege is protected in the House, and I fail to understand completely why there is such opposition in the House to the motion that has been put forward. I will leave it at that. I would welcome any questions from my colleagues if they have them.

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Context: House Hansard - 4 - Nov/25/21

Mr. Kody Blois

Nov/25/21 3:25:15 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, we know that testing is part of the COVID response, but testing alone is not always going to pick up instances where COVID-19 exists. The member mentioned the hybrid Parliament. Again, I would dare say that the majority of the members, if not all the members, prefer to be here, but we are still in the midst of COVID-19. We have to make provisions for members if they do contract COVID-19 so that they can participate. The member mentioned pairing. I would not want to take away anyone's ability in the House to come here physically, if they choose to do so, because I contracted COVID-19, and then get them to ask a member from the official opposition or from one of the other parties not to physically show up. I would rather have the ability to tune in from Nova Scotia. I say this regrettably because I would rather be here, but I still want the opportunity to bring the voice of my constituents to this place.

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Context: House Hansard - 4 - Nov/25/21

Mr. Kody Blois

Nov/25/21 3:26:41 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague opposite for his question. The examples he gave were local ones. The City of Montreal, the Government of Quebec and other local jurisdictions. This is the Parliament of Canada, and members come from all across the country, from coast to coast to coast. I think it is in the best interests of members to have the option to participate virtually when necessary.

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Mr. Kody Blois

Nov/25/21 3:28:17 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to congratulate the member opposite for his re-election to this place. I was taking notes, and yes, of course it is preferable to be here. As a new member, I felt like I was not able to fully participate because of the COVID pandemic. It was isolating at times to be at home. To his point about building relationships, I agree. In fact, I built many good relationships with the members opposite, particularly at the agriculture committee and the public accounts committee, in the last session. I will continue to be here in person, but I want to make sure that members have the ability to continue their privileges in the event that they are exposed to COVID-19 or their partner or a family member has to isolate. They should still have their privileges. We can continue to have respectful decorum and relationships, but we can also protect members' privileges when necessary.

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Context: House Hansard - 4 - Nov/25/21

Mr. Kody Blois (Kings—Hants, Lib.)

Nov/25/21 5:49:27 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I apologize because I was only able to catch the last half of my colleague's speech, but even in that short time, she had some very important points, particularly about trying to increase representation in the House and trying to make this place accessible, particularly for women with children. I know my fiancée and I have had conversations. We try to look at what we will do when the time comes. It is going to be a very difficult balance for us as parents. There have been conversations in the House today about not doing parliamentary work. I can say my constituents actually quite enjoyed seeing me at home, present in the communities, but also seeing me participating online virtually. Could the member opposite speak to her own experience of how she was able to contribute through virtual means? I presume she will still want to be in this place, but will she perhaps take the opportunity when needed, for health reasons or otherwise, to participate in this fashion?

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