44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 2, 2022 11:00AM
- May/2/22 12:10:02 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, in relation to the consideration of Government Business No. 11, I move:
That the debate be not further adjourned.
22 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/2/22 12:13:12 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, I, too, am disappointed. However, I am disappointed in the behaviour that is being shown by the Conservative Party in this House, obstructing, at every single turn, every single piece of legislation. We are doing this in order to facilitate debate, in order to allow the hon. members the time in which to speak.
We spent 12 days debating Bill C-8. Among the things the bill would do is to help farmers get their tax credit on the carbon tax, the price on pollution. There would be billions of dollars for rapid tests. There would be ventilation for our schools. We all know a lot of parents who are concerned because their kids are going to school in the pandemic context and they want better ventilation for their schools. We had 12 days of debating a fall economic statement that includes measures to aid the lives of human beings. Can they imagine what will happen when we get to the budget? We are doing this to facilitate debate because of the obstructionist tacts by the Conservative Party.
180 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/2/22 12:15:16 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague from La Prairie for his question.
I am surprised that he is aligning himself with the Conservatives, who are blocking the work of the House. What we are doing here is giving members time to debate issues as they are presented. That is all. We are here to organize the legislative calendar. Canadians and Quebeckers elected us to get things done.
We have an ambitious agenda, and we want to implement it. We want to work with the members of the House, but the obstructionist tactics of the Conservative Party, supported by the Bloc Québécois, are creating obstacles. That is why we want to put an end to the procedural gridlock to bring more democracy and respect to the House.
As I said, I am surprised to see that the hon. member for La Prairie does not support us.
153 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/2/22 12:17:45 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, I share that frustration. I saw it with Bill C-5 in the previous Parliament, which is now being slowed down in this Parliament, again by the Conservative Party, for ideological reasons that actually have nothing to do with the empirical evidence behind the bill.
The hon. member for New Westminster—Burnaby, like all Canadians, wants to get things done in this House. He wants to see us accomplish measures that better the lives of Canadians, and that is what we are doing. That is what we are doing with this bill. As the hon. member pointed out, we are here to extend hours. We are here to give every issue adequate time to be ventilated and for adequate discussion to be had in order to move forward with a progressive, substantive agenda.
That is why we are here. We are here to organize that. These are measures that have been taken in the past in this House. We are doing it again, and we are doing it to facilitate and prolong debate. I, too, share the surprise at the Conservative Party's not wanting to stay for fulsome debate.
193 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/2/22 12:20:09 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, I know that our House leadership has been careful to make sure, in proposing this motion and moving forward with this plan, that the various kinds of work being done in Parliament outside of this chamber are also done in a safe, secure and healthy fashion. I am not worried about working harder. I know that members opposite like to repeat the same arguments over and over again. That is what they call debate, but they do not add anything new. We are going to give them a chance to do that for as long as they want without impeding the work of this place.
It is critically important that we get legislation through. We have seen, as I have said, 12 days on the fall economic statement, which contains real measures to aid the lives of Canadians, including people they claim to want to represent, like farmers and parents. It is baffling to see the way they block and block. We are taking measures to make this place work better.
173 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/2/22 12:22:31 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, I dispute the hon. member's narrative of events. I have been here since 2015, and I have watched the Conservatives' systematic obstruction time and time again. I have seen it on my own bills as minister, and now we are seeing it again. I welcome the day when cameras show all the members of the House of Commons at the same time, so that Canadians can actually see the kinds of things that are happening when there is somebody speaking.
It is critically important that we get our legislative agenda through. It is what the vast majority of Canadians elected us to do, and it is what we are going to do. We are using measures that have been used in the past by governments of all political stripes. The measures are going to allow for debate to happen. They will incentivize members of Parliament to use their time better, and we will get our progressive agenda through, working with other members of Parliament in good faith.
170 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/2/22 12:25:01 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, the hon. member indeed reminds me that Conservatives, whether inside or outside the House, seem to have fallen in love with blocking and blockades.
We are here because we have many other pieces of legislation, including a budget. There is not just Bill C-8, which, as we have mentioned, has had 12 days of debate and obstruction and concurrence motions and everything else that the Conservatives can throw up in order to delay it, but also Bill C-7, which we have not debated yet, and Bill C-9, which we have not debated yet. There is Bill C-18 and there is Bill C-19.
There are all kinds of things that we have yet to debate, as well as the budget, and that is because the official opposition simply wants to run out the clock; delay, delay, delay; and use every tactic at its disposal to throw this government off its agenda. Canadians do not want that. They want us to work together.
168 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/2/22 12:27:22 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, I found the hon. member's intervention quite amusing, and I am sure he meant it that way.
The House leadership, and our government House leader, have made it clear that particular provision is a common motion that is used at the end of every parliamentary session. We have put it in now with the engagement to not use it until the very last week when it is commonly used. It is there as part of this package in order to get more pieces of legislation through, and get us through to the end of June. It is there to be used at the end of the session, when it is traditionally used, on consent by all the parties, working together. That is how it will be used again.
131 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/2/22 12:29:28 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his presentation.
Obviously we must never forget that the Bloc Québécois is the master of obstruction. That is their whole purpose.
We know that we must work together to advance legislation and reforms that are supported throughout Canada.
We want to ensure that we have enough time to hold real debates on real issues without obstruction. We are here precisely to set out a process on how to proceed until the end of the session in June, one that will give all parliamentarians the opportunity to have their say and help to pass good bills.
106 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/2/22 12:31:43 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, in responding to the hon. member's point of order and the question, to the extent that that is what it was, the Speaker has just made a ruling on this. These kinds of proceedings happen routinely at the ends of sessions.
44 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/2/22 12:33:25 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his two questions. I will answer the second one first, as it is a critically important question, and I am glad he asked it.
The leadership in this place is going to make sure that interpreters and others have advance warning of when sessions will be extended. We are very mindful of their rights, their health and safety, and their working environment. It is an engagement that I know my House leader in this place has made. I thank the hon. member for that question.
We are here to work, and we are proposing this motion precisely because obstruction is not work. I worked on construction sites, and my friend has probably worked a fair bit in his day too and is proud of it, as am I. However, it is working together. It is rolling up our sleeves and getting the job done. If one person on that job site is obstructing, we have to help that person to move somewhere else, and this is what we are doing here. Obstruction is not work. Obstruction is not debate. Debate is about the exchange of ideas, and that is what we are facilitating here.
202 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/2/22 12:35:37 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, I send my regards to the members for whom the hon. member worked.
It is a critical point that the member raised. This is “as necessary”. It is going to happen when we need it and only when we need it, as necessary. It is not meant to be every night. It is only meant to be there for the amount of debate that is necessary for any particular bill. Again, it is there precisely to eliminate the ability to simply obstruct for no good, substantive reason.
91 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/2/22 12:37:03 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, we are proposing this piece of legislation to facilitate debate, not to give other opportunities for the silly kinds of obstructionist motions that we have seen in spades over the last number of weeks and months. We are here to give members on all sides the ability to say what they feel they need to say in the context of the House. That is precisely why we are here, and that is precisely why we are proposing the motion we are proposing.
84 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/2/22 12:38:22 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, we added the possibility of adjourning the House because this is very common and is typically done in cases like this. We are being efficient.
In any way, this motion will have to be put to the House for a vote before it will apply, and some safeguards have already been included in the motion.
We are all here to advance the debate. This does not prevent opposition members from having their say during their speaking time.
79 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/2/22 12:40:58 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for New Westminster—Burnaby for his long view of these various kinds of questions. I would add that, as he has mentioned, there are 24,000 farmers potentially waiting for a credit on the price on pollution they have had to pay, and there are 45,000 teachers waiting for that improvement of the supply credit they are going to get, as well as other very proactive measures that are contained in Bill C-8 and other pieces of legislation that are meant—
91 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/2/22 12:41:54 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, that question just demonstrates exactly why we are here. We are here to help Canadians and we are here to work for Canadians, because that is what we are here to do. We are not here just to throw up every single objection and participate in every single blockade anywhere it exists in Canada. We are here to work for Canadians proactively, positively and in good faith. These provisions are here because one party has failed to do that. We are here in order to give all parties an opportunity to do better.
95 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/2/22 2:32:54 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, as the hon. member knows from his long experience as a prosecutor, both the police and the prosecution services are independent in our Canadian system.
27 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/2/22 3:28:32 p.m.
- Watch
- Re: Bill C-8
moved that the bill, as amended, be concurred in.
9 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- menumenu
- notificationsnotifications
- home
- mailmail
- searchsearch
