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House Hansard - 86

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
June 10, 2022 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 86 - Jun/10/22
Ms. Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands, GP)
  • Jun/10/22 12:55:30 p.m.
  • Watch
  • Re: Bill C-11 
Mr. Speaker, I will add my voice to those who are commending the admirable job you are doing in the chair. I thank you for what you are doing. My question is for the hon. deputy whip. We are seeing a lot of delays. I personally think there has been too much political interference in committees. I want to raise a different issue, but it relates to this question of how much committees are really governing their own destinies. As the member will know, I have objected for years to what has become the common practice of the Prime Minister's Office, dictating to every committee the terms of motions that must be passed at the beginning, after every election, requiring people in my position, as a member of a party that has fewer than 12 MPs, and other members' position, as at some points as many as 12 in the last Parliament were independent members, to provide amendments on legislation in committee that are deemed to have been moved. We are not allowed to vote on them; we are not allowed to participate in debate, yet the fiction on which these motions are justified is that the committee is the master of its own destiny, and it is just a coincidence that every single committee comes up with identically worded motions that are passed at the beginning of every session of Parliament following an election. I wonder if the member would reflect on whether, if we want to maintain the fiction, it is at all appropriate to have these multiple motions passed at every committee that significantly increase my personal workload, which the hon. member may know is already a fairly significant one.
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