SoVote

Context: House Hansard - 127 - Nov/15/22

Nov/15/22 4:58:17 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, that is crazy disinformation. We saw Doug Ford after court cases had clearly indicated that he could not use the notwithstanding clause to impede labour rights in this country, and not a single Conservative stood up against that. Not a single Conservative stood up and said, “This is not something that we will tolerate or that we will abide by.” Therefore, we have a situation where Conservatives throw the Constitution out the door whenever they want to, and they do not respect the right of Canadians to get representation from their MPs working in the evenings.

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Mr. Mark Gerretsen (Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons (Senate), Lib.)

Nov/15/22 4:58:59 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Trois-Rivières. I will answer the question the Conservatives asked about having quorum in the House and it being in the Constitution. The unfortunate reality for the Conservative member who asked the question is that he should know that he has participated in unanimous consent motions in the House to waive that provision in the past. He has already set the precedent himself, so has the Conservative Party and, as a matter of fact, every single person in the House has set the precedent to waive the requirements for quorum. We cannot be selective as to when we want to interpret the Constitution to our benefit, which is what the Conservatives are trying to do now. The reality is that there is been a long-standing precedent to waive the requirement for quorum under certain conditions, and that is exactly what we are seeing in this motion. There is the same consistency that comes with that. However, I think what we really have to do with this motion is get to the heart of what is going on. At the heart is the Conservatives' partisan interest and allowing that to supersede the needs of Canadians. That is exactly what is going on here, and I will demonstrate in my speech today how they have routinely done that, not over the last seven years of my being in the House and watching it, although they have done it over the seven years, but five examples just in this fall session alone when they have done that. They have done it on multiple occasions using multiple different tools. Any individual who has participated in or is well versed in how the Westminster parliamentary system works knows that the one tool the opposition has is to delay. That is its sole tool, and it is important for the opposition to exercise the use of that tool when it can to garner support, or whatever it might be, when they find those issues to be so important. When the opposition feels the issue is the hill it will die on, it will fight, delay and filibuster if it has to, because it feels something is not right. That is the main tool opposition parties have in a parliamentary system like this. The problem is that Conservatives are using it all the time. They are using that tool for everything. They are saying absolutely every piece of legislation that comes before the House is a hill they will die on, and the problem is that this diminishes the value of the tool they have. It also affects directly, and this is what I do not understand, their credibility on the issue. When they stand up to delay things they are fully in support of, do they not understand that the public sees that? They are doing the same thing, and their partisan interest in seeing the government fail is more important to them than actually providing supports for Canadians. Let us review some of the legislation from this fall alone. With Bill C-29, the truth and reconciliation bill, the Conservative Party blocked a motion to sit late to try to pass the bill at second reading before the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, which is what the government, and I think all Canadians, would have loved to have seen. It was not until pressure was mounted on them by the public that they backed down from that position. Another one was Bill C-30, the GST tax credit. This is a bill that needed to be passed in a timely manner to get real supports to Canadians. They were real supports for Canadians that needed to be done in a timely fashion to line up with when the GST payments were made. The Conservatives, again, blocked a motion to sit late on the second reading of that important piece of legislation. They only backed down again and changed their minds on how they would vote on that particular piece of legislation based on public criticism and the public holding them accountable for playing the games they are playing. That is the reality of what we are seeing. Bill C-31 is the bill that afforded very important measures regarding dental care and housing supports. The Conservative Party, again, blocked the adoption of the legislation to help the most vulnerable, forcing the government, with the help of the NDP, to have a programming motion to get it passed, and this is what we see time after time. The next is Bill C-9, which would amend the Judges Act, and I will remind members this is all happened during this fall session alone. We had technical issues with interpretation with that bill. The Conservatives are always standing up and using the interpreters as one of their arguments for making sure we have the best quality of debate in the House. When there was a problem with interpretation, which delayed the debate of the bill, the Conservatives refused to support a motion to add time to the debate that day. The Conservatives say that they want more time to debate. We literally said that we lost 30 minutes of time because of a problem and we had to temporarily suspend, so how about we add that 30 minutes onto the end of the day. The Conservatives said no. This is the group that is now sitting before us saying that they are in favour of doing absolutely everything to increase democracy and that they want more speakers on every issue. The one glaring example of this happening in this fall session was with Bill S-5. The bill is on environmental protections, and it is a bill everybody in the House supported. It was unanimously adopted. Conservatives put up 27 speakers on it. I want to provide a comparison for those who might be watching. Compared to that number, Liberals put up six speakers, the NDP put up four speakers, the Bloc put up five speakers and the Green Party put up one speaker. What is even more telling is that, if someone goes back to look at Hansard or watch the videos—

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes)

Nov/15/22 5:05:23 p.m.
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We have a point of order. The hon. member for Fort McMurray—Cold Lake.

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Mrs. Laila Goodridge

Nov/15/22 5:05:26 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I think it is rather ironic that we are here debating a motion that is going to limit much of our capacity here. I sit here in this chamber, and I believe we do not have quorum.

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes)

Nov/15/22 5:05:45 p.m.
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If the hon. member is raising a point on quorum, she needs to raise that point and not be part of the debate. I will double check to see if we have quorum. And the count having been taken: The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes): We currently have quorum in the House. The hon. parliamentary secretary.

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Mr. Mark Gerretsen

Nov/15/22 5:06:12 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is absolutely remarkable that the Conservatives proved my point during my speech. What do the Conservatives do? They play these games where suddenly they all leave the room and then ask for a quorum call. I am not referencing any particular member, but there were about 20 or 30 Conservatives sitting here when I began my speech, and right now that number has significantly reduced. They are going to say they do not want to hear me speak, and that is fair enough, but we all know what they are up to. They are playing games to try to prevent the business of the House from occurring, and we see this routinely. As I get back to Bill S-5, a bill that absolutely everybody in the House ended up voting in favour of, what did the Conservatives do? They did not even speak to the bill when it was on the floor. I encourage members to go back to look at Hansard and watch the videos. The Conservatives spoke about everything except Bill S-5. Why did they do that? It was because there was nothing to be critical of.

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Mr. Larry Brock

Nov/15/22 5:07:17 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. We do not have quorum.

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes)

Nov/15/22 5:07:22 p.m.
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The member is calling for quorum. I will check with the clerks. And the count having been taken: The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes): We do have quorum in the House at the moment. The hon. parliamentary secretary to the government House leader.

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Mr. Mark Gerretsen

Nov/15/22 5:07:50 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, you can see what is happening. The member for Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, my neighbour, is orchestrating all of this right now. He is standing right behind the door over there orchestrating it—

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes)

Nov/15/22 5:08:02 p.m.
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The hon. member cannot indicate who is in the House and who is not in the House. An hon. member: Oh, oh! The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes): When I am speaking, the hon. member should not be interrupting me. We have another point of order. The hon. member for Fort McMurray—Cold Lake.

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Mrs. Laila Goodridge

Nov/15/22 5:08:22 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I think it is shameful that not only did the member think that it was appropriate to mention who may or may not have been in the House, but also that he is imputing false motives on members.

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes)

Nov/15/22 5:08:37 p.m.
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That is debate. The hon. member for Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes is rising on another point of order.

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Mr. Michael Barrett

Nov/15/22 5:08:41 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, with respect to the point of order raised by the member for Kingston and the Islands, my role at that time was simply—

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes)

Nov/15/22 5:09:09 p.m.
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I did indicate that the member is not to indicate who is in the House and who is not in the House. Therefore, I am going to allow the debate to continue because the hon. member is raising a point of debate and not a point of order. The hon. parliamentary secretary.

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Mr. Mark Gerretsen

Nov/15/22 5:09:37 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I do not even really need to say much more, other than that the people watching at home have witnessed what just happened in this House. They are seeing first-hand on their TV screens, or wherever they happen to be watching this, the games that Conservatives will play and, guess what, the Bloc Québécois is right there with them playing these games, too. If anybody in this House really needs a reason as to why we need the motion that we are going to vote on later this evening, they need look no further than the games that the Conservatives and the Bloc are playing while I am speaking. That is the reality of the situation. They can laugh and chuckle and give me the thumbs-up like they are doing, but it is very clear what is going on. I will go back to where I started, and that is this obtuse idea that the Conservatives are somehow trying to suggest that there is less democracy as a result of sitting late. I am sorry, but if Conservatives thought when they were elected that this was a nine-to-five job, they were mistaken. I would encourage—

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes)

Nov/15/22 5:10:53 p.m.
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There seem to be some discussions going back and forth. I do not have my speakers on, but the hon. member has a boisterous voice and I can still hear the heckling and discussions going on. I would remind members that if they want to have conversations, they should take them outside. If they want to heckle, I would ask them to wait until it is time for questions and comments. They will have a better opportunity to be heard at that time. The hon. parliamentary secretary has one minute to finish his speech before we get to the interesting part of questions and comments.

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Mr. Mark Gerretsen

Nov/15/22 5:11:30 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I was just going to conclude by saying that if Conservatives thought when they were elected that this was a nine-to-five job, they were mistaken. I am sure there are a lot of opportunities for them to have a nine-to-five job and contribute to society in a way other than being in the House, and perhaps they want to explore those opportunities, but the reality of the situation is that democracy does not end at five o'clock. This is not a nine-to-five job, and we have to be prepared to work later into the evening when it is going to directly benefit Canadians, which is the reality of a lot of the measures that have been brought forward this fall alone that the Conservatives have routinely held up. I hope my Bloc friends, who sometimes can see the light, can come around on this issue, see the importance of this and vote in favour of it, because I know this is what Canadians and Quebeckers are expecting of them.

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Ms. Marilyn Gladu (Sarnia—Lambton, CPC)

Nov/15/22 5:12:30 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I want to correct the record, because the parliamentary secretary said a number of things that are not true. First of all, I am certainly a hard-working individual, and I do not mind working as many hours as are needed to get the job done. He said that the opposition has only one tool, and that is delay, when there is a bill that it feels is not going to be good for Canada, but there are just so many terrible pieces of legislation being brought forward. However, I would point out that Conservatives are not obstructing. In fact, we voted to move Bill C-30 quickly to committee. We voted to move the conversion therapy bill right through first, second and third reading. On truth and reconciliation, it is really rich, when the Prime Minister goes surfing on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, that Liberals could say we are trying to be obstructionist. Would the member agree that he needs to correct the record?

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Mr. Mark Gerretsen

Nov/15/22 5:13:25 p.m.
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Re: Bill S-5

Madam Speaker, if I were to take the member at her word in what she is saying, that Conservatives are genuinely using that delay tool only for the purpose of bills they are in opposition to, she would then have to explain to me why they delayed Bill S-5 and forced the government to add more and more days so they could speak to Bill S-5 and never even scratch the surface of talking about the bill. If the member wants to find one or two bills that they happened to move along a little more quickly to try to somehow justify their actions, it certainly does not sit well with those who are watching, looking at this holistically and realizing that what Conservatives have been doing routinely is delay, delay, delay.

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Mr. Martin Champoux (Drummond, BQ)

Nov/15/22 5:14:14 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I found it very amusing just now when this part of the House emptied out, and suddenly, we saw the other side of the House come in. Now we know what was needed to make the Liberals come to work in the House. All it took was a call for quorum. To me, it was like lifting up a rock. I think members will understand the image. I find it a little insulting to hear the Bloc being called lazy. We are always ready to work. We are there for our constituents, and we come to work when we are asked to. If the House decides to extend sitting hours to midnight certain evenings, we will be there and we will be there in person. I challenge my Liberal colleagues to also be there in person. That said, I would like to ask the parliamentary secretary a question. Let us say that we could justify extending sitting hours until December 16. Why do they want to extend them until June, the end of the spring session? What reason could there be for applying this measure in February, March, April and May? I would really like to have a sensible answer to this question.

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