SoVote

Mr. Daniel Blaikie (Elmwood—Transcona, NDP)

Dec/6/23 5:56:33 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, for my part, I do not see anything contradictory about a party having an opinion on this matter and following due process is not egregious to me, that is for sure. I look forward to PROC doing its work. One of the things I have been concerned about in the course of this debate, when we talk about the dignity of the office of Speaker, has been that the member for Regina—Qu'Appelle has been the point person for the Conservatives on this. Until the member for Regina—Qu'Appelle left the office of Speaker, we used to have a tradition in Canada that the Speaker would not go on to be partisan, never mind lead a political party or be the House leader for a political party in the House. I wonder if the hon. member would agree with me that the Conservatives have a fair case to make, which is fine, but that the member for Regina—Qu'Appelle is not the appropriate person to make the case, and the Conservatives should not be mobilizing his experience in the Speaker's chair to give credibility to their arguments. That, too, is a form of partisanship about the office of Speaker that I think is not appropriate.

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Context: House Hansard - 263 - Dec/6/23

Mr. Daniel Blaikie (Elmwood—Transcona, NDP)

Dec/6/23 6:47:45 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, I always appreciate hearing the hon. member's reflections on parliamentary process and procedure. We were talking earlier about the difference in culture around the U.K. speakership, but it does seem to me that if one were to lay down a list of former speakers and former political party leaders, one would have little, if any, overlap at all. In fact, I think one would only find one person who appears on both lists, and that is the member for Regina—Qu'Appelle. Of course, when we were debating Motion No. 79 in this place, which was a motion that I brought about prorogation and the confidence convention, I did hear from some Conservative members who wanted to remind me of the important tradition of establishing conventions through practice and not writing them down. I think there was a convention around the speakership in not engaging in partisan roles post-speakership, certainly at the federal level in Canada, prior to the member for Regina—Qu'Appelle blazing his own trail in that regard. I wonder, as we are talking about this issue of partisanship in the Speaker's role, if he thinks it might be appropriate for the procedure and House affairs committee, in its investigation of this incident, to turn its mind a little bit toward that topic, being encompassed by the question of partisanship and the Speaker's office. Perhaps the committee could provide some reflections on that to the House in the course of their deliberation.

254 words

Context: House Hansard - 263 - Dec/6/23

Mr. Daniel Blaikie (Elmwood—Transcona, NDP)

Dec/6/23 7:12:32 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, I was pleased that, in the course of his remarks, the member for Winnipeg North did not quote himself from Hansard. This was something he did several days ago. The reason I thought that was so interesting is that, as we all know, and it is no secret to members in this place, the member for Winnipeg North is far more concerned about the quantity than the quality of his words. He often brags at home about how many words he says in the chamber. When he quotes himself from Hansard, it raises the question of double counting. Given that he was quoting himself from Hansard, will he subtract those words from the word count he publishes to his constituents, so they have an accurate count of how many words he actually says as opposed to when he repeats himself by—

144 words

Context: House Hansard - 263 - Dec/6/23

Mr. Daniel Blaikie (Elmwood—Transcona, NDP)

Dec/6/23 7:34:41 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, all of us in this place know that Canada is facing a housing crisis and it looks different for different people. For some seniors it means pitching a tent in the community park that used to be the place they would go for recreation. For some families it means cutting back on food in order to make the rent payment. We know that we got here because we had decades of Liberal and Conservative governments that did not invest in non-market housing for a very long time. Now we are trying to address this crisis. I think the most important number for Canadians to bear in mind with respect to the success or failure of the national housing strategy is from Steve Pomeroy, who said that for every one unit of affordable housing we build in Canada today we are losing 15. That should give everyone a very clear picture of how inadequate the federal government's efforts so far have been in addressing the housing crisis. In the fall economic statement the government announced a replenishment of some funds, like the rental construction financing initiative and the co-investment fund, but it put that off for another two years. That money is not even going to begin to flow until 2025, which means that the construction of those units is even further down the road when Canada is currently experiencing a housing crisis. My question is very simple. Instead of regaling me with things that have been built under the national housing strategy, and there are some but they are decisively inadequate, I want to hear a simple answer as to whether or not that money that has been announced for these programs that already exist will be moved up from 2025 to 2023.

298 words

Context: House Hansard - 263 - Dec/6/23

Mr. Daniel Blaikie

Dec/6/23 7:39:33 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, I would remind my colleague that some of that funding is in abeyance, because it has been accorded to projects that cannot move ahead because interest rates have gone up. That is why New Democrats have been advocating so hard to ensure that the GST rebate also applies to non-profit projects with federal government financing that have been stalled because of rising interest rates, regardless of when they began construction. That is part of making good on the commitments the government has already made. We cannot seem to get a positive answer with respect to that extension of the GST rebate. We have heard the finance minister brag that Canada is doing the best among the G7 or the OECD, depending on the day, with respect to its deficit, its debt and its credit rating. We have heard from the Governor of the Bank of Canada that spending on housing supply would not be considered inflationary. There is no better time to invest and there is no more urgent time to invest. Why is it we continue to see the government, when it announces new funds, back-end load that funding several budget years down the road?

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