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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 287

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 28, 2024 02:00PM
Context: House Hansard - 287 - Feb/28/24
Mr. Peter Julian (New Westminster—Burnaby, NDP)
  • Feb/28/24 5:05:22 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have said many times that there are two bloc parties in the House of Commons, the Bloc Québécois and the “block everything” party, which is the Conservatives, who have systematically blocked every piece of legislation. Now, if the Conservatives read the motion, and I am not sure that my colleague from Barrie—Innisfil actually read what is before the House, they would see that there are two aspects to it. First, of course, is the fact that we would be working into the evening, which would allow more time for debate in the evenings and more time for members of Parliament to be heard. Second, and this is perhaps the most important aspect, is that it would eliminate the toxic overnight voting, which has been propelled by the member for Carleton, who did not even show up last time. During 30 hours of votes, he showed up for an hour. This just shows—
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Context: House Hansard - 287 - Feb/28/24
Mr. Peter Julian
  • Feb/28/24 5:06:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, absolutely, the member for Carleton voted six times in person and the rest of the time voted, I guess, online. The reality is that we need to ensure that the employees of the House of Commons, who are really the bastion of this democracy, are not forced to work overnight for 25 or 30 hours straight. The nine-hour health break would actually make a big difference in ensuring the health and safety of the employees who work here, as well as members of Parliament. What happened to my colleague and good friend, the member for Saanich—Gulf Islands, last June has to be a wake-up call for all of us. As a result, I would simply ask my colleague across the way why the Conservatives have been blocking a motion that would basically do two things. It would allow more members of Parliament to speak in evening sessions, and it would stop toxic overnight voting, which the member for Carleton always seems to run away from.
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