SoVote

Context: House Hansard - 290 - Mar/18/24

Hon. Michelle Rempel Garner (Calgary Nose Hill, CPC)

Mar/18/24 5:22:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, on October 7, 2023, Hamas murdered, raped and tortured over 1,000 Israelis in the worst attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust. Hamas is listed in Canada as a terrorist organization. It wishes the destruction of Israel, still controls Gaza and holds dozens of Israeli hostages in captivity. The provisions of the motion before us ask much of Israel and include no accountability for Hamas at all. Does the member believe that the motion is supportable and, if it were to pass, that Hamas would essentially be rewarded by the Canadian Parliament for its brutal acts of terrorism?

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Context: House Hansard - 290 - Mar/18/24

Hon. Michelle Rempel Garner (Calgary Nose Hill, CPC)

Mar/18/24 6:40:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, my concern with the motion is the complete lack of accountability that it asks Canadian Parliament to deliver to Hamas. What I did not hear my colleague talk about was the fact that Hamas is a listed terrorist organization in Canada. He did not reaffirm that. He did not condemn the acts, the brutal rape and murder of over 1,000 Israelis on October 7, 2023. He did not call for the unilateral release of hostages and the unilateral surrender of Hamas right now. Instead, he is making the argument to Parliament that we should reward the behaviour of Hamas by supporting the motion. Why is he?

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Context: House Hansard - 290 - Mar/18/24

Hon. Michelle Rempel Garner

Mar/18/24 7:23:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order that pertains to the relevancy of this amendment. On page 541 of chapter 12, Bosc and Gagnon says that an amendment may not be in order if “it deals with a matter foreign to the main motion, exceeds its scope, or introduces a new proposition which should properly be the subject of a separate substantive motion with notice”. This morning, the Minister of Foreign Affairs stood in this place and talked about how this motion would substantively alter Canada's foreign policy positions on matters of grave urgency to the entire world. This amendment has been dropped with, to my point of order, substantive changes to the original motion, which no member in this place has had a chance to look at or debate since it was provided to the Table. For example, for your consideration, it is adding, after paragraph (vi), a new paragraph on Israel and its right to defend itself; adding paragraph (d), support the work of the International Criminal—

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Context: House Hansard - 290 - Mar/18/24

Hon. Michelle Rempel Garner

Mar/18/24 7:24:43 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, amendment (m) reads, “reaffirm that settlements are illegal under international law and that settlements and settler violence are serious obstacles”. These are all major substantive amendments to the scope of the original motion. As I argued, and as said on page 541 of House of Commons Procedure and Practice, this materially “introduces a new proposition which should properly be the subject of a separate substantive motion”. Given that it is major public policy for Canada, peer nations are going to be watching this debate, watching this table drop at seven o'clock—

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Context: House Hansard - 290 - Mar/18/24

Hon. Michelle Rempel Garner

Mar/18/24 7:28:49 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, to echo my colleague's comments on the scope of this, as to including the West Bank issue, my colleague from the Bloc is absolutely right. We are being asked to vote on a matter that is material to Canadian foreign policy, and we do not have it in both official languages.

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Context: House Hansard - 290 - Mar/18/24

Hon. Michelle Rempel Garner

Mar/18/24 8:22:12 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, I have three points. First of all, to add to the point of order that has been made about decorum, the reality is that what happened here on a major issue of foreign policy is that the Liberals came in with a substantive amendment that would change seven out of nine components of the original motion, including changing the unilateral recognition of Palestine to something else, on the back of a napkin, and told the NDP what to do. Point two is that anybody voting by app tonight will not have had a chance to see this, so there are going to be people at home who will not have seen it. The last component is language. This is one of the most substantive amendments that has been tabled in the House on a major point of foreign policy. Our peer nations are watching this. They are going to think this Parliament is a complete joke, because the government is coming in at the end and table-dropping the motion and expecting Parliament to vote on it. This sends a poor message to our peer nations, and the amendment should be ruled out of order.

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