SoVote

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

Mar/18/24 6:40:49 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, if the hon. member had listened to my speech, she would have heard that I very clearly condemned the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023. There is no other way to describe any organization that murders innocent families, innocent women and children; rapes women; and takes children and grandparents as hostages than as a terrorist organization. I have very clearly mentioned and have called for the return of hostages.

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Mr. Blake Desjarlais (Edmonton Griesbach, NDP)

Mar/18/24 6:41:32 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Winnipeg Centre. In my tradition, we learn that human life is sacred. It is sacred because our mothers carry us, nurtured by the bounty of this wonderful place, this generous earth. We are brought here to witness and experience this place's majesty and its beauty, a truly wonderful gift. It is one that is granted to each and every one of us so we may cherish it and ensure that this gift is passed onto the next generation. That is a message so clearly and consistently voiced by my, and so many, elders here on Turtle Island that it has given strength to countless leaders throughout time and I hope to all of us here today, because the opportunity of the gift of life for countless Palestinians, particularly children, is at grave risk. In the tradition of my people, there is a law. In our language we say wahkohtowin. It teaches us that we are all related, that the suffering and pain of one is truly the suffering and pain of all of us. In the words of one of my elders who has now passed, former veteran and famed Métis political leader, Jim Brady, “Our ideals are the ideals of the common people throughout the world. We rejoice at the success of the common people in other lands and exalt in our solidarity throughout the world in the common fight for human liberty, human happiness, peace and progress.” Today as the shadow of war, famine and loss of innocent human life continues to ravage the world, we must have the courage to stand for those who cannot. We must work toward that very same human dignity, human happiness, peace and progress for all. That includes dignity, happiness and peace for Palestinians and Israelis alike. This includes the families of the hostages and particularly the victims of the terrorist attack on October 7, 2023. However, the collective punishment of Palestinians is simply unacceptable. The indiscriminate killing of children, women and whole families; forced internment; loss of oral history and culture; and ultimately the loss of land, is ethnic cleansing. In northern Gaza, one in six children under the age of two is acutely malnourished, and media reports have indicated that at least 20 children have died from human-made starvation in recent days, including a 14-day-old baby. UN human rights experts continue to express concern over egregious violence against women in Gaza and the West Bank, including sexual assault, rape and arbitrary detention, and the withholding of food and water. Now, over 85% of the total population of Gaza has been displaced, including what UN Women estimates to be nearly one million women and girls. A last verified news report from October 31, 2023, states that over 600 families were wiped off the civil registry. That means that all of the family members across multiple generations were killed. Here we are five months later, and the civil registry system itself has now all but collapsed. Today, a new UN-backed report on food security says famine is the immediate threat in northern Gaza, with catastrophic hunger for 70% of the population as Israel began its renewed attacks on the aI-Shifa hospital this morning. The sheer scale of the siege in Gaza is unfathomable. With over 30,000 deaths, it is difficult to imagine the pain. I, like many of us in this place, have received thousands of emails and other messages from constituents across the country asking for the NDP motion to pass today. Let me remind members that Canada is a country that is unique among many. Our history of colonialization; the taking away of children, as in my family; the murdering of indigenous women; and the lack of infrastructure, clean water and food in indigenous communities are still ever-present here at home. Although we cannot change our past, we can change our future. Canada can and must be a global leader toward the peace, dignity and self-determination of nations here at home and in Palestine. That is why today I urge my colleagues to demand an immediate ceasefire and the release of all hostages, to support an arms and technology embargo on Israel, to officially recognize the state of Palestine, and to work towards a two-state solution. In addition, we demand the unimpeded humanitarian access to Gaza. The government must ensure that Canadians and their families trapped in Gaza, and their families elsewhere, can reach safety, and it must lift the arbitrary 1,000-application cap. Under the current temporary resident visa program for extended family members in Gaza announced by IRCC on January 9, only 12 people from Gaza have received approval to travel. Shamefully, no one from Gaza has yet arrived in Canada. According to the IRCC ministry, the 12 individuals had to independently manage to complete their own applications and provide biometric data, all while bombs were dropping. These 12 individuals were responsible for arranging their own travel to Canada, but none have arrived. This is a tremendous failure. In my riding of Edmonton Griesbach, there are 110 family members of Canadians who are stuck in Gaza. Our constituents have reached out to us about helping them access the special measures. We have consistently informed the minister of their names, information and updated whereabouts, and he has yet to respond to even one of them. The motion before us comes to Parliament because of the unity of Palestinian organizers, courageous activists, students, progressive Jewish organizations and peacemakers here in Canada. In addition to brave voices like theirs, we also have indigenous solidarity from the Assembly of First Nations, the Sámi Parliament, Grand Chief Wilton Littlechild, Paul First Nation's Bearhead Sisters and indigenous nations across Turtle Island and the globe. I also want to take this opportunity to thank my constituents, particularly Palestinian families and youth, for their resilience and steadfast love, courage for their cause, and the very painful memories they share with me. Edmonton families have stepped up and given aid in the form of time, money and supplies to the Palestinians in Gaza through constant fundraising efforts by Islamic Relief, the Canada Palestine Cultural Association and many others in my city of Edmonton. Even small businesses like Made in Palestine have been giving a portion of their sales in aid to the people of Gaza. I particularly want to thank the Canada Palestine Cultural Association's board chair, Randa Alhijawi for her work and incredible advocacy. Her organizing and support for the Palestinian community in Edmonton is truly exemplary, and we owe her our gratitude for her thankless work and teachings for the young people. Randa is truly a beacon of hope in these truly dark times. To conclude, I want to acknowledge that many who recognize the holy month of Ramadan are doing so in grief and loss for the thousands killed and under threat as Netanyahu continues to prevent and obstruct worshippers from praying at Al-Aqsa Mosque. My thoughts are with those are breaking their fasts with lemon and grass in the absence of nourishment. Although many cannot pray or eat, it will be up to all of us to pray for them this Ramadan. Louis Riel, our famous Métis leader, once said, “We may fail. But the rights for which we contend will not die.” Cease fire now.

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Mr. James Bezan (Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, CPC)

Mar/18/24 6:51:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we all know that Hamas has been operating its military and terrorist activities under civilian infrastructure in Gaza. It has used schools, hospitals and day cares to operate its activities from, including many of those that were funded through UNRWA. Palestinians are now openly blaming Hamas for civilian casualties during this conflict. However, the NDP, in the motion before us, is not blaming Hamas for the deaths of women, men and children in Gaza. Why has the NDP failed to recognize the fact that Hamas has been using Palestinians as human shields, and that Hamas is responsible for the loss of innocent lives in Gaza?

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Mr. Blake Desjarlais

Mar/18/24 6:51:57 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we are speaking of a terrible and egregious reality facing the innocent lives in Gaza. Not everyone who is a child or an innocent woman is a terrorist. Not every single one of them there is in fact being used as a human shield. These are innocent lives. I spoke about a 14-day-old baby. This is unimaginable horror that we are witnessing. It is a time in our history and a moment in this country and this Parliament for Canadians, and I call on all Canadians to stand for the very basic human liberties of those who are innocent, no matter in what conflict. I expect all members would have the kind of heart to see that these children deserve life, like all children do.

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Mrs. Julie Vignola (Beauport—Limoilou, BQ)

Mar/18/24 6:52:51 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to take us back in time almost 108 years. When the Treaty of Versailles was signed, one witness walked out saying that the terms were so harsh that they might lead to a second world war. Today, we are dealing with a situation where civilians were brutally attacked and have been detained since October 2023. On the Israeli side, they were attacked by Hamas. On the Palestinian side, civilians are also being brutally attacked by the Israeli government. We have a duty not to protect Hamas, but we also have a duty not to protect the Israeli government. There must be a limit to the escalating “eye for an eye” approach. Civilians, both Palestinian and Israeli, are the ones in need of protection. Does my colleague agree that civilians, not governments, are the ones we need to protect?

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Mr. Blake Desjarlais

Mar/18/24 6:54:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is an important reality that we have to delineate, and we must create clarity for this issue when we are speaking of innocent lives, children, women, folks just like us and those who are watching, who wake up every day, expect to go to work and expect to come back to a family and be able to live a regular life. However, that opportunity is so absent and so lost with what we are seeing in Gaza and the West Bank that even the idea that these people can return to a kind of normalized life is so far out of the frame that it is truly tragic. Canada can be a leader towards global peace if we will it. I mentioned in my speech that we have our own history and that we are working towards a better relationship with our own history of imperialism and colonization. We have so much more to do in our own country for the equality of indigenous people here that it is going to take immense reflection by all of us to truly see how important it is. Whether it is Quebec or my tiny Métis community in Alberta, we are united by laws of just basic humanity, and I hope that those basic laws of humanity I spoke of can translate across the globe towards peace and security for all those persons who are innocent.

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Ms. Leah Gazan (Winnipeg Centre, NDP)

Mar/18/24 6:55:40 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak on a human rights and humanitarian crisis in Palestine and Israel. I thank my colleagues for tabling this motion. I encourage all members in the chamber to not turn a blind eye to the current ethnic cleansing happening and the serious violations of international law in Palestine. As members of Parliament, we cannot forget that our decisions have wide-reaching consequences and can often make the difference between life and death. The death toll in Gaza, caused by Netanyahu's bombardment and ground offensive, has now climbed to over 30,000 people since October 7. It is estimated that over 70% of them are women and children. When we treat the loss of human beings as mere casualties, as numbers to be forgotten, we lose our own humanity. It is a testament to the compassion of so many people in Canada and their sustained advocacy all winter that we are here today, calling on our leaders not to remain complicit in the face of what is being investigated as a potential genocide in the International Court of Justice. The horrific terrorist attack of October 7 by Hamas, and Netanyahu's response to collectively punish the people of Gaza, who bear no responsibility for the terrorism of October 7, must be condemned. I am proud of my Jewish heritage, and I am lifting up calls for peace along with other Jewish voices, like the heroic Vivian Silver, a 74-year-old Israeli Canadian peace activist who spent her life working towards a just peace in Palestine, provided specialized medical care in the West Bank and Gaza, and tragically lost her life during the October 7 attack in Israel by Hamas. Like her son, Yonatan Zeigen, I never lose sight of continuing the legacy of my father, Albert Gazan, a Holocaust survivor from Holland, who fought for a just peace and a livable world where all people are able to live in dignity and with human rights. I echo what Yonatan shared so powerfully when asked what his mother would think about what was happening in Gaza. He said, “She would be mortified, because you can't cure killed babies with more dead babies. We need peace. That's what she was working for all her life.” Like his mother, my father spent his whole life working for peace, and he would have agreed with what Yonatan Zeigen shared, because he understood that no amount of killing would have ever healed the trauma and loss that he experienced as a result of the Holocaust. The only thing that would relieve his pain was to know that what happened to him would never happen again, but it is happening again. In fact, his cause for a just peace was so profound that, just before he died, he sat down with my adopted uncle, Jim Kinzel, to help write his eulogy. He wanted to ensure he would leave the world sharing his final teachings about humanity, human rights and peace. I share his words with the House today. Being born to Jewish parents in Holland, my father was just two years old when the Nazis invaded Holland and was soon separated from our family and forced into hiding for years. He had to take on a new name and relocate several times. By the end of the Holocaust, of the hundred or so of our extended family members, only five survived. I will never forget the story of when my father visited his uncle in the hospital shortly after the war. His uncle, who had lost his pregnant wife and all five children, began screaming and crying uncontrollably upon seeing my father. He could not live with the fact that he had survived and they had not. I think about the thousands of Palestinians who will never see their loved ones again, many of whom will grow up almost devoid of family as a result of genocide, as my sister and I did. It was very lonely. My father was also an advocate of peace. At six years old, while alone and in hiding, he threw a rock at a sparrow and killed it. He immediately felt terrible and realized that was wrong, pledging to never kill again. He knew that nothing could justify the death of an innocent being. He carried this belief with him throughout his life, and while he hated Germany for the genocide it committed against our family, his retribution was to beat the German boys at soccer. When later asked his opinion on what was happening in Israel and Palestine, he talked about injustices on both sides and did not fear criticizing the State of Israel. “The only way to leave Auschwitz behind me was to become a citizen of the world,” he said. He would not kill the sparrow, regardless of what it looked like. Today, Palestinians are being killed indiscriminately with weapons provided by many countries, likely including military goods and technology made in Canada in violation of our obligations under the Arms Trade Treaty. The people of Gaza are starving in part because the Canadian government suspended aid and refuses to push Israel to allow life-saving aid trucks in. I am reminded of what my father always said about refusing to share resources with people in need, “Stop the dialogue if anyone suggests that there is not enough room in the lifeboat for everyone, because the next thing to discuss is who gets thrown out. And then we are back on the road to Auschwitz.” It is the memory of my father, Albert Gazan, that inspires me to support this motion to end the injustices being committed in Palestine through the following measures: an immediate ceasefire and release of all hostages; suspending all trade in military arms and technology with Israel and increased efforts to stop the illegal trade of arms, including to Hamas; ensuring long-term funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in Palestine; supporting the prosecution of all crimes and violations of international law, including by the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court; ensuring that the Canadians trapped in Gaza are safely evacuated and lifting the arbitrary limit of 1,000 applications under the temporary resident visa; demanding the supply of continuous humanitarian aid to Gaza; banning extremist settlers from Canada and imposing sanctions on officials who incite genocide; advocating an end to the occupation of Palestine; and officially recognizing the state of Palestine. In memory of my father, I am saying, “Not in our name.” I urge others with common histories of genocide to not let our pain overshadow our shared humanity. I ask my fellow parliamentarians to vote in favour of this motion to put an end to the violence and work for peace and justice for all people in Palestine and Israel. “Never again” means never again for everyone.

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Mr. Marty Morantz (Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, CPC)

Mar/18/24 7:03:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I was scrolling through my social media over the last couple of days, and I came across a photograph of Anne Frank and her sister frolicking on a beach in Germany. The year was 1940. Five years later, they were dead, killed by Hitler and the Nazis and his brutal genocidal machine. Appeasing terrorists leads to a very dark place. I wonder why the member would not have insisted that this motion be balanced, that it require accountability on the part of Hamas, that Hamas surrender, lay down its arms, turn over all the hostages and surrender all the terrorists for prosecution in Israel for their war crimes.

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Ms. Leah Gazan

Mar/18/24 7:04:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I actually visited Anne Frank House when I was in Amsterdam. My dad was a Dutch Jew from Holland, and when I went, a number of years ago, to visit Anne Frank House, I was really moved. Human rights are human rights; human beings are human beings, and the suffering of one is the suffering of all. I cannot discriminate between whose suffering was worse, that caused by the Holocaust or what we are seeing now. “Never again” means never again. I do not like the fact that I know there are going to be so many Palestinian children who are going to grow up lonely, like I have. I have no family because of genocide: five relatives, including my father. It is lonely. There are no big holiday dinners. That is what I am thinking about, not whose fault it is. Genocide is genocide. The rule of law is the rule of law. Following international law is following international law. I know that in the Jewish community we have differences that come from a place of deep pain and loss. I lift that pain up and I carry it every single day, but we need to come together in our collective humanity. When is this going to end in the world? When are we going to stop killing each other in the name of victory? I support my father, Albert Gazan. I am proud to be his daughter, and I am proud to stand today in support of a free Palestine and in support of a just peace for all people throughout the world. I am Albert Gazan's daughter.

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Mr. Matthew Green (Hamilton Centre, NDP)

Mar/18/24 7:06:48 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, there have been lots of conversations in the House around trying to find balance. In fact, the Conservatives' position has somehow been to try to make this whole thing, all of the atrocities, all of the murders and all of the deaths, to be solely Hamas's fault. In asking for balance, not once have they acknowledged that Hamas does not own F-16 fighter jets. Hamas does not own 2,000-pound bombs that have been dropped on civilian populations. Hamas did not force people from the north to the south and then threaten to invade Rafah. Hamas did not bomb schools and hospitals. In finding balance and seeking balance with some of the ridiculous assertions from the Conservative caucus, could the hon. member please reflect on what the imbalance of power and the asymmetry of power and military might looks like in that region and what the legacy of settler colonialism looks like here in this country?

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Ms. Leah Gazan

Mar/18/24 7:07:56 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, that is one of the reasons we are calling for an immediate arms embargo. Why are we providing arms to a state that is being investigated for a potential genocide? I know what genocide feels like. I know what genocide feels like because of my father, because of my grandmother, who survived Auschwitz. It destroys families. It rids people of histories. I know what genocide looks like in Canada. It rids one of one's family. It creates this space of loneliness, and for what? Who is winning here? All I see, when I look at both sides, are people dying, kids starving to death and sexual violence. It is bad. It is wrong. I see, daily, a violation of international human rights law. We are talking about human beings. I do not care. These are human beings, deserving of freedom, love, dignity, safety and peace. Free Palestine.

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Hon. Steven MacKinnon (Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Lib.)

Mar/18/24 7:09:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, today in the House, we have had an important debate on an issue that is global in scope and very historic, but also heartbreaking. I know that all points of view expressed in the House come from the heart and from a fundamentally Canadian emotion that drives us to seek peace. It is very much in this spirit that I move: That the motion be amended as follows: (a) in paragraph (ii), by adding the word “being” after the word “victims”; (b) by replacing paragraph (iii) with the following: “Hamas is a listed terrorist organization in Canada whose attacks on October 7, 2023, killed nearly 1,200 Israelis and that over 100 hostages remain in Hamas captivity”; (c) in paragraph (iv), by replacing the words “millions of” with the words “1.7 million”; (d) by adding, after paragraph (vi), the following new paragraph: “all states, including Israel, have a right to defend themselves and in defending itself, Israel must respect international humanitarian law and the price of defeating Hamas cannot be the continuous suffering of all Palestinian civilians”; (e) by replacing paragraph (viii) with the following: “the increase in extremist settler violence against Palestinians and reports of Palestinian communities being forcibly removed from their lands in the West Bank”; (f) by replacing paragraph (a) with the following: “demand an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages, and Hamas must lay down its arms”; (g) by replacing paragraph (b) with the following: “cease the further authorization and transfer of arms exports to Israel to ensure compliance with Canada’s arms export regime and increase efforts to stop the illegal trade of arms, including to Hamas”; (h) by replacing paragraph (c) with the following: “ensure continued funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) to meet the dire humanitarian need, engage with the United Nations internal investigation and independent review process, and ensure implementation of necessary long-term governance reforms and accountability measures”; (i) in paragraph (d) by deleting the words “, and support the work of the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court”; (j) by adding, after paragraph (d), the following new paragraph: “support the work of the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court”; (k) by replacing paragraph (f) with the following: “ensure Canadians trapped in Gaza can reach safety in Canada and expand access to the temporary resident visa program”; (l) by replacing paragraph (g) with the following: “sanction extremist settlers and maintain sanctions on Hamas leaders”; (m) by replacing paragraph (h) with the following: “reaffirm that settlements are illegal under international law and that settlements and settler violence are serious obstacles to a negotiated two-state solution, and advocate for an end to the decades long occupation of Palestinian territories”; and (n) by replacing paragraph (i) with the following: “work with international partners to actively pursue the goal of a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East, including towards the establishment of the State of Palestine as part of a negotiated two-state solution, and maintain Canada’s position that Israel has a right to exist in peace and security with its neighbours”.

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The Deputy Speaker

Mar/18/24 7:14:15 p.m.
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It is my duty to inform the hon. member that an amendment to an opposition motion may be moved only with the consent of the sponsor of the motion. Therefore, I will ask the member for Edmonton Strathcona if she consents to the amendment being moved.

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Ms. Heather McPherson

Mar/18/24 7:14:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I do consent.

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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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The Deputy Speaker

Mar/18/24 7:24:37 p.m.
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Could the hon. member summarize that? The hon. member for Calgary Nose Hill.

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Hon. Michelle Rempel Garner

Mar/18/24 7:24:43 p.m.
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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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The Deputy Speaker

Mar/18/24 7:25:17 p.m.
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I am going to confer with the Table for a few moments. I appreciate the hon. member's input. We have been debating this at length all day long. I believe that the amendments, as they have been presented, are in order.

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Mr. Scott Reid

Mar/18/24 7:26:23 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the key thing here is that we cannot expand the scope to take in more subject matter than was in the original motion. We see that one of the amendments proposed by the government would expand to deal with settlements on the West Bank. This is not a motion about the West Bank. It is about Gaza. Indulging in a discussion about aspects of Israeli policy that deal with some other area, with Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Syria and the occupation of the Golan, is outside the original scope. It is very nice that the government would like to add the settlements on the West Bank. Perhaps they should have been in the original motion, but they are not. They are part of a separate topic. The government cannot now violate parliamentary practices based on the fact that its members think they should have been included. The government should have debated this before introducing the motion and not change it now at the end of debate. That is well beyond the scope of the original motion.

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Hon. Marco Mendicino

Mar/18/24 7:27:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, on the same point of order, I want to echo the sentiments and frustrations that have been expressed by my colleagues across the aisle. I think what you are hearing is a concern that the very elaborate amendments that have just been introduced by the government House leader have not been debated. There has been no notice, and this is very detailed. In the meantime, we have an underlying motion that has been put forward by the NDP, which has been the subject of debate. I feel obliged to add that, on behalf of my constituents in Eglinton—Lawrence, my plan was to vote against the underlying motion of the NDP for reasons that I would otherwise state. I would say that this is a point of order that should be explored and carefully studied. I would argue that it potentially offends member's privileges in terms of being able to debate the very motions that we are asked to vote on.

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