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Hon. Bardish Chagger

Member of Parliament
Liberal

Waterloo
Ontario
Voting Attendance: 67%
Expenses Last Quarter: $93,957.02

Government Page

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

Hon. Bardish Chagger (Waterloo, Lib.)

Nov/15/22 7:59:16 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise and participate in this debate. It has been quite a fruitful conversation that has taken place today, and clearly there are a variety of opinions. Following on the last commentary, I think it is really important that we have more time to debate. I know that when I was elected in the 2015 election, I committed to the constituents of the riding of Waterloo that I would listen to the diversity of their perspectives and have them represented in this place. There are many different ways to do that, and participating in the debate on the floor of the House of Commons is one such way. In this chamber we have demonstrated time and again that we can work together; we can find ways forward. We saw that when the member for Fundy Royal moved a motion to ban conversion therapy in Canada and we were able to see it pass swiftly through this chamber and send it to the other place. We saw just recently the advancement of Bill S-5, an act to amend the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, which received unanimous support. Bill C-22 was referred to, an act to reduce poverty and to support the financial security of persons with disabilities. It establishes a disability tax credit, which has been long fought for, wanted and desired. We were able to get that legislation through second reading, and it is now at committee. To show goodwill would mean seeing legislation move at a pace that delivers for more Canadians. I know it is important that we get to this vote, so I will not stop this House and this chamber from calling the question and making sure we can vote. However, I think something we have seen time and again is that most parties know where they stand on legislation, and they want to talk about it rather than call the question. This motion will provide them the opportunity to keep talking about it, but also to call the question. With that, Madam Speaker, I hope you call the question really quickly, and if the opposition members want, they can save us the 30 minutes of bells and maybe see us walk in and get to a vote faster with the voting application, so we can all get to doing our constituency work and so forth. The Conservatives have options, should they wish to use them.

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

Hon. Bardish Chagger (Waterloo, Lib.)

Nov/15/22 7:54:43 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I guess I will thank the member for his speech, because I am sure he was up all night writing it word for word, and he delivered it with such conviction. I was listening attentively and trying to understand if he was in support of this motion or against it, because part of his comments actually do justify the need for more time to debate, and then I listened to some of his comments in regard to committee. I am chairing the procedure and House affairs committee, and we meet every Tuesday and Thursday from 11 o'clock to one o'clock. As a committee, we have agreed, because I agree we can find consensus and a way forward, that we would work on foreign election interference. We have already had two meetings with witnesses and we are working to find that way forward. However, this week, just coming out of Remembrance Day and Veterans' Week, we actually got a Standing Order 106(4) letter. For anybody listening, that means we had to add a meeting to procedure and House affairs, and the committee that could not have its time was veterans affairs. All parties agreed to that. I would like to know what the member thinks about actually taking away time from other committees so that some committees can have an emergency meeting on an issue that has already been discussed.

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

Hon. Bardish Chagger (Waterloo, Lib.)

Nov/15/22 7:25:11 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it was so nice to hear the member refer to the work that the procedure and House affairs committee is doing in order to ensure that more members can actually participate and also do the important work that we do within our constituencies. I listened to the member with great interest. In a response he gave not too long ago, he said that the motion is about the potential of extending hours. It is about ensuring that if members want to participate in debate, that we actually have the hours available for them to do so. Currently, tactics are used sometimes, such as a motion that a specific member be now heard. This way, if we have the ability to extend the hours until midnight, it would actually more allow more members to represent their constituencies. Does this government motion mean that we have to extend hours every night? What is implied by the passage of such a motion?

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Member of Parliament

Hon. Bardish Chagger