- Member of Parliament
- Leader of the Government in the House of Commons
Member of the Board of Internal Economy
- Liberal
- Gatineau
- Quebec
- Voting Attendance: 67%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $80,565.87
- Government Page
- May/24/24 11:25:59 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this unrelenting attack on a representative of Canada's francophonie brings dishonour to the Bloc Québécois.
People comment quite often that when the time comes to decide whether or not to support people who stand up for Canada's francophonie, the Bloc Québécois is strangely absent from the debate.
We are proud of our colleague. His presidency of the international Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie brings honour to us, and we are very eager to support him further.
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- Apr/29/24 2:52:59 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, last week we saw the Leader of the Opposition, once again, encourage supporters of white supremacy, anarchy and misogyny. This has been a regular occurrence. He draws the admiration of people who dismiss the slaughter of children in schools.
The Leader of the Opposition now has 30 seconds to speak to this House and to Canadians, once I sit down. I ask him to clearly disavow the views of these dangerous people. Will he do that?
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- Apr/29/24 2:24:03 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, last week we saw the Leader of the Opposition once again encourage supporters of white supremacy, anarchy and misogyny. This has been a regular occurrence.
He draws the admiration of people who dismiss the slaughter of children in schools. The leader—
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- Feb/29/24 3:04:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians have had enough of the gloom and doom coming from over there. The Conservatives are deliberately ignoring the truth about how our government has supported Canadians—
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- Feb/28/24 5:32:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, those members are good with the fake outrage, but they are also very good at blocking needed supports for the people they profess to care about, but do not. They are very good at obstructing all of the things that this government proposes that will help those very people.
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- Feb/27/24 2:42:21 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I think that member of Parliament needs to be unplugged from the wall and plugged back in, but here is what I hope will happen when that reboot occurs: I hope he will get up from his place, walk down to the Leader of the Opposition and say “Pass the fall economic statement; help Canadians. Pass child care; help the moms and dads out there who are waiting for those needed supports.” He can tell that to his leader. When will that member, instead of trying to get his leader's lines right, stand up for Canadians and get them the supports that they need?
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- Feb/26/24 12:33:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the point is well taken. However, I would point out that votes are recorded. We will be paying close attention to that, as we always have.
What we went through was standing up for the kinds of things that Canadians expect Parliament to do. We were standing up for the kinds of things they expect their government to do, and standing up, yes, for the very essence of the democracy that happens in the chamber. We were determined to stay here all night to demonstrate to Canadians that we are standing on guard for the things they cherish. We are standing on guard for the programs that they depend on the government for, and we are standing on guard for those things, despite the trickery and the maliciousness demonstrated by the official opposition.
An hon. member: Trickery? You give us too much credit.
Hon. Steven MacKinnon: Mr. Speaker, they joke about these things because it is all part of the plan. It is just a big joke for these Conservatives on the other side of the House. There is all this chaos and dysfunction they are bringing here on a daily basis, which is preventing us from voting on serious matters that Canadians are looking to us to provide. That is just a part of the long list of investments through which the Conservatives showed their true colours. The Conservatives have voted no, over and over again.
The Conservatives showed us their true colours. The unfortunate outcome was a marathon voting session that lasted 30 hours straight. What does that mean? It means that members, their staff and House staff had to work all night to cater to the Leader of the Opposition's whim. Not only was his attitude childish and politically irresponsible, it jeopardized the health of many of the people who use these corridors. This kind of thing must never happen again.
Our motion proposes that, if another voting marathon were to occur in the future, it would proceed as follows: votes could take place throughout the day and even late into the evening. However, as soon as the bells ring at midnight, the voting would stop. Members and staff would then be given time for a health break lasting several hours. They deserve the right to sleep. That is a perfectly reasonable request considering that we make decisions and allocate billions of dollars in support of Canadians. At 9 a.m. the next morning, the House would resume and the voting would continue. This would not prevent the Conservatives from chasing after their wild partisan objectives by launching another voting marathon. It would simply spread it over a longer period of time to avoid compromising the health of members and other people who work here and who support us.
I see no reason why the Conservatives would object to this proposal. We need to set politics aside and put the personal health of each and every one of us in this House ahead of partisan gains. The purpose of this motion is to make this democratic chamber work better.
This motion is put forward in the spirit of making this place work better, to make this place more productive and to allow members from all sides of the House to vote, as we are sent here to do in the most democratic of ways on things we feel are important for the people we represent.
I will conclude my remarks there, and I look forward to questions from my colleagues.
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- Feb/26/24 12:24:59 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, that makes the point quite eloquently. Does it not?
This includes making life more affordable so Canadians can pay for their groceries and their housing. It includes protecting our environment from the catastrophic consequences of climate change. It also includes ensuring Canadian families have access to quality, affordable child care, which is something these Conservatives say they want, and have voted for, but they have refused to allow it to come to a vote so the House could pass child care for Canadian families from coast to coast to coast and start enjoying that now.
This includes having access to sustainable jobs and dental care, and having a strong armed forces that is helping to protect the people of Ukraine by sending equipment, supplies and trainers so the people of Ukraine can resist the illegal Russian invasion.
Unfortunately, the Conservatives are playing partisan games in the House, standing in the way of progress for all Canadians. They refuse to work with the other parties. They constantly obstruct the passage of laws. This behaviour has been going on since the beginning of this Parliament. They blocked the budget, the fall economic statement, sustainable jobs for workers, child care services for Canadian families, the free trade agreement with Ukraine and a national council for reconciliation. Those are but six examples. This is parliamentary obstruction by stealth. Canadians deserve better.
The Conservatives' actions are unhealthy for this Parliament as well as for democracy. We cannot allow members of all parties of this minority Parliament to be taken hostage by the egotistical political agenda of one party. We do not expect the Conservatives to change their stripes. They will continue to play their parliamentary game to delay passing bills and adopting legislation. We have therefore prepared a response.
The government is putting forward a motion aiming to guarantee that Canadians obtain results from their members. Our motion will make it possible to have evening sessions so we have more time to debate legislation, something my friends on the other side say they want.
This motion is not without precedent. It is the third time we have deemed it necessary to propose a motion to extend the sitting hours of the House so members can do their work. In the two previous cases, the House adopted motions to extend hours for a specified period. It is time to do it again.
If this motion is adopted, the possibility of extending hours will remain in force until the House wraps up. The Conservatives say they want more time to debate before voting. This motion will allow that.
Our motion therefore reinforces democracy. It will make it possible to better guarantee that one party, the Conservative Party, does not block the work of all the other parties in the House. Parliament works better when we work together, and not when one party obstructs progress.
This motion allows more time so members can debate in the evening, until midnight. This does not mean every sitting will be extended across the board. The extension will only take place when necessary, and will take place on a given day only if the government receives the support of another party for it to take place that day. This support would therefore constitute a majority of members in the House.
Moreover, this motion clearly indicates that the government could not surprise the House one day by stating that it will sit late that night. The government has no intention of using this motion at a moment's notice to extend the sitting hours. Indeed, the motion we are debating today clearly states that advance notice for a late sitting is to be given the day prior. The motion would also provide for early adjournment of the House.
Before we start hearing the Conservatives claim we are trying to shut down the House in the days and weeks ahead, let us put the facts on the table. Such an assertion from the Conservatives would be patently false. The motion says that, in the last two sitting days of a fall sitting, the government could put forward a motion to adjourn the House early for the Christmas break. Similarly, it says that, in the last three days of a spring sitting, the government could put forward a motion to adjourn the House early for the summer break.
In both instances, if this were to happen, adjourning early would not be something the government could do on its own. It would be a votable motion. The House would vote on whether to adjourn. It would only pass if a majority of MPs decided that the business of the fall or spring sitting were substantively complete.
Let us put aside any ludicrous claims from the Conservatives about adjourning early. We have too much work to do. If they make that claim, it is because they do not want to talk about the overarching intent of the motion, which is to extend the daily hours of the House so that MPs could debate bills and come to a vote. We want more time, not less, for MPs to do their work in the House. If Conservatives have a problem with this, then they need to explain why.
Finally, I would like to address another significant part of this motion. Last December, and we all remember this, in the final days of sitting, the Conservatives tried to turn the House of Commons into a sad spectacle to fulfill their leader's basic impulses as a political bully. The House was scheduled to vote on the budgetary estimates. This is a routine part of the parliamentary cycle and should have been dealt with through a handful of votes. Instead, the Conservatives decided to vote against the investments our government is making.
They forced more than 130 consecutive votes, which took place throughout the night, so they could vote against funds in a wide variety of areas. I would note for my friends that all of those votes are recorded for posterity. We know exactly who voted against what in the House. Let me give some examples: constructing new homes; cracking down on terrorism financing; supporting communities recovering from hurricane Fiona, which is something the Speaker knows well; cracking down on firearms from illegally entering Canada; ending gender-based violence; supporting Canada's dairy, poultry and egg farmers; supporting the Montreal Holocaust Museum; training Ukrainian soldiers through Operation Unifier; and supporting our border guards to keep the Canadian border secure.
The Conservatives stayed up all night, at least some of them did, to vote against all of these things. Who did not stay up all night? The very person who said he was going to keep us here until Christmas to block all progress for Canadians, all measures for Canadians, all vital supports across the board—
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- Feb/6/24 2:33:03 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this is another small conflagration to mask the Conservatives' larger historical moral failing of not supporting the people, the armed forces and the President of Ukraine, who stood in this very chamber not months ago and asked us to support the Canada-Ukraine free trade arrangements. Then, the Conservatives voted against Operation Unifier and support for our troops, which once again supports Ukraine.
What is next? Why will they not stop trying to hide their moral failings?
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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