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Alistair MacGregor

Member of Parliament
Caucus Chair
NDP

Cowichan—Malahat—Langford
British Columbia
Voting Attendance: 66%
Expenses Last Quarter: $140,733.69

Government Page

Context: House Hansard - 281 - Feb/13/24

Mr. Alistair MacGregor (Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, NDP)

Feb/13/24 7:54:52 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-62

Madam Speaker, it has been reported in the media that some senators have been openly musing about blocking Bill C-62. Given that we are dealing with such a short timeline, I am just wondering whether my colleague has any thoughts about the unelected Senate's openly voicing blocking the democratic will of the House of Commons on such an important issue. What does he think the government should be doing to try to prevent that from happening when the bill makes its way to the red chamber?

88 words

Context: House Hansard - 281 - Feb/13/24

Mr. Alistair MacGregor (Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, NDP)

Feb/13/24 4:17:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as the parliamentary secretary well knows, we really only have two sitting weeks left for this bill to reach the Governor General's desk. We are already pretty much halfway through one of those two. I think that the House of Commons is going to do its duty and pass the bill this week, but there are reports in the media of senators openly defying the intent of this bill and threatening to block it. What steps is the government taking to ensure that the Senate does not thwart the will of the democratically elected House and that it makes sure the bill reaches the Governor General's desk in time?

113 words

Context: House Hansard - 117 - Oct/25/22

Mr. Alistair MacGregor

Oct/25/22 12:07:36 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, if my hon. colleague is going to borrow from history, he need only look at the Magna Carta or the English Bill of Rights. The struggle in British history, and even in Canadian history, has been between the executive power lodged in the form of the Crown and the will of the people, and we have evolved. It started back in the 1200s in England when the barons demanded the king share more power. That spread more. Now England has a fully modern democratic state where power is entirely vested in the elected government, the same as it is in Canada. These two things can exist. We can have a modern Crown that acknowledges past injustices, while we continue to take steps to strengthen democratic accountability and the power of the people in electing members to this place.

140 words

Context: House Hansard - 117 - Oct/25/22

Mr. Alistair MacGregor (Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, NDP)

Oct/25/22 10:30:25 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, when we look at the preamble of today's motion, it is something everyone in the House could agree on, that “Canada is a democratic state,” and that we do believe, very much, “in the principle of equality for all”. However, in what the motion is calling for, the Bloc has missed a clear opportunity, especially if it believes in the preamble. If we really want to tackle equality in Canada and uphold our democracy, we have to look at how we elect members to this legislature and to provincial legislatures. We can look to the provincial election in Quebec. There are four opposition parties, each with between 12% and 15% of the vote, yet they have wildly different seat counts. We can also look at how we elect members to the House of Commons, where there are, again, wildly different seat counts compared to the percentages of Canadians who voted for them. If we all truly believe in the principles of the preamble, why would the Bloc not tackle something such as democratic reform here in the House? If we truly believe in equality for all Canadians, we should look at a proportional voting system to ensure it would be foundational here in the House of Commons.

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Caucus Chair

Alistair MacGregor