SoVote

Hon. Mark Holland

Member of Parliament
Minister of Health
Liberal

Ajax
Ontario
Voting Attendance: 64%
Expenses Last Quarter: $134,982.00

Government Page

Context: House Hansard - 313 - May/10/24

Hon. Mark Holland (Minister of Health, Lib.)

May/10/24 12:01:04 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the member well knows that the minister has answered these questions, and of course the member would not dare say the things he just said in the chamber, where he uses parliamentary privilege, outside, because he knows that to do so would have serious consequences.

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Privilege

Context: House Hansard - 193 - May/9/23

Hon. Mark Holland

May/9/23 3:14:56 p.m.
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Re: Bill S-5

Mr. Speaker, as I was saying, we live in an extraordinarily challenging time. I would say it is also a privileged time. We get an opportunity to defend democracy here and to join in camaraderie with other democratic nations in ensuring that democracies thrive in pressure as the shadow of autocracy attempts to do great damage to our democracies. When we go back in time, the issue of foreign interference is not new. It is something that has existed for a long time. As I referenced today in question period, when I was the critic for public safety, after Justice Iacobucci issued his report building on Justice O'Connor's report, there were essential recommendations, and both justices spoke at that time of the imperative nature of action and specifically the imperative nature of establishing a committee of parliamentarians that would have the opportunity to look into every aspect of security and intelligence. Unfortunately, for years, those recommendations were not acted upon, and not only those recommendations, but many others. I am not going to enumerate them all, but it is fair to say that upon getting the privilege of becoming Canada's government, we immediately acted to create that committee of parliamentarians to make sure that every member of Parliament, regardless of what party they are from, has the opportunity to look into every aspect of security and intelligence so that they can know that there is no aspect of our security and intelligence that is under any shield. On the important matter we are debating now, we respect the Speaker's ruling, and we are taking important action to deal with the foreign interference we are seeing. We saw the Minister of Foreign Affairs declare the diplomat in question a persona non grata. The Minister of Public Safety has made it clear on numerous occasions that we will not accept any form of foreign interference in our country and that any foreign interference would be met with strict action that is taken proportionately and deliberately. One of the things that are so important is that as events unfold, it is important for us to validate facts, to have conversations, to fully think out the consequences of actions, and then to act, as we have in this case. We have been debating this important motion already for 12 hours, and I do not need to remind members that the purpose is not to have a debate in this chamber, but to move it to the procedure and House affairs committee, which can do its important work and make recommendations. The longer we debate this matter, the more we simply do not have the opportunity to get what the members of the opposition in the Conservative Party are saying they want, which is recommendations, answers and actions. That is what we continue to focus on. The longer we are here and the more speeches we have, and we are already at 12 hours, not only do we not have an opportunity to act at PROC on that matter, but it stops this House from dealing with extremely important issues. One of the things that were displaced was Bill S-5 and the debate we are having on the amendments to CEPA, which are putting forward incredibly important improvements to our Environmental Protection Act to make sure we are there and taking action on the environment. This is also stopping us from being able to take action on firearms and ghost guns, which we are hearing, from across the country— Some hon. members: Oh, oh!

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Context: House Hansard - 178 - Apr/17/23

Hon. Mark Holland

Apr/17/23 2:54:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, on the floor of the House of Commons, members are protected by privilege. They have the opportunity to say anything they wish. However, when they are swinging their bats aimlessly for partisan advantage, they are attacking not-for-profit or non-partisan foundations, they are attacking organizations like the CBC and they are attacking free and independent media. They seem to have no care whatsoever over what or who they attack for their partisan ends. It is not becoming of this place.

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Context: House Hansard - 94 - Jun/22/22

Hon. Mark Holland (Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Lib.)

Jun/22/22 3:32:09 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, obviously, an Internet connectivity issue with an external service provider does not constitute a question of privilege because it is outside the control of the House. The House took appropriate action to restart it. Of course, these provisions have worked 99.9% of the time. I appreciate that the member, who was in his office 100 or 200 metres away, was impacted by this. All members were. However, there are various things that are outside of our control that sometimes interrupt our proceedings. We are back here today. It continues to work, and it has worked in 99.9% of the time. I would say that is very effective.

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