SoVote

Mark Gerretsen

Member of Parliament
Member of the Board of Internal Economy Deputy House leader of the government
Liberal

Kingston and the Islands
Ontario
Voting Attendance: 67%
Expenses Last Quarter: $112,228.33

Government Page

Context: House Hansard - 288 - Feb/29/24

Feb/29/24 5:10:49 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, if he does not know, it is because he is probably confused by the fact that the Conservatives are always doing that on so many issues. They did it on scab legislation. They were extremely critical of that, but then when it came time to vote for it, just quietly they all stood up in favour. We were actually really surprised. It is the exact same thing with this particular piece of legislation. We hear the member for Peterborough—Kawartha, who keeps standing up and criticizing the government, routinely hammering away at the fact that this is a horrible program. Every Conservative who gets up does the exact same thing, but then when it comes time to vote, they vote in favour of it. I will just recap that. They ran on a platform to get rid of the child care program. The Conservative leader has bragged about the fact that they have killed child care agreements in the past, and then the Conservatives get in here and are extremely critical about it, which would all lead to suggest they are against it. Then at the last moment, they vote in favour of it. I think Canadians can reflect on that and understand and appreciate what the Conservatives would actually do if they were in government.

219 words

Context: House Hansard - 287 - Feb/28/24

Mr. Mark Gerretsen (Kingston and the Islands, Lib.)

Feb/28/24 5:14:50 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I listened to the member for Barrie—Innisfil talking about the Prime Minister's committing to doing things differently in Parliament. Perhaps the Prime Minister was giving too much credit to the Conservatives when he was making those comments, but they rely on the assumption that everybody, all 338 of us, comes here to do the job we were elected to do. The problem is that Conservatives have come here and think that their job is to obstruct absolutely everything. The House leader has already mentioned that Conservatives, even if they agree with the bill, obstruct at every possible opportunity. The member for Peterborough—Kawartha was just going on about the child care bill, a bill that she routinely got up to criticize the government on. Time after time, Conservatives would get up to criticize the bill. Then what did they do at the end of it? They voted in favour of it. The same thing can be said regarding the scab legislation. They spoke against it and put up all the roadblocks to prevent it from being actually voted on, then when it came time to vote, they just really quietly yesterday stood up and started voting in favour of it. I am wondering whether the House leader can provide some insight as to why Conservatives are so genuinely interested in just obstructing absolutely everything.

230 words

Context: House Hansard - 62 - May/2/22

Mr. Mark Gerretsen

May/2/22 6:25:33 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am being heckled by the member for Peterborough—Kawartha who is asking, “Are you?” Of course we are, that is why we are putting the legislation forward. That is why we have this motion here. This motion is asking for members to be able to do that. I find it fascinating that the same party that accuses this side of the House of not wanting to work, for their own political grandstanding purposes, is now suddenly against this motion that will give us the ability to sit and work throughout the evening when necessary so that we can get the legislation passed. I will hand it to the members of the NDP. At least their interest is doing things on behalf of Canadians. They do not agree with us on everything. We can see from the questions they ask during question period that there are things they have an issue with. There is policy they have an issue with, and they bring it up and voice it. However, they are still able to work together with the government for the greater good. That is what the Westminster parliamentary system is about. That is what working with political parties and working together when we get here is all about. We did just have an election six months ago, and one would think that the Conservatives had no idea that the election happened. They literally walked back into this room and picked up right where they left off, with accusatory remarks towards the government, picking at individual people, pointing at the Prime Minister and calling him names, and making everything a scandal and about corruption. They are trying to manufacture stories so they can somehow hope that they win the next election based on knocking the other guy down instead of actually trying to tell people what their policies and ideas are. I am all in favour of working until midnight if that is what it takes to get the pieces of legislation that I mentioned through. I expect that any member who passionately cares about Canadians, and about making sure that the policies are put in place that will benefit them the most, would do the same.

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Member of the Board of Internal Economy Deputy House leader of the government

Mark Gerretsen