Bill C-20 (Historical)

Fair Representation Act

An Act to amend the Constitution Act, 1867, the Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act and the Canada Elections Act

This enactment amends the rules in the Constitution Act, 1867 for readjusting the number of members of the House of Commons and the representation of the provinces in that House.
It amends the time periods in several provisions of the Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act and requires that electronic versions of maps be provided to registered parties.
It also amends the Canada Elections Act to permit a returning officer to be appointed for a new term of office in certain circumstances.

Second Reading

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

Madam Speaker, on a point of order, there have been extensive discussions on this topic and I believe we finally have agreement. If you were to seek it, I believe you would find unanimous consent for the following motion: That it be an instruction to the Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs that it travel for the purpose of meeting with veterans as part of its hearings into the impact of the recent decision by the Conservative government to cut over $200 million from the Veterans Affairs department, that it be an instruction to the Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs to hold hearings in each province and territory, and that in relation to this study, the 12 members of the Veterans Affairs committee be authorized to travel within Canada no later than December 16, 2011, and that the necessary staff accompany the committee.

[The Deputy Speaker, Denise Savoie]

The House has heard the terms of the motion. Does the House give its consent?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

No.

[Gordon O'Connor, Conservative, Carleton—Mississippi Mills, ON]

Madam Speaker, on a point of order, there have been no extensive consultations. There have been two of these so far today, and the members are misrepresenting what is going on. They should not be saying there have been extensive consultations when they have been consulting themselves.

[The Deputy Speaker, Denise Savoie]

Resuming debate. The hon. member for Windsor—Tecumseh has two minutes to begin making his comments.

[Joe Comartin, NDP, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

Madam Speaker, since there is no use going into the topic itself in that short period of time, let me make a few comments about the government moving time allocation.

This will now be the sixth time in about 40 sitting days that the government has moved time allocation. It is fast approaching matching the former Liberal government in its 2000 to 2004 term of office with the number of time allocation motions it moved, although the Conservatives are way ahead of the Liberals in terms of the period of time within which they did it. It took the Liberal government of the day about 130 sitting days to move time allocation on nine different occasions. The Conservatives are up to six time allocation motions already in a little over 30 days.

We have seen incarnations of this bill twice in previous Parliaments, and each time there is a difference in the numbers. There appears to be a different rationale each time.

[The Deputy Speaker, Denise Savoie]

The hon. member will have 18 and one-half minutes to make his comments when this bill is next before the House.

It being 5:52 p.m., the House will now proceed to the consideration of private members' business as listed on today's order paper.

The House resumed consideration from November 2 of the motion that Bill C-20, An Act to amend the Constitution Act, 1867, the Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act and the Canada Elections Act, be read the second time and referred to a committee, and of the amendment.

[Steven Fletcher, Conservative, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. For the record, I appreciated that there would have been unanimous consent in the House but I refused that consent to allow my vote. I appreciate the sentiment for accommodation but, a the end of the day, the rules are the rules and they must be followed, regardless of who the individual is or why the individual missed the timing, which is why I refused the unanimous consent.

I do appreciate the sentiment of the House, which was to allow the vote. It makes for an interesting philosophical debate, and I am thankful.

[The Speaker, Andrew Scheer]

The House appreciates both of the sentiments on the particular question.

The hon. member for Windsor—Tecumseh on debate.

[Joe Comartin, NDP, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I will not be taking up the rest of my speech because I need to be in committee at this point.

[The Speaker, Andrew Scheer]

The hon. member had 18 minutes left. However, if his speech is finished, we should have questions and comments.

The hon. member for Winnipeg North.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I have one very brief question to the member.

I am curious to know what the NDP position is regarding the Conservative proposal that we increase the overall number of seats inside the House of Commons. Does the NDP have a position as to whether we should be increasing the number of seats?

[Joe Comartin, NDP, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

Mr. Speaker, that is our party position.

[André Bellavance, Bloc, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I would like the hon. member to answer a question I asked one of his colleagues yesterday—the member would have to stay here, though—about the NDP amendment. If the amendment is rejected by the House—which is what will most likely happen, considering the Conservatives' attitude on this—what will the NDP's position be regarding the actual vote on the Conservative government's bill? I would remind the member that the bill denies the Quebec nation's rights and goes against the will of Quebec, particularly that of the Quebec National Assembly, which has unanimously adopted motions on several occasions calling on the government to maintain Quebec's political weight here in this House.