Evidence of meeting #19 for Procedure and House Affairs in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was calendar.
A recording is available from Parliament.
NDP
David Christopherson NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
You're making me lose it.
Do you know what? I'll let it ride, Mr. Chair.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell
Okay.
David, could you come and take the chair? We'll go on to Mr. Graham.
Liberal
David Graham Liberal Laurentides—Labelle, QC
Mr. Prest, you've been a staffer since 1981. Is that about right?
Liberal
David Graham Liberal Laurentides—Labelle, QC
That's the year I was born. It is very nice to meet you here. Thank you for that.
Your comment earlier was that you like the status quo. That's fine; it's a fair point. I'm just curious about how you see Fridays, whether as an advantage or a disadvantage. Should we leave them the way they are? Should we make them longer? Should we make them shorter? Should we make them “autopilot”? What ideas do you have for Fridays?
As an Individual
When it was first brought up, you'd get excited about having long weekends, but then, when you think about it in practice—
As an Individual
I thought about how it applied to me and probably to most members with family in Ottawa. It would exacerbate my ability to get my kids on the soccer field on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, for sure, because the House would have to sit longer.
My kids go to school. I don't think I would be given the Friday off anyway, but my kids are in school, so it wouldn't matter. I find that the House adjourning at 2:30 on Friday is good enough. That's the only day I pick up my kids from school, Fridays.
I think there are not many votes on Thursday evenings and none on Fridays, so the House is rather on autopilot, I guess, on Thursday afternoon and Fridays, as far as substantive business is concerned.
Liberal
David Graham Liberal Laurentides—Labelle, QC
Well, it's a de facto autopilot; it's not a real autopilot on Thursdays. Would you want to see it as a full autopilot in the Standing Orders on Thursday afternoons and Fridays? Even both sides—
As an Individual
Not really. I think as a government you want some flexibility to do something on Thursday afternoon; you might need to do it. But the whips control the votes anyway. They can just defer it; both the opposition and the government whip have the same authority. I think it's taken care of that way. If you were going to have a vote, you'd have a vote on a dilatory motion to adjourn, which is not going to....
Liberal
David Graham Liberal Laurentides—Labelle, QC
Do you think we should move all substantive votes in the Standing Orders to after question period?
Liberal
David Graham Liberal Laurentides—Labelle, QC
You'd rather leave it the way it is, so that basically you see motions to do it each time, instead of this being the default.
As an Individual
Or you could just have it as an option in the Standing Orders, so that a whip could trigger it. I think you would want to leave it open—again, speaking as a government hound—in case you need to have a vote in an afternoon or after question period to advance a bill for the next day. Then, the odd time you might have to have a vote on Thursday night. I would leave it flexible.
Liberal
David Graham Liberal Laurentides—Labelle, QC
You probably know the Standing Orders better than all of us combined, with the time you've been in the House leader's office. Is there anything you'd want to change or revise, if you had the chance, in the Standing Orders? Is there anything about which you would say, that's a really silly thing, and perhaps we should revisit it?
If there is ever a time or a place to do it, it's here.
As an Individual
Do you mean In relation to their being family-friendly or not?
Liberal
David Graham Liberal Laurentides—Labelle, QC
I mean either family-friendly or just generally in the Standing Orders. You've been on both sides; you've seen how it works.
Thinking totally objectively, is there something there that nobody has talked about and about which you think “that's silly, and we should probably fix it”?
As an Individual
Well, not off the top of my head. I do have a list of things I would like to change, but it has nothing to do with family-friendly. It has to do with increasing the role of backbenchers—and the opposition, now that I'm in opposition. I change my view as I go from government to opposition.
Liberal
David Graham Liberal Laurentides—Labelle, QC
I'd be curious to hear your view of both before and after, then.