Evidence of meeting #24 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 breach.
A recording is available from Parliament.
12:35 p.m.
NDP
David Christopherson NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
I think the language gets us there, Chair. I don't think there's much disagreement on principle.
12:35 p.m.
Liberal
Arnold Chan Liberal Scarborough—Agincourt, ON
And somehow if we can include some language to talk about...
12:35 p.m.
NDP
David Christopherson NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
About it not happening again in the future, that sort of thing.
12:35 p.m.
Liberal
12:35 p.m.
Conservative
12:35 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell
The motion reads, “In light of the statement by the member from...who therein accepted the Prime Minister's apology, we consider that no further action need to be taken on this motion of privilege.”
Does that sound good? Is there anyone opposed? Carried.
(Motion agreed to [See Minutes of Proceedings])
Thank you, David.
12:35 p.m.
Conservative
12:35 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell
Yes. We do have some time and I do have some other business. Only three of you responded to the letter on the Austrian delegation. We also have the motion on the emergency hours, which I think we could do in 30 seconds.
Mr. Reid.
12:35 p.m.
Conservative
Scott Reid Conservative Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON
Has anybody ever read the Edgar Allan Poe story, The Tell-Tale Heart, in which a man murders somebody, buries him under the floorboards, and then the sound of his beating heart gets louder and louder and louder and eventually drives the perpetrator insane?
12:35 p.m.
Some hon. members
Oh, oh!
12:35 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell
You should have asked the Clerk that. He's responsible. The Clerk was here and you should have asked him.
12:35 p.m.
Conservative
Scott Reid Conservative Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON
Here's my question and this is more to our clerk actually. I recognize there are all kinds of limitations on what you can do, but whenever possible until this construction is done would you be able to move us to some other room—for example, there are two upstairs—instead of this one? If it's not possible I understand, but the thought may have crossed your mind independently. It's worse here.
12:35 p.m.
Liberal
David Graham Liberal Laurentides—Labelle, QC
The Wellington Building is due to be open any day now. Can we move there at the earliest opportunity?
12:35 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell
And then return to 112-North? I'd like to be in this building, if we can.
12:35 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell
Now that we're in goodwill and good spirits maybe we could deal with this minor motion of the Speaker setting the hours of emergency debate.
The only holdup we have on the debate is Mr. Christopherson would like the word “agreement” instead of “consultation”. The clerks who drafted this have suggested that that's not necessarily a good idea for several reasons. One is this is the format that's used throughout the Standing Orders and the Speaker making decisions.
Second of all, in other parliaments he doesn't even have to consult because of the emergencies. He just sets the hours to come back in an emergency.
I'm hoping we could pass this the way it was handed out, that the Speaker will consult with members, but call Parliament after an emergency when he can, if it's okay with Mr. Christopherson.
12:35 p.m.
NDP
David Christopherson NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
I'm afraid it's not. I'll take that back and consult and see if we can come back with another compromise to get there, but that language I can't agree to.
12:35 p.m.
Liberal
Arnold Chan Liberal Scarborough—Agincourt, ON
I previously asked for a deferral. Just to remind everyone, my point previously was that if we're going to look at the issue of members' privileges broadly, as we're going through the family-friendly issue, let's deal with it as a package. Let's get your concerns from your caucus. Let's put it all together.
12:35 p.m.
Liberal
Arnold Chan Liberal Scarborough—Agincourt, ON
We're talking about the emergency powers and the change to Standing Order 28, right?
12:40 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell
My point is that we could have an emergency any day. We just want to have the Speaker be able to call the House back when it's appropriate.
12:40 p.m.
NDP
David Christopherson NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
I understand, but the words do matter, and “agreement” versus “consultation” has a world of implications, Mr. Chair. I think you know that. We're not trying to delay this. We're not trying deliberately to delay it; there's no purpose in that.