Ms. Taylor.
Evidence of meeting #3 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 amendment.
A video is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #3 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 amendment.
A video is available from Parliament.
12:15 p.m.
Liberal
Ginette Petitpas Taylor Liberal Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB
If I may just give a bit of information with respect to the new proposed structures, I have a few figures here. If we look at the past and present, or the recommendations that we're making, we see that the governing party would have had 56.3% of the time. With this recommendation that we're bringing forward, we would only have 48%. The Conservatives would have been at 30.3%. With this recommendation, they would have 34%. The NDP would have 13% of the time. With this proposal, they would have 17%.
That really looks at the numbers with respect to the divisions of time that we're proposing.
12:15 p.m.
Liberal
12:15 p.m.
Conservative
Blake Richards Conservative Banff—Airdrie, AB
I believe what I just heard from Mr. Lamoureux, and correct me if I'm wrong, is that the government is saying that should we flip the order so that the government gets the first question in round one, they would be willing to accept the amendment that we're making. In other words, if I'm hearing it correctly, I would consider that a friendly amendment. The order in round one would be Liberal, Conservative, NDP, Liberal, and in round two, it would be Conservative, Liberal, Conservative, Liberal, NDP.
If I'm hearing that, we could accept it as a friendly amendment.
12:15 p.m.
NDP
David Christopherson NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
I'm willing to hear from Mr. Lamoureux on that point before I take the floor.
12:15 p.m.
Liberal
12:15 p.m.
Conservative
Blake Richards Conservative Banff—Airdrie, AB
You indicated that should the government get the first round of questioning in round one, I think I heard that you were willing to entertain it. If that's the case, I would see a deal on the order being in round one, Liberal first, Conservative second, NDP third, and Liberal fourth; then in round two, it would be Conservative first, Liberal second, Conservative third, Liberal fourth, NDP fifth.
12:15 p.m.
Conservative
Scott Reid Conservative Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON
I want to ask for clarification from my colleague, Mr. Richards, on this point.
This is without actually changing the number of minutes assigned. You would have a longer six-minute Liberal round following a five-minute Conservative round in the second.
12:15 p.m.
Conservative
Blake Richards Conservative Banff—Airdrie, AB
You're saying that number four would still be a six-minute slot.
12:15 p.m.
Conservative
Scott Reid Conservative Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON
Yes, it would be a six-minute Liberal slot. We're not trying to challenge their time.
12:15 p.m.
Liberal
12:15 p.m.
Conservative
12:15 p.m.
Liberal
Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB
Sure. How would you feel if we went Liberal, Conservative, NDP, Liberal—
12:15 p.m.
Liberal
Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB
That's round one, and then we go Conservative, Liberal, Liberal, Conservative, NDP. It's only because that gives us four. Otherwise, we're taking a risk. We have five members.
12:20 p.m.
Conservative
Blake Richards Conservative Banff—Airdrie, AB
Again, what you're then doing is taking time away from the opposition if that does happen. I think the other concern is having back-to-back questions from the government. I think it's important that we maintain the order there, so it would be Conservative, Liberal, Conservative, Liberal in the second round.
However, we would allow the Liberal to have a full six-minute slot at the end, rather than a five-minute slot.
12:20 p.m.
Liberal
Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB
On the second round, we'd only have four of our five members. Every other party's going to have the opportunity to make sure that their member gets to speak, except for the Liberals. If we can get the second and third spots, there's a better chance that at least four of the five will be afforded the opportunity to speak.
12:20 p.m.
Conservative
Blake Richards Conservative Banff—Airdrie, AB
That would be at the expense of one of the Conservative members. That's the issue here. You're already taking time away from the opposition parties, and we'd actually be allocated less time than our seat count would indicate in that scenario.
12:20 p.m.
Liberal