Debates of Jan. 17th, 1994

FIRST SESSION-35TH PARLIAMENT

The 34th Parliament having been dissolved by proclamation on Wednesday, September 8, 1993, and writs having been issued and returned, a new Parliament was summoned to meet for the dispatch of business on Monday, January 17, 1994, and did accordingly meet on that day.

Monday, January 17, 1994

This being the day on which Parliament was convoked by proclamation of His Excellency the Governor General of Canada for the dispatch of business, and the members of the House being assembled:

Robert Marleau, Esquire, Clerk of the House of Commons, read to the House a letter from the Deputy Secretary to the Governor General informing him that the Right Honourable Antonio Lamer, in his capacity as Deputy Governor General, would proceed to the Senate chamber to open the first session of the 35th Parliament of Canada on Monday, January 17, 1994, at Ottawa.

A message was delivered by the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod as follows:

Members of the House of Commons:

It is the desire of the Honourable the Deputy to His Excellency the Governor General of Canada that this honourable House attend him immediately in the chamber of the honourable the Senate.

Accordingly, the House went up to the Senate chamber, where the Speaker of the Senate said:

Honourable Members of the Senate, Members of the House of Commons:

I have it in command to let you know that His Excellency the Governor General does not see fit to declare the causes of his summoning the present Parliament of Canada until a Speaker of the House of Commons shall have been chosen, according to law; but tomorrow, Tuesday, January 18, 1994 at three o'clock in the afternoon, His Excellency will declare the causes of his calling Parliament.

And the House being returned to the Commons Chamber:

[The Clerk of the House]

Pursuant to the provisions of Standing Order 3, I invite Mr. Hopkins, member for the electoral district of Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke, to take the chair as the member presiding.

Election Of Speaker

[The Presiding Officer (Mr. Hopkins)]

Before we begin our actual order of the day, I would like to thank representatives from all parties in the House who have worked with us in preparation for this election today. I want to thank the Clerk and the staff of the House for their attention to the many details. I want to express my appreciation to the Sergeant-at-Arms, his staff and the constables of this House of Commons who serve this place so well.

I want to welcome all of the new members to Canada's 35th Parliament and welcome back former members.

Thank you very much, and good luck and good voting.

Pursuant to the provisions of the Standing Orders, the House will now proceed to elect a Speaker.

The candidates whose names will appear on the first ballot are as follows:

[John Nunziata, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Mr. Speaker, first I want to give you my undertaking that I will not heckle you during your tenure in the chair. Second, I would ask that my name be removed from the list as it was inadvertently left on.

[The Presiding Officer (Mr. Hopkins)]

I want to thank the hon. member for his comments. However, the deadline for the Clerk to accept a request by a member to withdraw as a candidate was 6 p.m. yesterday evening. Although it is now too late to amend the list before the first ballot, the House has heard and will no doubt take good note of the member's request.

In accordance with the standing orders, the list of members who have withdrawn or who are ineligible as candidates has been placed on each member's desk and is also available at the table.

The list of those members who are eligible as candidates has also been placed on each member's desk. It is available at the table as well and is being placed in each polling station.

After the Clerk has unsealed the ballots, I will suggest a method of proceeding which will help to accelerate the voting process.

As we are now prepared to begin the voting procedure, may I remind all hon. members to print the first and last name of their candidate on the ballot paper. I will suggest that members leave their desks, exit through the curtains and come to the table using the doors on my left and on my right of the chair on their respective sides of the House. A clerk will issue to each member a ballot paper. After casting their ballot hon. members are asked to leave the voting area so that there will be no congestion and those voting will have privacy.

After casting their ballot hon. members are asked to leave the voting area immediately.

The polling booths are now open to vote.

(Members were issued ballots and marked their ballots in secret at voting stations.)

[The Presiding Officer (Mr. Hopkins)]

Order, please. If there are any hon. members who have not voted and wish to do so, will they please vote now?

All members having voted I do now instruct the Clerk to proceed with the counting of the ballots after I have cast my ballot.

Suspension Of Sitting

[The Presiding Officer (Mr. Hopkins)]

Order. Before I suspend the sitting may I bring to the attention of hon. members that when the counting of ballots has been completed, the bells to call the members back to the House will be sounded for not more than five minutes. The sitting is suspended to the call of the Chair.

(The sitting of the House was suspended at 12.01 p.m.)

The House resumed at 12.46 p.m.

Sitting Resumed

[The Presiding Officer (Mr. Hopkins)]

Order. I must say that your conduct is excellent. May it continue in future days.

It is my duty to inform the House that a second ballot will be necessary.

The names of the members who are eligible for the second ballot are as follows:

If any members whose names I have just read wish to withdraw as candidates for the second ballot, will they please rise in their places and state their reasons?

For the benefit of hon. members, a revised alphabetical list of candidates for the second ballot will be placed in each polling station within the next five minutes, at which time the voting will commence.

I would like to explain at this time that these lists will actually be printed in about the next four minutes.

Before asking hon. members to proceed to cast their ballots and while the Clerk is unsealing the ballots, may I indicate that the second ballot will be a different colour and that lists of names of candidates on this ballot have been placed in each polling station.

The polling booths are now open.

(Members were issued ballots and marked their ballots in secret at voting stations.)

[The Presiding Officer (Mr. Hopkins)]

Order, please. If there are any honourable members who have not voted and wish to do so, will they please vote now?

All members having voted, I do now instruct the Clerk to proceed with the counting of the ballots after I have cast my ballot.

Order, please. Would the members in the House please be seated.

Before I suspend the sitting may I bring to the attention of hon. members that when the counting of the ballots has been completed the bells to call the members back to the House will be sounded for not more than five minutes.

Suspension Of Sitting

[The Presiding Officer (Mr. Hopkins)]

The sitting is suspended to the call of the Chair.

(At 1.19 p.m. the sitting of the House was suspended.)

The House resumed at 1.46 p.m.

Sitting Resumed

[The Presiding Officer (Mr. Hopkins)]

It is my duty to inform the House that a third ballot will be necessary.

The names of members eligible for the third ballot are as follows:

If any members whose names I have just read wish to withdraw as candidates for the third ballot, will they please rise in their places and do so?

For the benefit of hon. members a revised alphabetical list of candidates for the third ballot will be placed in each polling station within the next five minutes at which time the voting will commence. May I ask all hon. members to please remain seated until the printed list comes back to the House. It will just be a couple of minutes.

Order, please. Will the members in the House please be seated?

While the Clerk is unsealing the ballots, may I once again indicate that the third ballot will be of a different colour and that lists of names of candidates on this ballot have been placed in each polling station.

The polling booths are now open.

(Members were issued ballots and marked their ballots in secret at voting stations.)

[The Presiding Officer (Mr. Hopkins)]

Order, please. Will the members please take their seats? Order, please.

If there are any hon. members who have not voted and wish to do so, will they please vote now?

All members having voted I do now instruct the Clerk to proceed with the counting of the ballots after I have cast my ballot.

I regret to inform the hon. member that no points of order can be raised during the process of the election of the Speaker.

Before I suspend the sitting, may I bring to the attention of hon. members that when the counting of the ballots has been completed, the bells to call the members back to the House will be sounded for not more than five minutes.

Suspension Of Sitting

[The Presiding Officer (Mr. Hopkins)]

The sitting is suspended to the call of the Chair.

(At 2.23 p.m. the sitting of the House was suspended.)

The House resumed at 2.52 p.m.

Sitting Resumed

[The Presiding Officer (Mr. Hopkins)]

It is my duty to inform the House that another ballot will be necessary.

The names of the members eligible for the next ballot are as follows:

If any member whose name I have just read wishes to withdraw as a candidate for the next ballot, will he please rise in his place and do so.

For the benefit of hon. members, a revised alphabetical list of candidates for the next ballot will be placed at each polling station within the next five minutes, at which time the voting will commence.

I would also like to remind hon. members to move away from the voting area after they have voted so that we do not have any congestion, invading other people's privacy while they vote.

Order, please. Will members please be seated.

While the Clerk is unsealing the ballots may I once again indicate that this ballot will be of a different colour and that lists of names of candidates on this ballot have been placed in each polling station.

The polling booths are now open.

(Members were issued ballots and marked their ballots in secret at voting stations.)

[The Presiding Officer (Mr. Hopkins)]

Would the members who are standing on the floor please take their seats?

If there are any hon. members who have not voted and wish to do so, will they please vote now?

All members having voted I do now instruct the Clerk to proceed with the counting of the ballots after I have cast my ballot.

Suspension Of Sitting

[The Presiding Officer (Mr. Hopkins)]

Before I suspend the sitting may I bring to the attention of hon. members that when the counting of ballots has been completed, the bells to call the members back to the House will be sounded for not more than five minutes.

The sitting is suspended to the call of the Chair.

(The sitting of the House was suspended at 3.25 p.m.)

The House resumed at 3.50 p.m.

Sitting Resumed

[The Presiding Officer (Mr. Hopkins)]

It is my duty to inform the House that another ballot will be necessary.

The names of members eligible for the next ballot are as follows:

Gauthier, Jean-Robert Parent, Gilbert

If any member, whose name I have just read, wishes to withdraw as a candidate on the next ballot, will he please rise in his place and do so?

For the benefit of hon. members a revised alphabetical list of candidates for the next ballot will be placed in each polling station within the next five minutes, at which time voting will commence.

Order, please. While the Clerk is unsealing the ballots may I once again indicate that this ballot will be of a different colour and that lists of names of candidates on the ballot have been placed in each polling station.

The polling booths are now open.

(Members were issued ballots and marked their ballots in secret at voting stations.)

If there are any hon. members who have not voted and wish to do so, will they please vote now?

All members having voted, I do now instruct the Clerk to proceed with the counting of the ballots after I have cast my ballot.

Suspension Of Sitting

[The Presiding Officer (Mr. Hopkins)]

Order. Before I suspend the sitting may I bring to the attention of hon. members that when the counting of the ballots has been completed, the bells to call the members back to the House will be sounded for not more than five minutes. The sitting is suspended to the call of the Chair.

(The sitting of the House was suspended at 4.21 p.m.)

The House resumed at 4.49 p.m.

Sitting Resumed

[The Presiding Officer (Mr. Hopkins)]

Order. It is my duty to inform the House that another ballot will be necessary.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh.