Debates of May 18th, 2016

Reference to Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs

[Peter Julian, NDP, New Westminster—Burnaby, BC]

Mr. Speaker, this behaviour is clearly unacceptable, whether it happens in community centres, here in the House of Commons, at work, in parks, or in our communities. I think Canadians understand that. I think there are people, on both sides here, who have experienced violence in their family. I have an aunt who was beaten to death.

Minor instances of violence can lead to serious instances of violence. That is why we must take a zero-tolerance approach to violence. We must not accept it, must not excuse it, and must not compare it to a soccer match, as the member for Hull—Aylmer did. That is unbelievable. I do not know how anyone could say such a thing.

The comments we have heard from government members since the Prime Minister committed this act are inexcusable. I am pleased that the member for Churchill—Keewatinook Aski brought this up. Physical violence, whether it is minor or serious, is unacceptable, period.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I have been torn about trying to intervene on what I saw or did not see, but I felt I had to rise. It is because my friend, the hon. member for New Westminster—Burnaby, at one point spoke for me as all four parties in opposition.

I want to try, if possible, to put some oil on troubled waters, bridges over troubled waters. Forgive me.

What we saw was unacceptable, but let us keep it in perspective. What I saw that was unwise and unacceptable was that Prime Minister deliberately trying to move a vote along. There was some mischief. Let us face it. There was some mischief on the floor.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

There was. I am sorry, there was an attempt to slow down the vote. There is no doubt about that, but it was innocent mischief.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Let me finish what I am saying. I am trying to keep it in perspective.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Order, please.

I implore colleagues. This is a debate which members are going to have very strong feelings about and they are not all going to agree, but it is a debate about respect for each other and for this place. I implore colleagues to help with the image of this place now by showing respect for each other.

Order, please. Members for Kenora and Windsor West will come to order.

We will now hear again from the member for Saanich—Gulf Islands.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I have respect for everyone in this place, but I also have respect for all Canadians. I think a reflection on what just transpired could be useful for Canadians.

It was most unwise of the Prime Minister to attempt to move along the vote by moving along the member for Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes. That movement was clearly contact that was unwanted.

The second contact with my friend, the member for Berthier—Maskinongé, which was certainly the one that was the most emotional for the member involved, was clearly, from my perspective, and I confirm what the member for King—Vaughan said, unintentional. I have to say that I saw the Prime Minister following the hon. member, trying to reach her, saying how very sorry he was, that he had not seen her behind him. That is the truth. Members can like it or not like it, but nothing that happened here today reflects well on us.

We do not want to be the House of Commons for some country that other countries watch on CNN and wonder what has become of us. We are grown-ups. Let us act—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Order.

I am going to ask the member for New Westminster—Burnaby to keep his answer short.

[Peter Julian, NDP, New Westminster—Burnaby, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I think the point that the member made is exactly the same point that we are all making: physical violence is unacceptable. Whether pushing or elbowing another member was unintentional, it is inappropriate, and it was absolutely inappropriate to manhandle the whip of the official opposition.

Therefore, I would hope that all members would join together—not excusing, not explaining, not making references to soccer matches, but join together—to say that physical confrontation or pushing of any nature is unacceptable in this place and unacceptable across the country.

[Andrew Leslie, Liberal, Orléans, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. This is an emotional issue on an emotional day. There has been an unreserved apology from the right hon. Prime Minister. May I suggest that, as proposed by the hon. member opposite, we forward this to the appropriate committee and let the ruling unfold as it may.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

I believe the hon. member was asking for unanimous consent to adopt the motion. It sounds like there is no unanimous consent at this point to do that.

Resuming debate, the hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, I have a few thoughts I would like to share with members.

One of the things I believe is important to recognize is that, at the end of the day, what we have witnessed is something, no doubt, all of us will want to reflect on.

I would ask members to be courteous as I try to express my thoughts and feelings with respect to the issue.

Through many years of being a parliamentarian, and most of that 25 years in opposition, I can tell members that there have been other occasions. For example, I look at what took place in the 1990s—

[An hon. member]

That is not a point of order.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I am speaking on the motion, for the member. If he were listening attentively, he would understand the point.

For example, there was the very heated debate inside the Manitoba legislature that took place during the 1990s. I witnessed members from the opposition come forward and approach the premier's bench, shaking their fists with suggestions of violence, and so forth. When I reflect on what took place there, at the time, there was a great deal of emotion around an issue that was being debated inside the chamber.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I sat very patiently listening to other members address a very serious issue. I would ask that they respond in kind and listen to what I have to say on this very important issue.

We need to put things into perspective, much as I did back in the 1990s when we had members leaving their seats, suggesting all sorts of behavioural issues, much as I saw today, which included the Prime Minister and others.

I do believe that the government House leader, in a responsible fashion, has made the suggestion that we allow the matter to go before the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs where in fact we will have a good healthy discussion, and where we can take into consideration many aspects of what we witnessed here today. That is indeed the responsible thing for us to do.

I continue to understand the perception of what has taken place over the last couple of days—and I know first-hand because I participated in it—as many members have in the very emotional debate with respect to Bill C-14, as the government has attempted, on numerous occasions, to allow that debate to go on so that all members would be able to speak. However, on the other side, we have seen the opposition try to—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Order. On a point of order, the hon. member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Mr. Speaker, as much as we generally take a liberal attitude toward topicality in this place, we are debating a question of great importance, and the hon. member is now trying to divert this and make it about a completely different issue, to argue about things like extending debate hours. I think this is totally unacceptable.

We have a very important issue in front of us that Canadians expect us to deal with, and we need to stick to relevance on this issue so that we can address it in a proper way.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I believe that if you were to peruse Hansard you would find that I am absolutely relevant to the issue at hand.

What we are talking about is an incident that occurred not that long ago on the floor of the House. Using my parliamentary experience, I was reflecting on a similar incident from the Manitoba legislature that took place on the floor there. I am drawing a comparison in terms of the emotions of the day that took place there and how relevant that day is to the emotions we have been experiencing over the last couple of days here on the floor of the House of Commons. I would suggest that this is in fact relevant.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Members know that while they are encouraged to keep their comments relevant, the Chair, in all circumstances, gives a broad leeway. However, I do encourage members to keep their comments relevant to the topic.

The hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I will try as much as possible to assure House members that we on the government side are taking the matter very seriously, and this is the reason why, when we look at the motion that has been brought forward by the House leader from the New Democratic Party, we want to respond in a very favourable fashion.

That is why I am encouraging members to recognize that, if they genuinely believe that this is an issue that we should be dealing with, the proper way to deal with it is in the motion that has been moved. That is that the matter go before the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, where we will be afforded the opportunity to hear what every member has to say with respect to what took place this afternoon. I am prepared to work the entire summer if need be.

It is very important that we, as legislators, as parliamentarians, recognize that the most valuable way we can contribute to drawing this issue to a conclusion is to allow the procedure and House affairs committee to do what it does best, and that is to deal with privileges. I have sat on that committee and have seen how beneficial the committee is in terms of being able to serve the House. I would suggest, if members are genuine in wanting to see this issued resolved and the question of privilege resolved as quickly as possible to have an outcome, that we need to allow the procedure and House affairs committee to do its job. I know the membership of that committee is more than happy to make this a first priority on its agenda, and I suspect there will be consensus from all members of the committee to do that. This is the reason why I would suggest that what we need is to be able to see—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Order. The hon. member for Calgary Midnapore.

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Mr. Speaker, as you will know, the convention of this place is not only to be pertinent to the matter on the floor but to avoid unnecessary repetition, and we are getting an endless string of repetition by the member who does not want other members to speak to the motion. I would ask that you bring him to order.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

I thank the hon. member, but he knows members have a broad leeway. I always encourage members not to repeat themselves.

By the way, in this debate, the speeches are 20 minutes each. It is 7 p.m. We will be going to the late show, but debate would continue tomorrow unless members decide otherwise by unanimous consent.

The hon. parliamentary secretary to the government House leader has the floor.