House of Commons Hansard #40 of the 43rd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was chair.
Jean-Yves Duclos LiberalPresident of the Treasury Board
moved that Bill C-19, An Act for granting to Her Majesty certain sums of money for the federal public administration for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2021, be concurred in at report stage.
The Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota
(Motion agreed to)
When shall the bill be read a third time? By leave, now?
Jean-Yves Duclos Liberal Québec, QC
moved that C-19, An Act for granting to Her Majesty certain sums of money for the federal public administration for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2021, be read the third time and passed.
Pablo Rodriguez LiberalLeader of the Government in the House of Commons
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. This concludes the sitting.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you, Mr. Speaker, thank your team, and thank the people working really hard at the table. I want to thank all MPs, including the House leaders from the other parties, their teams, and our team in my House leader office.
I would like to thank the whips and their teams, all the staff helping all of us to work day after day, and all the branches of the House administration. Of course, the pages have provided us with a great song today, even though we did not have the chance to meet too much.
I want to thank everyone. Our points of view and sometimes our principles do not always align, but we are all here for the same reason, which is to do our best to represent our constituents. I think that we all do so with courage and dignity, and we are all better for it. I want to thank all members of the House of Commons. I wish each and every one of you a wonderful summer.
John Nater Conservative Perth—Wellington, ON
Mr. Speaker, I rise on the same point of order.
On behalf of the official opposition, I want to thank everyone who supports our work as members of Parliament.
I think when all of us took our seats here in the 43rd Parliament, we did not exactly foresee how this Parliament would unfold. I want to thank all those who have supported us as parliamentarians so far, certainly the Parliamentary Protective Service, the food service and staff, and the clerks and interpreters at the table. Certainly, given the context, the IT staff have been exceptional in supporting us as parliamentarians, as well as the cleaning and janitorial staff who keep all of our offices and this building clean as we do our duty.
I also want to thank, on behalf of all members of Parliament, the staff who serve us in our offices here on Parliament Hill, but also in our ridings. They have done exceptional work for each of us, from every party, at this time when we are facing some challenging situations.
To echo what the government House leader said about our pages, it was unfortunate that we did not get to meet this crop of pages as much as we would have liked, but I think their lasting tribute to this Parliament was that wonderful rendition of O Canada, which I think will echo for all of us here.
Finally, I would like to thank all of our families. None of us could do the job that we have as parliamentarians without the love and support of our families back at home and all they do for us, so I thank them.
To all of my colleagues, I hope everyone has a wonderful summer, supporting constituents, serving our communities and serving this great country that we all love.
Yves-François Blanchet Bloc Beloeil—Chambly, QC
Mr. Speaker, apparently I need to say that I am speaking to the same point of order as my esteemed colleagues. I will therefore say that I am speaking to the same point of order as my esteemed colleagues.
We are a pretty unruly bunch, and yet we get impeccable services. Everyone has been extremely polite in this place. Truthfully, I admit that I did not know what to expect, because in the Parliament of Canada, we are a bit of an unknown factor. Our goal is perfectly friendly, but at times, it can also be somewhat disruptive.
Nevertheless, I have never heard a cross word from the staff. I am not referring to the Conservatives or the Liberals, but to the staff. I have never heard a cross word or saw any attitude. It never ceases to amaze me. The Speaker and all the other Chair occupants are as strict as they are affable, and this is very much appreciated by our people, who say so. From the cafeteria to the security staff, from the pages to the interpreters, everything is always impeccable.
Sometimes, though not consistently or all the time, our adversaries can even be nice. It happens, and for all these reasons, it is a pleasure that we hope is relatively temporary over the years.
We hope everyone enjoys the summer for a few weeks before we meet again soon, as soon as possible, with as many of us as possible present and with as much business as possible to conduct.
Brian Masse NDP Windsor West, ON
Mr. Speaker, the New Democrats listened to the pages speak and then sing, and it brought us to where we need to go as our future; the future of our country.
I want to thank not only those who have made this institution function during COVID-19, but those who were involved in the lead up to that. It is important to recognize many people do a lot of extra work here, which takes them away from their families, friends and loved ones.
God bless the health care workers and front-line workers across our country for all they have done.
I come from a region where we still have issues relating to the border. We have a number of issues around immigrant workers and their safety and our own personal safety. These challenges still face us, but in these halls here, we have been well served in our democracy by the people who have made it run. I am very grateful for that.
The New Democrats want to thank very much those who have continued to make this place a hallowed ground to continue to have voices. Sometimes we do not agree, and that is okay. That is supposed to happen in an open democracy that means something. There should be dissent and discussion in a way that is meaningful for the people we represent across a wide nation, which is one of the largest of the world.
We want to very much thank those who have ensured that our voices are carried, which we will continue through July and through August.
Last, we thank the constituency assistants and the support staff who have helped us during this entire issue. The amount of information, content and volumes of emails and phone calls have been unbelievable. We are very grateful for all the people who have been reaching out to our offices. We are grateful for that contact. It is difficult to get back to everybody, but we are grateful for that connection because that truly is our democracy continuing to work.
Finally, I want to thank you, Mr. Speaker, as well as your staff and the whole group that has made this possible. Without that, we have nothing.
Elizabeth May Green Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC
Mr. Speaker, I will not be long.
All my colleagues had some very moving comments, and I completely agree with what they said.
In this extraordinary time, which no one could have imagined, the people who work in IT in the House of Commons have been significantly stretched and have allowed us to have standing committees at work.
All of us have been working pretty hard, but we know we could not do it, as my hon. colleague from Windsor West said, without the people in our constituency offices who work so hard. We could not do this without the House of Commons staff.
I particularly want to thank the translators, the interpretation team, the IT teams as well as protective services, all the people, the Clerk and the table officers. Everybody who supports our work here has gone above and beyond, and we will be back over the course of the summer.
For everyone, please stay safe, take no chances, stay well, stay home and God bless.
The Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota
I just want to say a few words myself.
Since March 13, one of my favourite sayings, one of the things I say the most, is that this is not what I signed up for. However, I also want to say that it has certainly been one of the most interesting times of my life.
It has been amazing, right from my team of Chair occupants, the Deputy Speaker and the Assistant Deputy Speaker, who are an amazing team who are always there to help, to our clerks who are sitting here at the table with a wealth of knowledge who steer us in the right direction so we do not look too terrible up here in this chair and, of course, everyone who is here today who is taking part in our national democracy.
In Canada, democracy is very important, and we care a great deal about it. It is because of you that it exists. As the hon. member for Beloeil—Chambly said earlier, during debates, we do not always agree, but we discuss possibilities and try to arrive at something. That is very important. We think of Canadians, and we help them better themselves.
I also want to take this time to thank the pages whom we heard sing, which is something that I had not heard in person up until today. I heard the tape earlier, but today we heard the beautiful voices and saw the work that went into that and the spirit they had to make our national anthem come across and come alive. I had a tear in my eye of pride from being a Canadian.
I wish you all a fun and healthy summer.
Please be careful and enjoy yourselves.
We shall see one another in three weeks.
Thank you very much.
Pursuant to an order made on Tuesday, May 26, the House stands adjourned until Wednesday, July 8, at noon.
(The House adjourned at 7:29 p.m.)