Mr. Speaker, the member tried to dress this up as a temporary measure, but the last three speakers, two NDP and one Liberal, really tipped the hand of the agenda of this new coalition. They want a permanent hybrid Parliament. They see it as a tool for advancing what they see as family-friendly to permanently replace Parliament with a Zoom call.
I speak as a member with four young children. I have a fifth on the way. My wife works as a physician, and our due date for the fifth is when Parliament is sitting, so I understand the sacrifice that families have to make. Obviously, virtual Parliament would be easier for me personally, but it was worse for this institution.
When I ran for office, I understood that personal sacrifice. My family understood that family sacrifices were required for us to be able to do the kind of jobs that we needed to do to be here. I will also say that members have the option of bringing their families to Ottawa. They receive good support in terms of a housing allowance to do it. Certainly there were many Liberal ministers, in fact all of them, who consistently did their work outside of this House, not coming here to be accountable.
I do not understand how, if we are family-friendly for ministers with no children, they are communicating from their parliamentary offices instead of being on the floor in the House of Commons.