House of Commons Hansard #75 of the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was offences.
The Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota
Everyone must always follow the two-metre physical distancing rule, but I want to remind members that they must not refer to the presence of members in the House. I believe the hon. member forgot that.
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
Mr. Speaker, there have been discussions among the parties and if you seek it, I hope you will find unanimous consent for the following motion.
That, in addition to the measures in the motion adopted on March 22nd, 2021 condemning the rise of anti-Asian racism, in the opinion of the House, the government should also include anti-Asian racism in Canada's Anti-Racism Strategy 2019-2022, and all anti-racism policies and programs.
The Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota
All those opposed to the hon. member moving the motion will please say nay.
Hearing none, the House has heard the terms of the motion. All those opposed to the motion will please say nay.
Hearing no dissenting voice, I declare the motion carried.
(Motion agreed to)
The hon. member for Richmond—Arthabaska on a point of order.
Alain Rayes Conservative Richmond—Arthabaska, QC
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order concerning the government's response to Question No. 373, submitted on February 1, 2021.
The question was the following:
With regard to illegal firearms entering Canada: what is the government's estimate of the number of illegal firearms that have entered the country since 2016, broken down by year and by method of entry (air cargo shipments, land passenger vehicle smuggling, etc.)?
The response included a hyperlink to a site providing what the government claims is supporting information. The site was not a government source, but rather a non-government entity called “Open Parliament”, which is available only in English. The French version of the government's response, signed by the member for Louis-Hébert, I might add, provides the same hyperlink, referring francophone readers to an English-only site.
This English link was provided in the response that was signed by the Liberal member for Louis-Hébert, tabled in the House on Monday, March 22 and printed at page 5053 of the Debates. House of Commons Procedure and Practice by Bosc and Gagnon states the following at page 612: “The Constitution Act, 1867 guarantees that a Member may address the House in either English or French....In addition, all parliamentary publications”—
The Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota
Order. I will interrupt the hon. member because we had some technical difficulties. There was no interpretation, and we had a small delay between the video and the sound.
Could the hon. member for Richmond—Arthabaska go back perhaps 15 or 20 seconds, a paragraph or so, and repeat what he just said? The hon. member.
Alain Rayes Conservative Richmond—Arthabaska, QC
Mr. Speaker, I would be happy to repeat the last paragraph.
House of Commons Procedure and Practice, third edition, by Bosc and Gagnon, states the following at page 612:
The Constitution Act, 1867 guarantees that a Member may address the House in either English or French....In addition, all parliamentary publications, such as the Journals, the Debates, and the Order Paper and Notice Paper, are printed in both official languages.
Page 615 of the same book reads as follows:
All documents tabled in the House by a Minister are required to be tabled in both official languages.
In addition, section 4 of the Official Languages Act states the following:
4 (1) English and French are the official languages of Parliament, and everyone has the right to use either of those languages in any debates and other proceedings of Parliament.
...
(3) Everything reported in official reports of debates or other proceedings of Parliament shall be reported in the official language in which it was said and a translation thereof into the other official language shall be included therewith.
I know that you are aware of all this, Mr. Speaker, but I think it is important to point it out in this case, especially in light of all the problems we have had with protecting French in everything we get from the government. There are many examples, and I will not list them all today, since that is not the purpose of my request.
On April 19, 1993, the then speaker of the House, in response to a question of privilege, said that statutes “are the highest form of command that can be given by this House. In my view, the disregard of that legislative command, even if unintentional, is an affront to the authority and dignity of Parliament as a whole and of this House in particular.”
I do not know why the Liberal member for Louis-Hébert—
The Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota
Order. I must interrupt the member because we are having a technical issue again.
The hon. member for Kingston and the Islands.
Mark Gerretsen Liberal Kingston and the Islands, ON
Mr. Speaker, I have been listening intently and the interpreter said that they had to stop because of technical issues.
Gérard Deltell Conservative Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC
Mr. Speaker, with respect to this point of order, which is quite pertinent and important, I invite my colleague from Richmond—Arthabaska to repeat at least the last minute of his speech because it is an important issue, especially since we are discussing the two official languages. The interpreters should hear exactly what he said. I therefore invite my colleague from Richmond—Arthabaska to repeat the last minute of his speech.
The Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota
When did we realize we had problems with interpretation? I want to ensure that we do not miss anything.
Mark Gerretsen Liberal Kingston and the Islands, ON
Mr. Speaker, as soon as the interpreter made that comment, I stood up, so it was only a matter of five or 10 seconds. The important thing is that the technical issue be resolved so we can continue to hear this in its entirety. Otherwise we will continue to have this problem.
The Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota
We are aware of it and I have spoken with the technical folks. They are looking into it to see what happened. There is a delay between video and voice. It seems to be central to our problem throughout question period today. I thank members for bringing that up.
I would ask the member for Richmond—Arthabaska to go back one paragraph so we can all clearly hear what he said. He has the floor.
Alain Rayes Conservative Richmond—Arthabaska, QC
Mr. Speaker, I checked my Internet connection while you were speaking and it is excellent at this time. Therefore, the problem is not at my end.
I will go back a little.
On April 19, 1993, the then speaker of the House, in responding to a question of privilege, stated that legislative provisions were “statutes of the highest form of command that can be given by this House. In my view the disregard of that legislative command, even if unintentional, is an affront to the authority and dignity of Parliament as a whole and of this House in particular.”
I do not know why the Liberal member for Louis-Hébert chose to disrespect the French language in this manner. We do not know if it was intentional or just the result of negligence.
However, I believe that, much like me, Mr. Speaker, you will recognize that there have been several failures on the part of this government with respect to the French language, especially during the pandemic.
The Commissioner of Official Languages clearly pointed that out in a report not too long ago. The government's complete response to this question, as bad as it is, must be submitted in both official languages, as required by our Constitution, rules, customs and laws.
The Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota
I would like to thank the hon. member. I will take the matter under advisement and report back to the House, if necessary.
We have another point of order.
The hon. member for Louis-Hébert.
Joël Lightbound Liberal Louis-Hébert, QC
Mr. Speaker, I just want to briefly respond to my colleague and assure him that this mistake was far from intentional. I will see to it that the situation is remedied as quickly as possible.
Respect for official languages, and French in particular, in the House and in this institution is very important to me. That is why I chose to join the Liberal Party rather than the Conservative Party, which systematically appointed unilingual anglophones as officers of Parliament and which is still refusing to appoint bilingual judges to the Supreme Court of Canada.
The Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota
There was a technical issue. Could the member repeat his last few sentences?
Joël Lightbound Liberal Louis-Hébert, QC
Mr. Speaker, I will do so with pleasure.
I was simply saying that respect for official languages, and French in particular, is very important to me, so much so that I decided to join the Liberal Party rather than the Conservative Party, which, for 10 years under Stephen Harper, systematically appointed unilingual anglophones to our institutions and which is still refusing to appoint bilingual judges to the Supreme Court.
The Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota
I would like to thank the members for their comments.
We will now continue.
The House resumed from March 11 consideration of the motion that Bill C-232, An Act respecting a Climate Emergency Action Framework, be read the second time and referred to a committee.
The Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota
It being 3:25 p.m., pursuant to order made on Monday, January 25, the House will now proceed to the taking of the deferred recorded division on the motion at second reading stage of Bill C-232 under Private Members' Business.
Call in the members.
The House resumed from March 12 consideration of the motion that Bill C-231, An Act to amend the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Act (investments), be read the second time and referred to a committee.
The Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota
Pursuant to order made on Monday, January 25, the House will now proceed to the taking of the deferred recorded division on the motion at second reading stage of of Bill C-231, under Private Members' Business.