House of Commons Hansard #66 of the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was children.

Topics

Criminal CodeRoutine Proceedings

12:30 p.m.

Conservative

The Deputy Speaker Conservative Chris d'Entremont

That is what I referred to.

The hon. member for Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes.

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12:30 p.m.

Conservative

Michael Barrett Conservative Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON

Mr. Speaker, it is not a lack of understanding. Members in the chamber are able to see the other members who are physically in the chamber. Not to discount the number of members who are online, but that number is in fact seven, not “dozens” as my hon. colleague said.

There is no way for members in the House to verify that. That is why I respectfully requested that the Chair verify quorum.

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12:30 p.m.

Liberal

Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB

Mr. Speaker, on the same point of order, at the end of—

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12:30 p.m.

An hon. member

Point of order.

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12:30 p.m.

Conservative

The Deputy Speaker Conservative Chris d'Entremont

We are already on a point of order with the hon. member for Winnipeg North. I will go back to whoever was yelling that.

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12:30 p.m.

Liberal

Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB

Mr. Speaker, I think it is important for members, before they stand up to try to be funny and call quorum, to ask a member in their caucus. For example, there are 33 members online right now. Members should be courteous, as opposed to interrupting a speech knowing full well there is quorum. The Conservative and Bloc members who have now done this should be a little more courteous to me, who happen to be speaking, and to members who might be having a meal.

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12:30 p.m.

Conservative

The Deputy Speaker Conservative Chris d'Entremont

Order. We had another point of order or a continuation of the same point of order.

The hon. member for New Westminster—Burnaby.

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12:30 p.m.

NDP

Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC

Mr. Speaker, I would like to make the same point. The member for Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes just misinformed the House. There are three dozen members participating online, including myself. I do not understand why he would try to lead the House in error—

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12:30 p.m.

Conservative

The Deputy Speaker Conservative Chris d'Entremont

I am going to stop things right now. We are doing a count. We will find out exactly how many people we have participating.

When we go back, the member for Winnipeg North will have two minutes and 10 seconds left in his time. Let us take a couple of seconds to get the count done correctly.

And the count having been taken:

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12:35 p.m.

Conservative

The Deputy Speaker Conservative Chris d'Entremont

There are 25 members here in the chamber at this moment. There are nine with their cameras on. Members can be online, but if they do not have their cameras on, they are not counted in the quorum. The camera needs to be on.

The hon. member for Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes.

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12:35 p.m.

Conservative

Michael Barrett Conservative Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON

Mr. Speaker, the member who just spoke, the hon. gentleman from New Westminster—Burnaby, did say that I misinformed the House, and I would respectfully ask, in light of the verification offered by the table officers and by the Chair, that an apology be offered for having alleged that I misled the House.

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12:35 p.m.

Conservative

The Deputy Speaker Conservative Chris d'Entremont

Would the hon. member for New Westminster—Burnaby like to make a comment? I will afford him a minute.

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12:35 p.m.

NDP

Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC

Mr. Speaker, the numbers stand. There are three dozen people online. I understand your interpretation of having the cameras on or off, but I can see a number of Conservative members who have turned their cameras off. I just wish we would stop the game playing and get on with the debate.

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12:35 p.m.

Conservative

The Deputy Speaker Conservative Chris d'Entremont

I am done with that for now, so let us put that one to bed. Having the cameras on is the rule there.

The hon. member for Winnipeg North has two minutes and 10 seconds left.

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12:35 p.m.

Liberal

Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB

Mr. Speaker, having gone through that, I should be given a bonus five minutes, I would suggest.

At the end of the day, the Conservatives like to play their games, and we saw that just now. They do whatever they can to play a game, cause distractions and lose the focus on what I believe and the government believes is important to Canadians, such as the budget and the budget implementation bill. We do not get very many bills that are more important than the budget implementation bill, something that invests billions and billions of dollars into supporting Canadians in all sorts of different ways. That is what we were supposed to be debating today. On a Friday afternoon, the Conservative Party, Canada's official opposition party, wants to play games.

As much as the Conservatives want to focus on their games and their character assassinations, I can say that all members of the Liberal caucus will continue to have their focus on Canadians and the people of Canada first. That is the reason why we are very excited about Bill C-19, no matter what sorts of games might be played by the Conservative opposition. We understand how this budget is going to have a profoundly positive impact on building a stronger, healthier Canada. We will continue to support the middle class and those aspiring to be a part of it, and push aside the games. That is the assurance that I would give members.

I do not support this motion. Bill C-5 should stay as one bill, as was the intent.

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12:35 p.m.

Conservative

John Brassard Conservative Barrie—Innisfil, ON

Mr. Speaker, I am sure the Prime Minister would be proud of this member for his intervention today. The Prime Minister refers to spreading disinformation quite a bit.

Let us go back to what actually happened here. The member for St. Albert—Edmonton, who is a member of the justice committee, proposed the motion during Routine Proceedings to split Bill C-5 at committee to allow the committee to effectively do its work. I then stood up and said that we want to put the question, which means we want to put it to a vote. That vote would have happened on Monday. There would have been no need for debate. There would have been no need for the parliamentary secretary to the government House leader to stand up and do this filibuster, and I suspect there are going to be others as well. They could have easily gone to Bill C-19 to debate it. I am guessing that maybe either the whip of the Liberal Party or the House leader has called the House leader of the NDP to prepare him to speak to this just to filibuster this.

Let us be very clear about what happened. We put the question. We could have voted on this on Monday and we could have gone to Bill C-19.

This is not a question, but more of a comment. I am curious as to why the parliamentary secretary to the government House leader has decided to filibuster his own piece of legislation to delay time so that we cannot get to Bill C-19. It just does not make any sense.

Criminal CodeRoutine Proceedings

12:40 p.m.

Liberal

Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB

Mr. Speaker, I am sure members recall Bill C-8, the fall economic statement. We just passed that piece of legislation, even though it was introduced in 2021. The reason why we just passed it is the Conservative games. The Conservatives did not want to pass the legislation. That legislation was there to support small businesses and to support people directly in response to the pandemic, in a very real and tangible way. That is what Bill C-8 was all about.

What we are seeing now is that the Conservatives want to continue to play that game, but on the budget implementation bill. This whole week, the Conservative Party has been attempting to stop debate on legislation. This is not the first time during motions that the Conservatives have stood up to try to prevent a debate from occurring. We can just look at what has happened this week. There are many examples of it.

As the member tries to suggest that he is being generous, he might fool some within his Conservative caucus or some members, but he is not going to fool me or, I suspect, other government members.

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12:40 p.m.

Bloc

Christine Normandin Bloc Saint-Jean, QC

Madam Speaker, to follow on the question from the member for Barrie—Innisfil, I wonder if we should not have just quickly put the question.

I hear the parliamentary secretary speaking not to the motion, but to Bill C‑19, so he is preventing us from debating Bill C‑19.

Does that not show that we should have simply gone directly to putting the question on the motion before the House?

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12:40 p.m.

Liberal

Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB

Madam Speaker, the Bloc member, like the Conservatives, is saying, “Trust us. This is what would have happened.”

I would suggest that members of the Bloc and the Conservative Party review the past week, and take a look at the games they have played in this last week. While they do that, they should reflect on Bill C-8: the fall economic statement that should have passed months ago. However, because of the Bloc and the Conservative Party, that legislation, which was debated 12, 13 or more times inside the chamber for many hours and more than the budget itself, did not pass.

Why should we believe those members on a Friday afternoon, when they have been causing nothing but filibusters throughout the week?

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12:40 p.m.

NDP

Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC

Madam Speaker, I disagree often with my colleague for Winnipeg North, but I found many aspects of his speech today important. For a week and a half now, the Conservatives have blocked the ability of members of Parliament to present petitions every single day. For a week and a half, they have disrupted Routine Proceedings, and it is always for a different reason. Sometimes it is the same committee report they present for a second or third time, sometimes it is a different committee report, and sometimes it is a motion of instruction, but it all adds up to trying to block fundamental bills that would help people.

I think, particularly when we talk about the budget implementation act and the fact that the NDP pushed and forced the government to put in place the national dental care program for children at the same time as unprecedented investments in affordable housing, it is strange beyond belief that a Conservative member, who would be helping thousands of people in his or her own riding by supporting the BIA and allowing it to move forward, continues to try to block it.

My question to my colleague for Winnipeg North is very simple. What does he think the strategy of the Conservatives is, when they block Bill C-8 for months, block petitions for a week and half and now are blocking important legislation that would lead to dental care and affordable housing for Canadians?

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12:45 p.m.

Liberal

Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB

Madam Speaker, I believe if we listen to some of the comments, in particular outside the chamber but also to a certain degree inside the chamber, we will hear the Conservative Party being critical and saying the government does not know how to manage House business. It is almost as if someone was walking down the sidewalk, we tripped them and then said, “Let me give you a hand up.” Then we tripped them again and said, “Why can you not stay on your feet?”

The Conservative Party is playing games. That is the bottom line. They have their focus.

The member made reference to the dental plan. To the credit of my New Democratic friends, they made the determination that Canadians do not want an election, but Canadians want to see a progressive agenda, and the New Democrats are contributing to the debate in a very real and tangible way. That does not mean we are all cozy and buddies: we often get into serious arguments and discussion. On debates, we have differing opinions, but at least they are contributing to what is taking place.

Otherwise, if all opposition parties take the same approach as the Conservative Party is taking, it would be absolutely totally dysfunctional. We could not do anything inside the chamber. At least there is, at times, a sense of co-operation, which is absolutely necessary. That is what Canadians want: political parties working together.

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12:45 p.m.

Conservative

Michael Cooper Conservative St. Albert—Edmonton, AB

Madam Speaker, I was a little surprised to hear the member for New Westminster—Burnaby talk about petitions. The reason petitions have not been presented is because, every day, the Liberals have moved a motion to move to orders of the day, backed up by the NDP.

With regard to the parliamentary secretary, it is quite ironic that he is the one who is holding up debate on the budget. He is the one who is debating the motion; no other hon. member. This was a very straightforward motion to allow the justice committee to do its work, having regard for the fact that the bill contains two substantive components: one with respect to the Criminal Code and the other with respect to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. It could have been moved forward with a vote on Monday.

That hon. member is holding up debate on the budget, so I ask him this, very respectfully: Why is he wasting the House's time?

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12:45 p.m.

Liberal

Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB

Madam Speaker, I would suggest that those who are following the debate take a look at the week in its entirety. They will see very clearly that what we have is the Conservative Party of Canada, Canada's official opposition, playing games.

At the end of the day, I went to move for the orders of the day because if I did not do that, we would continue debating on Conservative concurrence reports for hours. That is the reality that is preventing us from being able to do things such as passing—

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12:45 p.m.

Liberal

The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès) Liberal Alexandra Mendes

The hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice.

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12:45 p.m.

Scarborough—Rouge Park Ontario

Liberal

Gary Anandasangaree LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada

Madam Speaker, I am very perplexed as to what is happening today because this is a bill that has gone through a number of days of debate in the House as one single unit. As of today, we will have had our sixth meeting of witnesses. We have set clause-by-clause for about a week and a half from now. We have agreed, by consensus of all the parties, to have eight meetings to discuss the bill, and at this point the Conservative Party is coming forward and saying we need to split the bill. I think it is outrageous. They in fact should be ruled out of order.

I want to ask my friend this: Is it appropriate at this juncture to bring forward a motion to split the bill? So many witnesses have come forward and shared their experiences of systemic racism within the criminal justice system: their hurt, their anger and their lived experiences. Is it appropriate at this point in this debate to come forward and ask for—