Debates of June 2nd, 2023

Government Response to Petitions

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Carol Hughes]

The question is on the motion.

If a member of a recognized party present in the House wishes to request a recorded division or that the motion be adopted on division, I would invite them to rise and indicate it to the Chair.

The hon. member for Mégantic—L'Érable.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Madam Speaker, I request a recorded division.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Carol Hughes]

Call in the members.

During the taking of the vote:

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

Madam Speaker, I logged into the app. It did not work. I would like to register my vote as no.

It was a technical issue.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Carol Hughes]

Given that individuals had so many problems, I am going to make sure that we ask the technical team to look at this to make sure that it was not intentional on the part of members.

The table will now compile the results of the vote.

(The House divided on the motion, which was agreed to on the following division:)

Vote #344

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Carol Hughes]

I declare the motion carried.

Technical Issues Raised During the Taking of Recorded Division

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

Madam Speaker, on a point of order, I would urge you, in light of the circus that just transpired, to fully investigate this vote.

We have functioned for three years on an honour system around virtual voting and virtual Parliament, and Conservatives have actually used the virtual Parliament more than any other party. I find it difficult to accept that today that there is some mystery virus that has impacted only Conservatives and has not impacted members of the Bloc, the NDP, the Liberals or the Greens. The fact that we have had repeated disruptions is equivalent, in the virtual world, to a member in this House throwing their chair across the House and setting fire to their desk.

If there was some mystery virus that hit only Conservatives—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Carol Hughes]

We have had so many problems. I will endeavour to have the team look into this.

I have to recognize someone from other than the official opposition. The hon. parliamentary secretary has a point of order.

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

Madam Speaker, you made a comment that you will review what has taken place, and we appreciate that. I would point out that there is a rule regarding contempt of Parliament, and this does need to be looked at if members were participating here in an intentionally inappropriate way through the voting application. That would be a contempt of Parliament. We would appreciate the Speaker taking note of this and reporting back to the House.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Carol Hughes]

I appreciate the information. As I have indicated, I will have the technical team look into why there were so many technical difficulties.

In order for the hon. official opposition House leader to speak, he would have to have a headset. He may want to ask somebody else to speak on his behalf.

The hon. member for Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola.

[Dan Albas, Conservative, Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, BC]

Madam Speaker, on this point of order, we have had a number of accusations thrown around. I think everyone in this place understands that we are in a work environment where we are combining different time zones and different Internet capacity and that on Fridays we do not have votes. That is understood.

I was at an event in Ottawa at one point and my phone would not work. It kept spinning and would not allow me to take a picture. We should be giving the benefit of the doubt to hon. members in this place. A review would be helpful, but I would also like hon. members to act honourably. All members have these challenges when working virtually, and to imply that certain members are in contempt of Parliament is straying into more partisan lines. This is a practical matter, and I hope the review is a practical one, not a partisan one.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Carol Hughes]

As I indicated, there will be a request to have our technical team look into this. I hope that satisfies everybody so we can move on with orders of the day.

The hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence.

[Bryan May, Liberal, Cambridge, ON]

Madam Speaker, I would like to point out that the obstruction happened before the vote as well. I did the whip walk, and for the first time ever in this House that I have seen, it was done by—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Carol Hughes]

That is not a point of order. As we have seen, sometimes it has not occurred that the two whips walk to the table.

There is a point of order by the member for Northumberland—Peterborough South.

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Peterborough South, ON]

Madam Speaker, there is contempt. There is contempt for the lack of democratic process in this Liberal budget. That is what there is—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Carol Hughes]

That is not a point of order; it is a point of debate.

The hon. member for Cariboo—Prince George.

[Todd Doherty, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

Madam Speaker, in your investigation for the technical event that took place, I would ask you to consider that the member from the NDP who rose, when the New Democrats were in the official opposition, used dilatory motions and stall tactics—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Carol Hughes]

That is debate.

The hon. member for Elmwood—Transcona.

[Daniel Blaikie, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Madam Speaker, prior to question period, I was hoping to weigh in on a question of privilege that had been raised earlier. I thought this might be—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Carol Hughes]

That is on my list of things to do, but we are not quite there yet.

The hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada is rising on another point of order.

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON]

Madam Speaker, I believe we have gone to orders of the day. We have a private member's bill that is scheduled to go forward, and out of courtesy to the member, which we always give to those who bring forward private member's bills, it is important that we give due consideration and time for that.

I would respectfully ask my colleagues to move forward, and if there are further submissions on this matter, perhaps we can take it up at a later time.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Carol Hughes]

The House has just completed a vote on a motion to move to orders of the day. At the time the vote started, the motion was in order as there was still time remaining under Government Orders today. The Chair cannot interrupt the vote once it is under way. However, due to the length of the taking of the recorded division, we have now passed the time allotted to Government Orders; therefore, the terms of the motion are moot.

Business of the House

[Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Liberal, Minister of Official Languages and Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency]

Madam Speaker, I request that the ordinary hour of daily adjournment of the next sitting be 12 midnight, pursuant to order made Tuesday, November 15, 2022.

In addition, I am tabling the government's responses to Questions Nos. 1399 to 1404.