Debates of June 7th, 2023

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

Vote #365

Budget Implementation Act, 2023, No. 1

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Chris d'Entremont]

I declare the motion carried.

Technological Issues Raised During the Taking of Recorded Division

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Gatineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I wish to bring to your attention a possible incident of coercion of a member of Parliament during the vote previous to this one. The member for Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke was captured on the screen speaking into her microphone and asking if she had voted slowly enough. We wish to know who was coaching, who was pulling the puppet strings on this member, what kind of coercion was being exerted upon her and whether this is something that the Speaker should investigate.

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

Mr. Speaker, one cannot do directly what one can do indirectly.

What I would offer is that our colleague is struggling with the smoke, had a mask on and was struggling to actually speak. What she was merely trying to clarify was that the Speaker had heard her and that she had enunciated clearly with the technical issues we have been having with this act.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Mr. Speaker, anyone who knows me knows that no one coaches me on how to vote.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I want to reiterate the request for a full investigation into the circus we saw this evening, with only Conservatives being unable to master the technical capabilities of the app. I would ask for confirmation that the Speaker will investigate fully.

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Chris d'Entremont]

We will go back and review to see who had challenges.

The hon. parliamentary secretary to the government House leader is rising.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons (Senate)]

Mr. Speaker, in your consideration of the point of order from the member for New Westminster—Burnaby, I would like to add that I too believe it is important that the Speaker look into this, that we investigate why Conservatives seem to be having a tough time with technology. Maybe it is just the old archaic ways that surround them, but nonetheless, we need to look into this. We need to get to the bottom of this.

[Lena Metlege Diab, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House to raise a point of order for the first time. I was scheduled to speak to my private member's bill tonight. It is a bill that I believe everybody in the House favours, and it is to declare November as Lebanese heritage month.

I would like to second the motion from the member for New Westminster—Burnaby to investigate these ridiculous tactics, which are wasting resources and impeding important legislation from going forward.

[Brad Vis, Conservative, Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, BC]

Mr. Speaker, on the third to last vote, I believe, I stepped out for a moment, and the member for Mississauga East—Cooksville referred to me as a rat.

I think the member is an hon. member, and I would ask him to kindly retract his comment.

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

Mr. Speaker, on a point of order, to support the New Democratic House leader, I would like to read a quote that I think should be taken into consideration in investigating this matter.

The Leader of the Conservative Party said that they have announced they are going to use every parliamentary tool in their tool kit to block this risky and inflationary budget from passing until the PM makes the commitment to balance the budget in order to bring down inflation and interest rates. He then said, “I will keep speaking and keep speaking and keep blocking...until the Prime Minister rises with a plan”.

I would suggest that we have witnessed something that is being orchestrated out of the Conservative leadership's office. I think it is worthy for us to investigate it. It is a very serious matter. One could say the behaviour we have seen from the Conservative Party, both on Friday and today, is in borderline contempt of our rules.

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Chris d'Entremont]

I do believe I have as much information as I need for that point of order.

I see the hon. member for Timmins—James Bay has his hand up.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I did want to weigh in on this. I have no opinion on whether the hon. Conservative is a rat or not. That is not something I want to speak to.

However, I do feel that we are watching tactics by the Conservative leader, who lives in Stornoway. I am very concerned that this is undermining confidence, and it is very important that we have confidence, particularly when my region is burning and people are being evacuated.

I am asking the Speaker to look into this because Canadians expect us to do our jobs and not to interfere and act like we are juveniles. I am asking if the Speaker would agree to look into this—

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Chris d'Entremont]

Let us get to the end of the list of folks who want to speak.

The hon. member for Battle River—Crowfoot.

[Damien Kurek, Conservative, Battle River—Crowfoot, AB]

Mr. Speaker, on the point of order, I find it tragically ironic that they want an investigation into voting, but they refuse to allow an investigation into votes by the Communist dictatorship in Beijing. What a shameful—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Chris d'Entremont]

I will just remind members that, when we are talking to points of order, a Standing Order request might be good as well.

The hon. member for Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies.

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

Mr. Speaker, on the same point of order, I would recommend that, if there is any investigation that really needs to be done, they should ask the same special rapporteur to investigate.

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Chris d'Entremont]

We will review what happened today because we do try to provide the application for the use of members when they are travelling and when they are going to committees. We want to make sure it works correctly so that we do not have these kinds of problems.

Do not forget, if a member has trouble voting, when the member's hand goes up on the screen, a team of individuals will be trying to call them to make sure the app and the phone are working correctly. There is a number of resources that get activated the second a member's hand goes up.

We will review to see how the system worked. We will go back to see the statements that were brought forward, and we will try to report that back to the House as soon as possible.

Government Response to Petitions

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

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36(8)(a), I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the government's response to two petitions. These returns will be tabled in an electronic format.

Public Sector Integrity Commissioner

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

Madam Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 111(1) and section 39(1) of the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act, I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the biographical notes and the certificate of nomination for the appointment of Harriet Solloway as Public Sector Integrity Commissioner.

Pursuant to Standing Order 111(1), I request that the certificate of nomination and biographical notes be referred to the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates.

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

I wish to inform the House that, because of the delay, pursuant to Standing Order 37, there will be no Private Members' Business hour today.

Accordingly, the item will be rescheduled for another sitting.

Procedure and House Affairs

[Bardish Chagger, Liberal, Waterloo, ON]

Madam Speaker, I know constituents in the riding of Waterloo, and all constituents in Ontario, will be happy to know that I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 46th report of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, entitled “Report on the Report of the Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission for the Province of Ontario, 2022”.

As the procedure and House affairs chair, I would just also state that committee members have been looking at how we make this place function, and I do want to say thanks to the NDP today for raising the concern to interpreters. I know that during votes, interpretation does not take place, but I do notice that their headsets are on because they never know when they might need to interpret.

I would say that their health and safety is of the utmost importance. People applaud and say it often, but sometimes their actions do not demonstrate that, and that is a concern for me. I really hope that we rectify the matter.

With that, here is our report.

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

Madam Speaker, I rise on behalf of the Conservative members of the procedure and House affairs committee to table a Conservative dissenting report to the main report of the committee, in respect of the boundary redistribution for the Province of Ontario.

Conservatives support and respect the work of the commission and therefore do not support most of the boundary objections. However, we do respectfully request that commission favourably consider the targeted boundary objections of the member for Don Valley West, the member for Wellington—Halton Hills and the member for King—Vaughan.

We also respectfully ask the commission to favourably consider proposed boundary name changes put forward by the member for Niagara Falls, the member for Thornhill and the member for Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte.

Justice and Human Rights

[Randeep Sarai, Liberal, Surrey Centre, BC]

Madam Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 13th report of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights, entitled “Reforming Canada’s Extradition System”.

Pursuant to Standing Order 109, the committee requests that the government table a comprehensive response to this report.