Mr. Speaker, I am rising to provide additional information to you, as Speaker, on the deliberate matter of privilege that was raised on Friday morning by the Conservative deputy leader, the member for Thornhill.
As the Conservative deputy whip said at the time, “a personal first-hand account is very much part of the information that the Speaker must hear.” Given that I was named by the member for Thornhill, it is only right that I be given the opportunity to respond. The member for Thornhill made a number of wildly misleading accusations of increasing seriousness and severity. She began by saying that the protesters at the Confederation Building lobby on Tuesday morning were organized and supported by me. The accusations grew into talk about NDP-organized protesters.
Her colleague, the member for South Shore—St. Margarets, spoke of NDP complicity and said that the “illegal protest” was assisted by me. In the member for Thornhill's intervention, she stated, in her third paragraph, “The demonstration started around 8:45 a.m. The protesters said they would allow MPs with offices in the building to pass through the crowd”.
I think it important to provide my own account, given that, on personal attacks being made or members' motives being maligned, the House of Commons Procedure and Practice, chapter 13, states:
Remarks which question a Member’s integrity, honesty or character are not in order....
The proceedings of the House are based on a long-standing tradition of respect for the integrity of all Members. Thus, the use of offensive, provocative or threatening language in the House is strictly forbidden. Personal attacks [or] insults...are not in order.
I should share with you that, like all members on the Hill, at 8:45 a.m., I received a situation advisory update on my cellphone, which is customary. That identified a peaceful sit-in at the Confederation Building. That day, in fact, that entire week, we had our constituency assistants from across the country here in Ottawa for training. That is why my staff were with me on that particular day.
A press conference will bear out that I had the role of introducing our Speaker at a press conference shortly after this advisory was sent. At 8:45 a.m., while attending to my responsibilities at the Wellington Building, I did come across an action that was happening, with people in front of the Confederation Building who were demanding for an arms embargo and an end to the Israeli genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
Mr. Speaker, you may know this, and some members may know this, but I would doubt that many Conservatives would know this. As was witnessed last week, the leader of the Conservative Party called a picket line a rally for striking workers. As Canada's only labour party, we have a long-held tradition of not crossing picket lines. We view this action in the lobby of Confederation to be very much in keeping with a picket line.
While the member for Thornhill was correct that this was an action of maybe a hundred, and the member said that it was perhaps 130, people, led by many Jews against genocide, to suggest that this was somehow an NDP-organized action does not just denigrate the spirit of our parliamentary privileges but also takes away the agency of the tens of thousands of progressive Jews against genocide, and the agency of those who took it upon themselves, as referenced by the member for Thornhill, to be present in the lobby. They would allow people to pass, provided that they heard the message.
I rise on this question of privilege because the hypocrisy coming out of the Conservative caucus would be laughable if it were not so offensive. The actions here between January 22 and February 23, 2022, known as the convoy, shut down this entire precinct's operations, not for 45 minutes, as this action did, but for an entire month.
As is tradition with New Democrats attending picket lines, I went inside the Confederation Building. I stood in the corridor of the doorway so as to not cross what I considered an action demanding MPs to hear the voices of the 100-plus progressive Jews against genocide. I would like to report to the House what I did hear. I heard a call for a motion passed sometime back in March on an opposition day for a full embargo, calls for an end to the genocide and a beautiful expression of Judaism with the blowing of the shofar, the recitation of the Torah and the singing of songs in the Jewish tradition that go back to time immemorial in solidarity with basic notions of justice and peace.
Evidence will show that, through a video that was posted, when I arrived, I was confronted by a PPS officer at the door. I immediately identified myself as a member of Parliament. Despite the wildly inaccurate accusations by the member for Thornhill, I actually stated in that video exchange, which you can certainly take into your consideration, that I was there to bear witness. I was there to observe what was happening with those citizens, Jewish people of conscience who want to end the genocide and are calling for the arms embargo. I also witnessed a highly organized liaison process between PPS and the organizers. PPS, I think, given the sheer number of people, accorded itself in a very professional way to negotiate the protesters' peaceful removal and retreat from the Confederation Building, which did happen and was also recorded on video. Their own organizers said that they were slowly going to leave and that they were going to retreat.
It should be noted that, in comparison, if this is what we are doing here today, photos from the convoy include the former Speaker, the member for Regina—Qu'Appelle; the member for Battlefords—Lloydminster; the member for Moose Jaw—Lake Centre—Lanigan; and the member for Saskatoon—Grasswood. In fact, the leader of the official opposition was in a photo with the member for Miramichi—Grand Lake and convoy supporters. This week, we will finally be tabling the final report on the Emergencies Act review, but it was the OPP that compiled a report on February 6, 2022, more than a week after the Conservative-supported convoy demonstrators first arrived in the national capital region, that became evidence to the public inquiry on the Emergencies Act.
The vexatious comments made by the member for Thornhill are trying to impugn the NDP for standing up and bearing witness to what was otherwise a very brief and beautiful act of what, perhaps, could be called civil disobedience there in the lobby, which will be borne out by whatever processes take place. However, a very quickly negotiated retreat happened well before most people would be coming and going from the building. I can say that I quite readily watched PPS escort many MPs in and out of that particular building.
As we can see, the accusations that we somehow organized this protest to intentionally disrupt or obstruct Conservative members from participating in Parliament are completely fabricated and misleading.
However, the Conservatives did not stop there. They could not help themselves from linking this protest to “mobs [that] target Jewish neighbourhoods, firebomb Jewish schools, obstruct synagogues and wreak havoc”. This is a shameful way to characterize Jewish people of this country in their civil disobedience to genocide. To characterize Jewish people in this way, in my estimation, is a form of anti-Semitism, and it is a disgusting allegation to make. To liken a group of Jewish protesters to anti-Semitic mobs is beneath contempt. Linking members of Parliament, by extension, to such disgusting acts itself can be considered a form of a prime facie breach of our privilege.
Those are my remarks. I am glad that I had an opportunity to finally put that on the record and clear the air on this particular matter.