Debates of Sept. 26th, 2024

Opposition Motion—Confidence in the Government

[Leah Taylor Roy, Liberal, Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON]

Madam Speaker, I understand what the member opposite is saying.

I understand the Bloc Québécois strategy. It makes sense, even though I do not fully agree with it.

What does my colleague think of the Conservatives' strategy? They have already moved a non-confidence motion to bring down the government. That is clearly not the plan of the opposition parties. Why are the Conservatives using government time and resources to repeat this strategy?

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Carol Hughes]

I want to remind members that unless they have the floor, they should not be speaking. It is something that we have been trying to reinforce here in the House, and it seems to be very difficult. I just want to remind members that if they wish to have the floor, then they should try to be recognized.

The hon. member for Saint‑Jean.

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Madam Speaker, there is an expression that has been wrongly attributed to Albert Einstein and that says insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. I will leave it at that.

I can see that the only thing the Conservative Party wants to do is replace another government. To us, that is not a winning solution in Quebec. Ultimately, it is six of one and half a dozen of the other. When I hear that replacing the government with the Conservatives is what Quebec wants, I would say that is what the Quebec premier wants and he has painted himself into a corner. This is what Premier Legault wants. When we see what is happening in Quebec, there is anything but a consensus.

That is why we are saying that in the meantime, the Bloc Québécois is here to make gains. Then we shall see. I look forward to hearing the Conservatives explain their election platform. If they actually have more than slogans—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Carol Hughes]

That is all the time we have.

The hon. member for Edmonton Strathcona.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for her speech today in the House, because despite the ridiculous motions that the Conservatives keep bringing forward, she has taken this moment to speak about issues that are important to Canadians. The member spoke about seniors and the support that we want to be giving to seniors.

For a very long time, New Democrats, like the Bloc, have been calling for the Liberal government to fix the problems, where they were not providing the same support with OAS to seniors from 65 to 74. I listened to the Liberals talk about how they had made a promise to fix OAS, but then when it came down to it, they skipped the 65 to 74 age category, which is super unfair. It does not cost seniors in that age category less.

Could the member explain why the Liberal government has made this choice, or—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Carol Hughes]

I did ask for a brief question, and that was not quite brief.

I will ask for a brief response.

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

I do not know why the Liberals decided to try and justify this inequity, but the numbers speak for themselves. Seniors are no better off in one broad category than in another. The cost of living is the same. I thank my colleague and her party for their support on Bill C-319. I hope this will be part of the discussions we will be having around October 29, if this injustice is not corrected.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure for me to split my time today with the incredible member for Timmins—James Bay.

Here we are again in the House of Commons debating one of the Conservatives' ridiculous motions that they bring forward time and time again. There are Canadians who are struggling to put food on the table, who are struggling to pay their rent or buy their first home and who are struggling in our country. Imagine what it must feel like for them to see the gamesmanship, the ridiculousness and the baffling behaviour of the Conservatives.

On Tuesday, we had a debate just like this, and every single member of this House, except the Conservative members, voted non-confidence in the leader of the official opposition. We are doing it again. We will just keep doing it because the Conservatives seem to have no ideas, no suggestions, and no policies to bring forward to help Canadians. They want to have bumper stickers and slogans, and they want to waste our time in the House, when we really should be debating important legislation that could help Canadians right now.

I also want to point out the Conservatives are deeply unserious and they are misleading Canadians. I do not say this lightly: They are a danger to our democracy. They will not speak with media. I do not know if everybody knows, but they will not speak to the CBC and now they will not speak to CTV. Clearly, they do not recognize that media plays an important role in any democracy. Media is allowed to ask questions of the opposition, questions that they clearly do not want to answer. They would rather have their YouTube videos and their 30-second slots where they do not actually have to answer any difficult questions.

What is the Conservatives' actual policy? Do they believe in climate change? Are they homophobic? Are they anti-women? Will they take away women's rights to reproductive health? They do not want to answer those questions.

The member for Peace River—Westlock has come to this House and talked about the fact that he would take away rights for gay marriage and he would take away rights for women. Yesterday, we saw a disgusting display of homophobia from the member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan. That it is horrendous and he should be ashamed—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Carol Hughes]

I just want to remind hon. members to please be careful on how they are referencing events that have happened in the House. There was no decision made on that. The point of order was raised, nobody was identified. The response is forthcoming. I just want to remind members to please be careful. Again, on the personal attacks, I would rather individuals focus on the legislation itself.

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

Madam Speaker, on a point of order, I have seen a lot of degrading elements in the history of my time here, but I have never seen anything as ugly as what happened yesterday. The Speaker heard the anti-gay slur from the member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan. It is on the tape. I have heard the tape.

Is the Speaker telling us—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Carol Hughes]

Sorry, I will cut the hon. member off.

As I have said, the Speaker did indicate he did not hear exactly who said it. He did hear the comment. Again, this is now becoming a debate on that particular situation that occurred. I think the debate should be on the motion.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Carol Hughes]

I mentioned a while ago that if members continue to heckle and they are not respecting the will of the Chair, I will not be recognizing them for questions and debate. I would ask members to please hold off on their comments and questions until they are recognized.

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

Madam Speaker, on a point of order, I appreciate the effort that you are making today. We are seeing aspersions and, quite frankly, lies coming from the other side, or misleading—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Carol Hughes]

Even “misleading” is becoming problematic. It is how we use the word. Therefore, I would ask the member to raise the point of order that he wants to raise and not make personal attacks.

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

Madam Speaker, you are doing yeoman service in the chair today. You are doing your very best to try to quell some of the activity that is going on in the House, and I applaud you for that.

Time and again, what we are seeing, from both the leader from the Liberals and in this speech, is a threat to democracy. I do not believe those comments are parliamentary; they should not be entered into the record.

I ask that you ask the hon. colleague who is speaking right now and the member for Timmins—James Bay to retract their comments.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Carol Hughes]

Again, before I go on, I want to say that what has been happening in the House has related to most of the parties. It is time for members to be judicious and think twice before they speak. Please be respectful to one another. All members in the House are honourable.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Madam Speaker, on the same point of order, and for the Chair's consideration, there is video evidence now of the member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, and there could be—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Carol Hughes]

This is becoming a different debate. If hon. members want to rise and add to the other point of order, then that is a separate issue. Again, we should stick to the motion. As I said, the Speaker will be coming forth with a response on that. Everybody heard what the Speaker said yesterday, so I do not want to go on to that.

I have one more point of order from the hon. member for Timmins—James Bay.

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

Madam Speaker, the member for Cariboo—Prince George said that I lied. Is that okay, or will you ask him to retract that? I actually did hear the tape, so I know it was said. He sat beside the person who said it. Are you going to ask him to retract the word “lie”?

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Carol Hughes]

I will get back to that in a minute.

The hon. member for Edmonton Griesbach.

[Blake Desjarlais, NDP, Edmonton Griesbach, AB]

Madam Speaker, Conservative members in this chamber are saying that members of the New Democratic Party are lying, when it is clear that the member for Edmonton Strathcona simply stated a series of facts that took place yesterday. I know those are facts because we all heard what was said in this chamber. I appreciate that the Speaker's office is now considering this, and we expect a quick and judicious response to what is extreme cowardice from the members on that side of the House, who cannot admit—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Carol Hughes]

This is starting to snowball. As I indicated to members, there is a decision forthcoming.

First, I am going to ask the member for Edmonton Strathcona to withdraw her comment about the member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Madam Speaker, can you repeat that? You want me to withdraw the comment that the member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan said something—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Carol Hughes]

I would ask her to please withdraw her reference to the member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan.