Jay Hill

[Committees of the House, December 4th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, because there was no customary Thursday question, I did not get a chance to respond laying out business for the next week. There are a couple of items about which it is important to alert colleagues on both sides of the House.

I would like to designate Monday, December 7 as the day to complete the debate on the motion to concur in the eighth report of the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans.

[Provincial Choice Tax Framework Act, December 4th, 2009]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-62, An Act to amend the Excise Tax Act.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

[Disposition of an Act to amend the Excise Tax Act, December 3rd, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I wish to give notice that, with respect to the consideration of Government Business No. 8, at the next sitting, a minister of the Crown shall move, pursuant to Standing Order 57, that debate be not further adjourned.

[Disposition of an Act to amend the Excise Tax Act, December 3rd, 2009]

moved:

That, notwithstanding any Standing Order or usual practice of the House, a bill in the name of the Minister of Finance, entitled An Act to amend the Excise Tax Act, shall be disposed of as follows:

1. not more than one sitting day shall be allotted to the second reading stage of the bill and, 15 minutes before the expiry of the time provided for Government Orders on the day of the consideration of the said stage of the said bill, any proceedings before the House shall be interrupted, if required for the purpose of this Order and, in turn, every question necessary for the disposal of the said stage of the bill shall be put forthwith and successively, without further debate or amendment;

2. not more than four hours following the adoption of the second reading motion, any proceedings before the Committee to which the bill stands referred shall be interrupted, if required for the purpose of this Order, and in turn every question necessary for the disposal of the committee stage of the bill shall be put forthwith and successively without further debate or amendment; a representative of the Committee may report the bill to the House by depositing the said report with the Clerk of the House, whereupon it shall be deemed to have been duly presented to the House, provided that if the bill is not reported from the Committee by 11:00 p.m. on the day of the adoption of the second reading motion, the bill shall immediately be deemed to have been reported from the Committee without amendment; that for the sole purposes of this Order, the deadline for notice of report stage motions shall be 3:00 a.m. the day following the adoption of the second reading motion;

3. the bill may be taken up at report stage at the next sitting of the House following the notice deadline for the presentation of report stage motions, provided that a motion for third reading may be made immediately after the bill has been concurred in at report stage;

4. not more than one sitting day shall be allotted to the consideration at report stage and third reading stage of the bill and, 15 minutes before the expiry of the time provided for Government Orders on the day of the consideration of the said stages of the said bill, any proceedings before the House shall be interrupted, if required for the purpose of this Order, and in turn every question necessary for the disposal of the said stages of the bill shall be put forthwith and successively, without further debate or amendment;

5. should a recorded division be requested on any motion in relation to any stage of the bill and such a division is eligible to be deferred pursuant to Standing Order 45, the division may be deferred to a time not later than the end of Government Orders on the day that stage is under consideration and the operation of Standing Order 45(6) shall be suspended in relation to this bill; and

6. if the bill is not read a third time and passed by Friday, December 11, 2009, when the House adjourns on Friday, December 11, 2009, it shall stand adjourned until Saturday, December 12, 2009, at 10:00 a.m.; commencing on December 12, 2009, and concluding on the day on which a motion that the House stands adjourned pursuant to this Order is adopted the hours of sitting, the Order of Business of the House and the provisions of Standing Order 54 shall be those provided in the Standing Orders for a Tuesday; at any time on or after December 12, 2009, a Minister of the Crown may propose, without notice, a motion that, upon adjournment on the day on which the said motion is proposed, the House shall stand adjourned until Monday, January 25, 2010; the said motion shall immediately be deemed to have been adopted provided that for the purposes of Standing Order 81(10)(c), the House shall be deemed to have been adjourned on December 11, 2009, and provided that, during the adjournment, for the purposes of any other Standing Order, the House shall be deemed to stand adjourned pursuant to Standing Order 28.

[Points of Order, December 3rd, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I will be very brief, unlike my colleague from across the way. As you well know, in connection with the procedure to bring forward government Motion No. 8, all the necessary procedures have been followed. I would point out for my hon. colleague, in all seriousness, that if he is looking for evidence of dilatory tactics by a very small political party in this place trying to hold up the necessary work of government in order to respect the provincial jurisdiction of the provinces' right to address taxation issues in their individual provinces, he need look no further than the tactics of his own party today.

In following all the necessary procedures, the government did put on the order paper the fact that we would to call the ways and means motion and then we wanted to go to debate on Government Motion No. 8, fully expecting the New Democratic Party, because there is nothing democratic about that party, to try to obstruct the work of Parliament. That is exactly what has transpired here today.

Because the New Democrats saw on the order paper the intentions of the government to move forward with the HST, because their opposition to that is well known, they have tried every possible dilatory procedure and tactic throughout today. Their consecutive points of order, their bogus questions of privilege are very transparent. We can see what they are up to. Canadians viewing this at home can see what they are up to.

I would end by again reiterating that all the necessary procedures have been followed and there is no further evidence necessary to the Chair, I believe, of the tactics that the NDP will stoop to than what we have already witnessed for several hours here today.

[Ways and Means, December 3rd, 2009]

moved that a ways and means motion to amend the Excise Tax Act, be concurred in.

[Fairness for the Self-Employed Act, December 2nd, 2009]

moved that the bill be read a third time and passed.

[Fairness for the Self-Employed Act, December 2nd, 2009]

moved that the bill, as amended, be concurred in.

[Point of Order, December 2nd, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, as you know, this is not actually a point of order, but I do welcome the opportunity to also congratulate the Minister of Labour and indeed all members of Parliament, perhaps with the exception of a few.

I think we all know the parties that were actively involved in trying to ensure that the back-to-work legislation that was introduced in this House and that I intended to call later today is now unnecessary.

I think that is great news for the country. I congratulate both sides of this dispute for coming to this common sense resolution so that we did not have to occupy the time of the House and the time of members from all parties in a debate in this place.

It would be my intention following routine proceedings to call Bill C-56 for debate this afternoon.

[Point of Order, December 2nd, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, if the member would check the Journals of yesterday, under the heading, Returns and Reports Deposited with the Clerk of the House, there is an entry that reads:

— by...(Minister of Finance) — Document entitled “Canada's Economic Action Plan — A Fourth Report to Canadians”, pursuant to Order made Tuesday, February 3, 2009. — Sessional Paper No. 8525-402-35.

The report was tabled with the clerk at 5:20 p.m. yesterday. The Prime Minister made his statement today at 5:50 a.m. Ottawa time. That is more than 12 hours after the report was tabled with the House.

As a courtesy, the Minister of Finance also sent an email around to all members of Parliament's offices with the document attached early this morning. Obviously, there is no contempt here.