Mark Holland

[Criminal Code, June 9th, 2022]

moved:

That in relation to Bill C-5, An Act to amend the Criminal Code and the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, not more than five further hours shall be allotted to the consideration of the report stage and not more than one sitting day shall be allotted to the consideration of the third reading stage of the said bill; and

That, at the expiry of the five hours provided for the consideration at report stage and fifteen minutes before the expiry of the time provided for Government Orders on the day allotted to the consideration at the third reading 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 then under consideration shall be put forthwith and successively without further debate or amendment.

[Certificates of Nomination, June 8th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to 53(1) of the Privacy Act and Standing Order 111.1, I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the certificate of nomination and biographical notes for the proposed appointment of Philippe Dufresne to the position of Privacy Commissioner for a term of seven years.

I request that the nomination and biographical notes be referred to the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics.

[Business of the House, June 7th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, I request that the ordinary hour of daily adjournment of the June 8 and June 9 sittings be 12 midnight, pursuant to order made on Monday, May 2.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2022, No. 1, June 6th, 2022]

moved:

That in relation to Bill C-19, an Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on April 7, 2022 and other measures, not more than one further sitting day shall be allotted to the consideration of the report stage and not more than one sitting day shall be allotted to the consideration of the third reading stage of the said bill; and

That fifteen minutes before the expiry of the time provided for Government Orders on the day allotted to the consideration at report stage and on the day allotted to the consideration at the third reading 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 stage of the bill then under consideration shall be put forthwith and successively without further debate or amendment.

[Standing Orders and Procedure of the House and Its Committees, June 2nd, 2022]

moved:

That this House take note of the Standing Orders and the procedure of the House and its committees.

[Business of the House, June 2nd, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, let me join my colleague opposite in welcoming you in your return to the role of Speaker. It is wonderful to see you there. I almost cannot see you because of the monument. I guess it is an homage to Fenway Park. It is our own green monster that has been constructed in this chamber. I can kind of see your head over it. It is wonderful to see you back in this place and in such fine form and good health. Welcome back.

Tomorrow morning, we will begin debate on Bill C-19, the budget legislation, which was reported back to the House from the finance committee yesterday. I want to take the opportunity to thank all members for their hard work on getting it back so quickly. Tomorrow afternoon, we will commence second reading debate of Bill C-21, the firearms legislation. Our priorities for next week will be report stage and third reading of the budget bill, and Bill C-5 regarding mandatory minimum sentences. Finally, I would like to inform the House that Tuesday, June 7 shall be an allotted day.

[Government Policies, June 2nd, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, let us talk about some of the things we do not do. What we do not do is use parliamentary secretaries in committee to control committees and not allow members to ask questions. That is what the members on the opposite side did. They frustrated committees and used parliamentary secretaries to shut down debate and not allow democratic processes to work. It was command and control all the time, 24-7.

Instead, what we have said, and again this line of questioning confuses me, is that if they want to look at documents, we have offered not only one but two separate processes. They have an opportunity to challenge redactions to make them public.

They do not get to decide what goes public. We do not get to decide what goes public. National security needs to be independently protected.

[Access to Information, June 2nd, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, that brings me to the question of these documents. Again, not only can they see the documents, but we said that if they want to challenge the redactions, they can do so to an independent panel of jurists, who will make a decision on what can be made public. Yes, they can look at them. Yes, they can challenge the redactions if they want them to be public. Excuse me for being confused as to why they are getting upset when I am saying yes, they can.

Come and look at the documents; they are available. There is a process they can participate in. Other parliamentarians are participating in it. I think they are confusing themselves with the previous government.

[Access to Information, June 2nd, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, I was in the opposition when Stephen Harper was the prime minister. I recall an over 200-page handbook on how to frustrate committees, shut down the House and obstruct process. I find it—

[Access to Information, June 2nd, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, we have a different definition of “blocking”. The truth is that the opposition Conservatives asked to look at these documents and were given the opportunity at NSICOP, but they did not want to take the opportunity, which is fine. We provided another mechanism that was based on the same mechanism they used for Afghan detainees. It was a system Mr. Harper and many of those in his caucus then, who are here today, thought was a good system. We agreed; we offered it.

I would ask the member opposite why he is refusing to look at these documents. It is a very bizarre thing to stand up and demand to look at something we are trying to show him.