Mark Holland

[Business of the House, December 16th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, there have been discussions among the parties and if you seek it, I think you will find unanimous consent to adopt the following motion:

That, notwithstanding any Standing Order, special order or usual practice of the House, Bill C-3, an act to amend the Criminal Code and the Canada Labour Code be disposed of as follows:

1. the bill, as amended, be deemed to have been concurred at the report stage with the further amendments contained in the document tabled earlier today;

2. the bill be immediately considered at third reading stage;

3. when the bill is taken up at third reading stage, a member of each recognized party be allowed to speak for not more than 10 minutes each followed by five minutes for questions and comments and, at the conclusion of the time provided for debate or when no member rises to speak, whichever is earlier, the bill shall be deemed read a third time and passed;

4. the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel be authorized to make any technical changes or corrections to the bill as may be necessary to give effect to this motion; and

5. after the completion of proceedings on the bill, the House shall stand adjourned until Monday, January 31, 2022, provided that, for the purposes of any Standing Order, it shall be deemed to have been adjourned pursuant to Standing Order 28 and be deemed to have sat on Friday, December 17, 2021.

[Business of the House, December 16th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. opposition colleague for his comments. I absolutely join him in thanking everyone who works here.

It is an extraordinarily difficult thing, particularly during a pandemic, to provide the support we have seen. I want to take this opportunity to thank the Clerk of the House, Mr. Charles Robert, his wonderful team of clerks, every branch of service in the administration of the House of Commons, including the Parliamentary Protective Service, and the pages, who help us so much in our work, particularly during these challenging times.

Mr. Speaker, I also want to wish you and your family, and indeed all members, a very merry Christmas, happy holiday and happy new year. I hope that all members are able to spend time with their families and are both safe and healthy in these very challenging times.

I think we have demonstrated over the last four weeks, with my hon. counterparts from the Conservatives, the Bloc Québécois and the New Democrats, a wonderful spirit of co-operation. We have been able to get a lot done on behalf of Canadians. I want to thank them, and through them I thank their caucuses for a very productive last four weeks.

This afternoon, we will continue our work on Bill C-2, an act to provide further support in response to COVID-19, and Bill C-3, which would provide workers in federally regulated sectors with 10 days of paid sick leave and make it an offence to intimidate or prevent patients from seeking care.

I will advise that in February, the government will propose a take-note debate on Saskatchewan's proposed constitutional amendment. I would also like to table, in both official languages, an amendment to Bill C-3, an act to amend the Criminal Code and the Canada Labour Code.

Finally, there have been discussions among the parties, and I believe if you seek it, you will find unanimous consent to adopt the following motion. I move:

That, notwithstanding any Standing Order, special order or usual practice of the House, Bill C-2, An Act to provide further support in response to COVID-19, as amended, be deemed concurred in at the report stage, that the motion for third reading of the bill be deemed moved and seconded and that the House proceed immediately to a recorded division on the motion for third reading.

[Indigenous Affairs, December 16th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, this problem was created on our side. I offer a sincere apology to the House. We will endeavour to ensure that all members have their appropriate headsets. I apologize that we caused this disruption.

[Veterans Affairs, December 16th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we understand the importance of our veterans, who need help. It is unfortunate that there were significant cuts to services.

I will say that what was done to our veterans was absolutely unacceptable. We are going to be there for our veterans every step of the way, making sure that we restore those cuts and support them.

[Veterans Affairs, December 16th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House we know how important it is to invest in veterans. That is why we reversed the cuts that we saw in veterans officers right across this country, as we watched the essential services that veterans were getting be cut—

[Government Business No. 4—An Act to Provide Further Support in Response to COVID-19, December 16th, 2021]

moved:

That, notwithstanding any standing order, special order or usual practice of the House, Bill C-2, An Act to provide further support in response to COVID-19, shall be disposed as follows: (a) the bill be deemed concurred in at report stage without further amendment immediately after the adoption of this order; (b) a motion for third reading may be made immediately after the bill has been concurred in at report stage; (c) when the bill is taken up at the third reading stage, a member of each recognized party and a member of the Green Party each be allowed to speak for not more than 10 minutes followed by five minutes for questions and comments and, at the conclusion of the time provided for debate or when no member rises to speak, whichever is earlier, all questions necessary for the disposal of the third reading stage of the bill shall be put forthwith and successively, without further debate or amendment provided that, if a recorded division is requested on any motion, it shall not be deferred; and (d) the House shall not adjourn until the proceedings on the bill have been completed, except pursuant to a motion proposed by a minister of the Crown, provided that once proceedings have been completed, the House may then proceed to consider other business or, if it has already passed the ordinary hour of daily adjournment, the House shall adjourn to the next sitting day.

[Ethics, December 14th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I am ready to continue. Hopefully we will get a question about the business of this nation.

[Ethics, December 14th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, there are various places that we can spread allegations to see whether or not there is any truth to them. I would suggest that instead of using the privilege in this place to explore conspiracy theories, the member use the processes that are available to verify whether or not there is anything—

[Public Services and Procurement, December 14th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, the House has a lot of extraordinarily important matters in front of it. The question that has been posed by the member opposite, in my opinion, does not really have to do with the business of either this nation or this Parliament. If he wants to play politics and games, the space is right over there.

[Regional Economic Development, December 13th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I think it is an extremely important question. We will take it back and get back to the member.