Pablo Rodriguez

[Business of the House, September 23rd, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, that is correct.

[Business of the House, September 23rd, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, it is great to see all the colleagues here in this room.

There have been discussions among the parties, and if you seek it, you will find unanimous consent to adopt the following motion:

That, notwithstanding any standing order, special order or usual practice of the House, until Friday, December 11, 2020:

(a) members may participate in proceedings of the House either in person or by video conference;

(b) members who participate remotely in a sitting of the House are counted for the purpose of quorum;

(c) any reference in the Standing Orders to the need for members to rise or to be in their place, as well as any reference to the chair, the table or the chamber shall be interpreted in a manner consistent with the virtual nature of the proceedings;

(d) the application of Standing Order 17 shall be suspended;

(e) the application of Standing Order 62 shall be suspended for any member participating remotely;

(f) in Standing Orders 26(2), 53(4), 56.1(3) and 56.2(2), the reference to the number of members required to rise be replaced with the word “five”;

(g) documents may be laid before the House or presented to the House electronically, provided that:

(i) documents deposited pursuant to Standing Order 32(1) shall be deposited with the Clerk of the House electronically;

(ii) during Routine Proceedings, members who participate remotely may table documents or present petitions or reports to the House electronically, provided that the documents are transmitted to the Clerk prior to their intervention;

(iii) any petition presented pursuant to Standing Order 36(5) may be filed with the Clerk electronically;

(h) should the House resolve itself in a committee of the whole, the Chair may preside from the Speaker's chair;

(i) when a question that could lead to a recorded division is put to the House, in lieu of calling for the yeas and nays, one representative of a recognized party can rise to request a recorded vote;

(j) when a recorded division is requested in respect of a debatable motion, including any division arising as a consequence of the application of Standing Order 61(2) or Standing Order 78, but excluding any division in relation to motions relating to the Address in Reply to the Speech from the Throne or the business of supply occurring on the last supply day of a period, other than as provided in Standing Order 81(18)(b), or arising as a consequence of an order made pursuant to Standing Order 57:

(i) before 2 p.m. on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, it shall stand deferred until the conclusion of Oral Questions at that day's sitting, or;

(ii) after 2 p.m. on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, or at any time on a Friday, it shall stand deferred until the conclusion of Oral Questions at the next sitting day that is not a Friday, provided that, if a recorded division on the previous question is deferred and the motion is subsequently adopted, the recorded division on the original question shall not be deferred; provided that any extension of time pursuant to Standing Order 45(7)(1) shall not exceed 90 minutes;

(k) when a recorded division, which would have ordinarily been deemed deferred to immediately before the time provided for private members' business on a Wednesday governed by this order, is requested, the said division is deemed to have been deferred until the conclusion of Oral Questions on the same Wednesday;

(l) for greater certainty, this order shall not limit the application of Standing Order 45(7);

(m) when a recorded division is to be held, except recorded divisions deferred to the conclusion of Oral Questions, the bells to call in the members shall be sounded for not more than 30 minutes;

(n) recorded divisions shall take place by electronic means, provided that:

(i) the House Administration be directed to develop and test a secure remote voting application that would include a visual component to authenticate members’ identities and a notification to all members’ House-managed mobile devices,

(ii) until such time as a remote voting application is ready for use, recorded divisions shall take place in the usual way for members participating in person and by roll call for members participating by videoconference, provided that members participating by videoconference must have their camera on for the duration of the vote.

(iii) when testing on the remote voting application has been completed and feedback received from members, if the Speaker has received a notice from the House Leaders of all recognized parties in the House stating that they are satisfied that it is ready to be used, he shall so inform the House and, until Friday, December 11, 2020, all subsequent recorded divisions shall be taken using the remote voting application and be governed by the provisions in subparagraphs (iv) to (vii),

(iv) before a recorded division is held by remote voting application, the Speaker shall announce the period of time allotted for members to cast their vote electronically provided that, if two or more votes are to be held successively without intervening debate, members may vote on more than one question during the time allotted if these questions are not dependent on another motion or proceeding,

(v) thirty minutes shall be allotted for a maximum of 10 votes occurring using the remote voting application and when necessary, three minutes shall be allotted for each additional vote,

(vi) the result of each vote occurring using the remote voting application is announced at the end of the time provided for voting,

(vii) when the question is dependent on another motion or proceeding, the Speaker announces each result and ten minutes are allotted to vote using the remote voting application on each subsequent question necessary to dispose of the item,

(viii) in the event of technical issues with either electronic voting system, the Speaker be empowered to take all necessary steps to ensure the integrity of the voting process;

(o) during meetings of standing, special and legislative committees and the Liaison Committee, as well as their subcommittees, where applicable, members may participate either in person or by videoconference and witnesses shall participate remotely, except for the first meeting to elect a chair, which shall be held virtually, provided that priority use of House resources for meetings shall be established by an agreement of the whips and, for virtual or hybrid meetings, the following provisions shall apply:

(i) members who participate remotely shall be counted for the purpose of quorum,

(ii) except for those decided unanimously or “on division”, all questions shall be decided by a recorded vote,

(iii) when more than one motion is proposed for the election of a chair or a vice-chair of a committee, any motion received after the initial one shall be taken as a notice of motion and such motions shall be put to the committee seriatim until one is adopted,

(iv) public proceedings shall be made available to the public via the House of Commons website,

(v) in camera proceedings may be conducted in a manner that takes into account the potential risks to confidentiality inherent in meetings with remote participants,

(vi) notices of membership substitutions pursuant to Standing Order 114(2) and requests pursuant to Standing Order 106(4) may be filed with the clerk of each committee by email;

(p) the membership of the standing committees, other than the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, be constituted by each recognized party's whip depositing with the Clerk of the House the list of the members to serve on the committees no later than Tuesday, October 6, 2020, provided that the chief government whip shall name five members of the committees with a total membership of 11 and six members of the committees with a total membership of 12, the chief opposition whip shall name four members of each committee, the whip of the Bloc Québécois shall name one member of each committee, and the whip of the New Democratic party shall name one member of each committee;

(q) the House re-establish the Special Committee on Canada-China Relations, created on Tuesday, December 10, 2019, with the same mandate and provisions, provided that (i) the whips of recognized parties shall deposit with the Clerk of the House the list of the members to serve on the committee no later than Tuesday, October 6, 2020, and (ii) the evidence and documentation received by the Special Committee on Canada-China Relations during the First Session of the 43rd Parliament be referred to this committee and taken into consideration in this session; and

(r) the Clerk of the House shall convene organizational meetings of every committee whose membership is named under paragraph (p) and subparagraph (q)(i) no later than Monday, October 19, 2020, including, as necessary, during the period of adjournment beginning Friday, October 9, 2020, provided that the organizational meetings for the following committees shall be held no later than Friday, October 9, but no earlier than Thursday, October 8, 2020, and may be convened with 24 hours' notice: (i) the Standing Committee on Health, (ii) the Standing Committee on Finance, (iii) the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics, (iv) the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities, (v) the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food, (vi) the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development, (vii) the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates, (viii) the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security, and (ix) the Special Committee on Canada-China Relations.

[COVID-19 Pandemic and Other Matters, July 22nd, 2020]

Madam Chair, I would like to say to my colleague that all Quebeckers are included in the 37 million Canadians.

[COVID-19 Pandemic and Other Matters, July 22nd, 2020]

Madam Chair, the answer is no.

[COVID-19 Pandemic and Other Matters, July 22nd, 2020]

Madam Chair, we are wading into conspiracy theories. All kinds of plots are being suggested.

The government is here for one thing: to ensure the well-being, safety and health of Canadians, especially during a pandemic. We have put very strict measures in place to promote the health and safety of Canadians, but also to help all those who have lost their jobs, those who had to stay home to take care of someone who was sick, those were sick themselves. We will not apologize for taking action on behalf of Canadians, for Canadians.

[COVID-19 Pandemic and Other Matters, July 22nd, 2020]

Madam Chair, the government has always worked with the officers of Parliament, whether it is the Ethics Commissioner or any other officer. Throughout all of this, we remain focused on the priorities of the Government of Canada. The priority is to get through a pandemic. We are definitely still in a pandemic. It is not over. We must continue to help our families, our seniors, our children, persons with disabilities. That is what we are focusing on. The entire government is focusing on that.

[COVID-19 Pandemic and Other Matters, July 22nd, 2020]

Madam Chair, regarding the Prime Minister's work, it is important to point out everything he has done to ensure that our seniors can get financial support, that those who have lost their jobs can get the CERB, that our businesses can get the wage subsidy. That is where the Prime Minister and the government are focusing their efforts. We are meeting the needs of Canadians.

[COVID-19 Pandemic and Other Matters, July 22nd, 2020]

Madam Chair, the Bloc Québécois seems to be out of ideas.

Previously, Bloc members asked questions about soldiers and long-term care centres. We satisfied their expectations, so they did not ask any more questions about that. Then they asked questions about the emergency wage subsidy. We fixed that problem, so they do not have any more questions about it. Then they asked questions about seniors and people with disabilities. Once again, we did what was expected of us and more.

I think the Bloc members are asking those kinds of questions because they are out of ideas.

[COVID-19 Pandemic and Other Matters, July 22nd, 2020]

Madam Chair, I thank my colleague for her question.

It is our government's intention to bring Parliament back in its normal form as soon as possible. Obviously, we always take into consideration public health guidelines. If the guidelines indicate that we cannot all be here, we will find a way to vote remotely. That is what the government wants and I think that is what the NDP and the Bloc Québécois want, too.

Again, I wonder why the Conservatives will not agree to move in that direction even though that is the way to go if we want to conduct parliamentary business and vote remotely.

[Business of the House, July 21st, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, we convened the House to help people living with disabilities. We convened the House to help businesses via the wage subsidy. We convened the House to give the opposition a chance to ask questions about timely subjects such as what we are doing for seniors, children, families and people with disabilities. That is why we are here.

We were here yesterday, and we are here today. We will keep answering questions because we on this side are doing our job.