Pablo Rodriguez

[Photography in the House, May 13th, 2020]

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

That authorized photographers be permitted to take photos during the in-person proceedings of the Special Committee on the COVID-19 Pandemic, in accordance with the existing guidelines of the House.

[Business of the House, April 29th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to a motion adopted on Monday, April 20, I wish to state that there is an agreement among the representatives of all recognized parties to govern the proceedings in relation to Bill C-15.

Therefore, I move:

That, pursuant to the order adopted on April 20, 2020, Bill C-15, An Act respecting Canada emergency student benefits (coronavirus disease 2019), be disposed of as follows:

(a) the bill be ordered for consideration at second reading later this day;

(b) when the House begins debate on the motion for second reading of the bill, two members of each recognized party and a member of the Green Party may each speak to the said motion for not more than 20 minutes, followed by 10 minutes for questions and comments, provided that members may be permitted to split their time with another member; and, at the conclusion of the time provided for the debate or when no member rises to speak, whichever is earlier, all questions necessary to dispose of the second reading stage of the bill shall be put without further debate or amendment, provided that, if a recorded division is requested, it shall not be deferred; and

(c) if the bill is adopted at second reading, it shall be referred to a committee of the whole, deemed considered in committee of the whole, deemed reported without amendment, deemed concurred in at report stage on division, and deemed read a third time and passed on division.

[Business of the House, April 29th, 2020]

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

I move:

That, notwithstanding the order of Monday, April 20, 2020:

(a) the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food be added to the list of committees in paragraph (l) of the order adopted on Saturday, April 11, 2020;

(b) the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities be instructed to undertake a review of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit Act and that the Committee report its findings and recommendations to the House no later than June 30, 2021;

(c) the time provided for questioning ministers in the Special Committee on the COVID-19 Pandemic be extended to 95 minutes on Tuesdays and Thursdays in order to provide an additional five-minute round of questioning for the New Democratic Party caucus;

(d) the government implement new financial incentives and support measures to connect Canadians, particularly students and Canadian youth, to the various jobs available, for example, in the agriculture and agri-food sector, in order to ensure regional economic stability and food production during this crisis;

(e) the government ensure that the Canada Emergency Response Benefit and the Canada Emergency Student Benefit (CESB) are offered in a manner that meets their objective while encouraging employment in all circumstances;

(f) the government define the final parameters of CESB in regulations in the short term and that an additional support of $250 be provided for students with dependants or with disabilities, in addition to the $1750 that has already been announced; and

(g) the government implement measures without delay to provide additional support for seniors and persons with disabilities in order to assist with extraordinary expenses incurred as a result of COVID-19, and examine the best way to do this, including looking at Old Age Security and the Guaranteed Income Supplement as potential mechanisms.

[COVID-19 Pandemic, April 20th, 2020]

Madam Chair, the committees are working on the basis of what has been approved by all parties in different motions. Everybody is working extremely hard to be able to answer the questions of parliamentarians, and that is what the committees are doing now.

[COVID-19 Pandemic, April 20th, 2020]

Madam Chair, the health committee has met, I think, five times. The finance committee has met around five or six times also. Other committees are meeting. I know people in the House are working really hard. The people in the committees are working really hard. We have to find ways to make those committees work, and they are working: Members of the committee can ask questions, invite people and get answers. That is what they are doing.

[Committees of the House, April 20th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, in a perfect world, the House would be full of MPs. We would be operating normally, and all committees would be operating normally. That is not the case. This is not a normal situation, and that is why we have taken very responsible measures that enable us to meet here from time to time, to continue sitting virtually, to ensure that House committees can continue to function so that my fellow MPs can ask the Minister of Health, the Minister of Finance and a number of other ministers questions, and to ensure that all MPs can keep doing their work.

[Proceedings of the House and Committees, April 20th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, every time we come here, there are at least 50 people from the House coming at the same time. If we count the 30 or 40 MPs and the people working in the lobbies, that is over 100 people. I am not counting security, because I do not know how many there are, and we are not supposed to know. We are talking about dozens and dozens of people every day. If we sit one day, they are at risk. If we sit two days, we double the risk. That is why the responsible way is to look at a virtual Parliament and implement it as soon as possible.

[Proceedings of the House and Committees, April 20th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, I agree with my colleague that these are exceptional times, and exceptional times require exceptional measures.

I also agree with the fact that virtual sittings have become more and more important. That is why you and your team, Mr. Speaker, are working on this, and that is why PROC is working on this. We are getting to that solution whereby members from different parts of the country, members who play a fundamental role for their constituents, will be able to ask questions.

In an ideal world, we would be back here every day of the week, and there would be questions and answers back and forth, but this is not an ideal world. These are troubled times, historic times, when we have to find very different solutions, and this is what we are doing. This is why we are here today. This is why we will meet once a week physically. This is why we will have virtual sessions, to make sure that Parliament plays its role, but at the same time to take care of the health and security of all the people working in this place.

[Proceedings of the House and Committees, April 20th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, and I completely agree with him. These are extraordinary times.

This is an extremely difficult time for all Canadians and everyone around the world. Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. In an ideal world, we would all be here every weekday, debating as usual, but that is not the case. That is not our reality. The reality is quite different.

I also agree with the member that one day a week would be sufficient, as long as we add virtual sittings. That is why the motion stipulates that we will meet physically once this week. Next week, in addition to one physical sitting, we will also have one virtual sitting. Beginning the following week, we would add another virtual sitting, as the NDP has recommended. Thus, going forward, we would have one physical sitting and two virtual sittings each week.

I should acknowledge that this input came from the NDP, and I thank them for it. This is a government motion, but it reflects changes made by the NDP, the Bloc Québécois and the Conservative Party.

This goes to show how terribly important this extraordinary collaboration is during these extraordinary times.

[Proceedings of the House and Committees, April 20th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, of course the work done by PROC is extremely important, and I thank all members of that committee for their work. At the same time, I know that the member's team is also working on this. Of course, we will take into consideration the recommendations of the members of PROC, but in the meantime we want to make sure that the government is accountable and can answer in a very responsible way. The responsible way of doing this is by limiting the time we spend here and making sure there are other, virtual opportunities for the opposition to ask questions. This is exactly what we are doing.