Mr. Speaker, the hypocrisy from the leader of the official opposition is a bit rich. As you know, in virtual Parliament, we have the right to vote remotely and come in for a second vote. That is indeed what has happened in this case.
House of Commons photoLost his last election, in 2025, with 32% of the vote.
Business of Supply December 9th, 2024
Mr. Speaker, the hypocrisy from the leader of the official opposition is a bit rich. As you know, in virtual Parliament, we have the right to vote remotely and come in for a second vote. That is indeed what has happened in this case.
Business of Supply December 9th, 2024
Mr. Speaker, that is very rich coming from the Leader of the Opposition, who has left the House during his own motions on opposition days and refused to vote. As we know, it is proper—
Business of Supply December 9th, 2024
Mr. Speaker, the problem is that the Conservatives did this in the first place. They imposed the GST on new homes. Now Conservatives are saying they made a mistake. The NDP certainly agrees. The Conservatives have made a hell of a lot of mistakes; this is only one of so many they have made.
The fact that a number of amendments have been moved in good faith by a number of parties, including the Bloc and the NDP, and not a single Conservative proposer or House leader, deputy House leader, whip or deputy whip has been in the House shows how seriously Conservatives take the motion before us today.
Business of Supply December 9th, 2024
Madam Speaker, I am just repeating your words, which were in order, which is why I am going to be proposing the motion.
However, the fact that the Conservatives imposed the GST on new homes and now they are proposing to take it off is a bit passing strange. The Conservatives have never apologized for doing that, neither have they apologized for refusing to support what the NDP has been pushing, which is taking the GST off family essentials, telecom, home heating and all of those things. Conservatives say they are concerned about the cost of living, but aside from 12 words they use in their multiple slogans, they have not shown sincerity in any of these cases and in actually doing something that would help people.
Of course with the NDP, Conservative constituents have gotten dental care, and they are getting pharmacare, anti-scab legislation and affordable housing. The NDP has proposed, and Conservatives will be voting on it shortly, to ensure that the GST be taken off family essentials. The NDP wants to make it permanent, and the Conservatives will be judged on how they vote.
Without further ado, I would like to amend the motion in the following way, seconded by the terrific member for London—Fanshawe. I move that the motion be amended by replacing the word “homes” with the words “principal residences”.
I am moving this amendment because this motion is unclear. It should specify whether it applies to housing or to homes. The French version is not clear.
Business of Supply December 9th, 2024
Madam Speaker, I found it sad that the amendment was not able to be proposed. I will be proposing another one in two minutes. I would expect the House leader, the deputy House leader, the whip or the deputy whip of the Conservative Party to be here. If they take this motion seriously, that is how—
Business of Supply December 9th, 2024
Madam Speaker, since I only have a few minutes of speaking time, I will start by saying that the Conservative Party, which imposed the GST on new homes, is now proposing to eliminate the GST that the party itself imposed. It just goes to show how insincere the Conservatives are on this issue.
It should also be said that the mover of the motion is not present in the House right now, so the amendment just moved by the Bloc Québécois could not be moved. I, of course—
Privilege December 9th, 2024
Actually, Mr. Speaker, I will be rising tomorrow on the question of privilege.
You will recall that on Friday, the Conservatives took over an hour and a half on this question of privilege with false allegations. We want to ensure that we have the time to respond. False allegations were levelled against a number of our members, so we want to set the record straight. There is no doubt that the question of privilege, which I believe is frivolous, requires a more in-depth response.
Unlike the Conservatives, who tried in a very childish way to disrupt the speech of our leader on Friday, our opposition day, I want to assure members that we will allow the full speaking spot for the Conservatives today on their opposition day, a courtesy they did not extend to us. We believe, in Parliament, that one party needs to step up and be adults. The Conservatives clearly did not do that on Friday. They were childish and disruptive, and we intend to respond to the frivolous question of privilege tomorrow.
We thank you for hearing the interventions today.
Privilege December 6th, 2024
Mr. Speaker, this is debate.
Privilege December 6th, 2024
Mr. Speaker, again, this is debate. I say this with due respect.
I do understand that Conservatives do not read the Standing Orders. They have not read the procedural bible. They love to cause mayhem, but this is not directly—
Privilege December 6th, 2024
Mr. Speaker, this is not speaking directly to the question of privilege or prima facie. This is involving other programs. This would be perfectly reasonable to bring up, if and when you rule on this, in speeches. It is not appropriate at this time when you are hearing the question of privilege. Conservatives do not seem to understand the rules. You can imagine if—