Order Respecting the Business of the House and its Committees  Mr. Speaker, on a point of order, I think my hon. colleague from Kingston and the Islands was in the middle of drawing attention to the absence of a member from the House—

Order Respecting the Business of the House and its Committees  —and now this member, who claims that Conservatives are disrespectful and will not follow the rules of decorum, is heckling in the middle of my comments. I just wonder if he could find a way to follow the rules and show the class that I know he can show, because I have seen it in the past, although not today.

Order Respecting the Business of the House and its Committees  Mr. Speaker, it is good to see my next-door neighbour back in the House of Commons. My next-door neighbour gave a long list of ways in which my party and all the people on the Conservative side of the House have not been taking the pandemic seriously. I will not go through his long list again, but he mentioned mask wearing.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, I actually do not have a large population of francophones in my riding. It is a perpetual problem trying to keep up my French because I do not get the chance to speak it daily. Lately, I have taken to listening only to music with French lyrics as a way of helping myself not lose too much, which is a very enjoyable way of maintaining one's language.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, I always write very long speeches, which could not possibly be given in the time allowed. My self-editing cut out a considerable amount of material. With regard to the issue of dealing with this within the framework of the Constitution. if we look at Canada's constitutional history, some of the leading figures, some of the most distinguished and thoughtful figures, were francophone Lower Canadians.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, I will start by finishing the last sentence of my speech, which was the only sentence I did not manage to get in. On these questions, it seems to me the answer is yes and therefore that is how I will be voting. To answer my colleague's question, it is not up to us as members from ridings outside Quebec to determine what measures are required to make Quebeckers happy and to make them equal partners in Canada.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, practice makes perfect. The motion that is before us today has two parts. The first part says this, and I quote: That the House agree that section 45 of the Constitution Act, 1982, grants Quebec and the provinces exclusive jurisdiction to amend their respective constitutions...

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, the only way to get past the problem of remembering my riding name is for me to be appointed to some senior position, perhaps such as House leader. I hope my leader is listening right now. I would like to say to my colleague, the hon. member who just spoke, that I agree with every one of the comments he made in the first part of his commentary referring to the narrow and symbolic scope of the motion.

Canada Elections Act  Madam Speaker, the member for Kingston and the Islands has said, somewhat disingenuously, that there is a sunset clause in the bill, in section 11. What section 11(2) actually says is that when the Chief Electoral Officer consults with the Chief Public Health Officer, currently Dr.

Fisheries Act  Madam Speaker, I am just very worried that the way this is working out, the member for Lac-Saint-Louis will have his list of enumerated questions and there will be no time for the member to respond. That would be unfair, so I ask you to exercise a bit of discretion.

Standing Orders of the House  Madam Speaker, I will be very brief. I support Motion No. 38, and my commitment remains intact to the emerging convention of all-party consensus with regard to any changes that could have the potential to affect power relations between the government party and other parties.

Standing Orders of the House  Madam Speaker, I want to start by offering congratulations to my colleague, my hon. friend the deputy House leader, for putting forward Motion No. 38. She occupies the post of deputy House leader, which I occupied for the nine-year period between 2006 and 2015. Today, I will be drawing a little upon that experience in my comments.

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I am presenting a petition on the situation in Tigray. Since some of that material has been covered before, I will just mention a few relevant facts. The war crimes that are purported to have occurred in that region include indiscriminate shelling of civilian towns and villages, extrajudicial killings, at least one large-scale massacre, looting and sexual violence.

Canada Elections Act  Madam Speaker, through you, I want to say how good it is to see the minister looking as robust as he does. It is a real pleasure to have him back in full fighting form. Parliament as a whole, and the government, can certainly use his services as I believe he is the longest-serving parliamentarian in cabinet.

Religious Freedom  Mr Speaker, yesterday’s anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz is iconic in the struggle against anti-Semitism. Tomorrow is the fourth anniversary of the shooting at the Centre Culturel Islamique de Québec, equally iconic of our opposition to Islamophobia. The two hatreds are two sides of the same coin.