43rd PARLIAMENT, 2nd SESSION House of Commons Debates Official Report (Hansard) Volume 150 No. 003 Friday, September 25, 2020 Speaker: The Honourable Anthony Rota CONTENTS (Table of Contents appears at back of this issue.) 105 HOUSE OF COMMONS Friday, September 25, 2020 The House met at 10 a.m. Another of your predecessors, the hon. member for Regina— Qu'Appelle, who we know well, also made a similar ruling on Oc‐ tober 17, 2013, at page 66 of the Debates of the House of Com‐ mons. The same circumstances exist as in previous cases and it is Prayer appropriate to raise a prima facie question of privilege. ● (1005) If you agree, Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to move the appropriate [Translation] motion. PRIVILEGE The Speaker: I thank the member for Louis-Saint-Laurent. I will take the matter into consideration and advise the House if neces‐ ALLEGED PREMATURE DISCLOSURE OF CONTENTS OF BILL C-7 sary. Mr. Gérard Deltell (Louis-Saint-Laurent, CPC): Mr. Speaker, I [English] rise today on a question of privilege concerning the disclosure of Bill C-7, an act to amend the Criminal Code regarding medical as‐ sistance in dying, which was introduced in the previous session. SPEECH FROM THE THRONE In the interest of time, my hon. colleague, the member for Fundy Royal, raised this question of privilege on February 25. I would di‐ [Translation] rect you to the arguments presented at pages 1518 and 1519 of the Debates. RESUMPTION OF DEBATE ON ADDRESS IN REPLY Mr. Speaker, on March 10, you concluded that there was a prima The House resumed from September 24 consideration of the mo‐ facie breach of privilege, and the House adopted the member's mo‐ tion for an address to Her Excellency the Governor General in reply tion to refer the matter to the Standing Committee on Procedure to her speech at the opening of the session, of the amendment and and House Affairs. of the amendment to the amendment. On March 12, the committee agreed to suggest dates for inviting Mr. Gabriel Ste-Marie (Joliette, BQ): Mr. Speaker, I would like the Clerk and the law clerk to appear so that it could begin studying to inform you that I will be sharing my time with my whip, the hon. the matter. The next day, the House adjourned because of the pan‐ member for Salaberry—Suroît, because she told me to. Of course, I demic. This meant that the committee never had a chance to get am kidding. I am pleased to be sharing my time with her. back to its order of reference because of the various Liberal mo‐ tions prohibiting virtual meetings on this subject. The Prime Minis‐ On August 18, in the midst of a pandemic, the Prime Minister ter then decided to shut down Parliament, ending the study before it decided to prorogue Parliament for five weeks even though we ur‐ had even started. gently needed to study and adopt bills to implement all the support programs and even though committees were meeting and working I am asking you to find another prima facie breach of privilege hard. He did that in the midst of the pandemic in an attempt to so that the House can once again examine the issue and, if it so de‐ make people forget his scandals. sires, send it to the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs. There are previous rulings in which a prima facie breach of The government sought exceptional powers and drastically re‐ privilege was found when prorogation put an end to an order of ref‐ duced the House's role in order to respond to this historic pandem‐ erence on a question of privilege before a committee was able to re‐ ic. Even as the government was managing unprecedentedly enor‐ port to the House on it. More specifically, I would refer you to the mous programs, the Prime Minister proved that he cannot be trust‐ ruling made by Mr. Speaker Milliken on February 6, 2004, at page ed. The WE scandal showed that he chose to favour his friends. The 243 of the Debates of the House of Commons, when he said that, same thing happened in a scandal involving the chief of staff's for the same reasons that he gave in a ruling he made in the previ‐ spouse. It happened again with the Canada emergency wage sub‐ ous session, the question remained a prima facie breach of privi‐ sidy: the Liberal Party chose to take advantage of the subsidy even lege. He then gave the member leave to move his motion. though the law does not say it is available to political parties. 106 COMMONS DEBATES September 25, 2020 The Address We will not stop digging and poking around, since the pandemic Ottawa, meaning this government and those that have held power has revealed the Liberal Party's true nature, which has not changed in the past 25 years, is directly responsible for our health system's since the sponsorship scandal. The Liberals' true nature is to govern precarious situation and its lack of resources to manage the pan‐ while putting their own interests and their friends' interests first, demic. which is a far cry from exemplary practices. Ethics rules appear im‐ ● (1010) material to them, as long as they can apologize after the fact. I real‐ ly think this accurately reflects the history of the federal govern‐ The Prime Minister, acting straight out of a last-century British ment since the beginning of Confederation. The more things imperialism playbook, is blaming the provinces for their manage‐ change, the more they stay the same. ment of the pandemic. He wants to run things himself, even though he knows nothing about it, and then he announces wanting to bring This brings me to the throne speech delivered two days ago by in criminal penalties. All of this, when he was the one who perpetu‐ the Queen's representative, a throwback to the Middle Ages and the ated the problem by failing to adequately fund health care. Unbe‐ rituals Canada just cannot seem to let go of. The speech included lievable. absolutely nothing that justified proroguing Parliament for over a month in the middle of a crisis. Instead, we just heard more about The Bloc Québécois wants this government, and especially the the same things that had been introduced in the spring. Prime Minister, to stop trying to lecture us. He needs to stop trying to be a know-it-all, meddling in others' jurisdictions, and has to Let us not forget the Prime Minister's decision to go on TV that start doing his job and adequately fund health care. He needs to night, taking over prime time airwaves, only to summarize what stop putting his party and his friends ahead of the public good as he was in the speech, and just to maximize his media presence. His ad‐ manages the crisis by ensuring that his government programs are dress confirmed our suspicions: It was absolutely unnecessary, but run ethically and above reproach. it did a heck of a good job on boosting his image. Basically, it was grandstanding and electioneering at its finest. Interestingly enough, La Presse pointed out on Wednesday that intergouvernementalisations has now replaced anticonstitution‐ To come back to the Speech from the Throne, the Bloc nellement as the longest word in the French language. This is a Québécois was calling for an increase in health transfers and re‐ contested topic. The adverb, meaning “unconstitutionally”, unfortu‐ spect for jurisdictions. That is what the National Assembly is call‐ nately seems to apply to the current government. I will give you an ing for and that is what suits Quebec. However, the Speech from example. The Prime Minister governed unconstitutionally by inter‐ the Throne provides the exact opposite of that. The centralist aspi‐ fering in Quebec's and the provinces' jurisdictions. rations of the Liberal government managed to garner unanimity at Now that this word has lost its status, the government should the National Assembly of Quebec, where every party is against the stop trying to emulate it and start respecting jurisdictions. Speech from the Throne, from the Coalition Avenir Québec govern‐ ment to the Parti Québécois, Québec Solidaire and even the Liberal ● (1015) Party. To get everyone on board like that takes special talent. [English] As La Presse reported, even the leader of the Liberal Party of Mr. Mark Gerretsen (Kingston and the Islands, Lib.): Mr. Speak‐ Quebec says that respecting our jurisdictions is not negotiable. She er, as we talk about the throne speech in today's debate and in de‐ talks about this speech as a missed opportunity to meet the needs of bates in the future, it is important to reflect on how the federal gov‐ Quebec. That is the QLP we are talking about and every other party ernment has performed over the past six months in terms of taking had the same reaction. Why is Ottawa systematically interfering in care of everyday Canadians. There will always be more work to be the affairs of Quebec and the provinces instead of focusing on do‐ done. There will always be people who could have been helped ing its own job? more, and we will always search for new programs to do that even better. It is part of the federal government's role to help fund health care, as Quebec and the provinces are demanding. I do not know if One thing that I can say is that, in the province of Ontario, the members are familiar with John Micklethwait, the editor-in-chief of federal government was there and the federal government continues Bloomberg News, and Adrian Wooldridge, a columnist for The to be there for Canadians.