43rd PARLIAMENT, 2nd SESSION House of Commons Debates Official Report (Hansard) Volume 150 No. 049 Monday, January 25, 2021 Speaker: The Honourable Anthony Rota CONTENTS (Table of Contents appears at back of this issue.) 3365 HOUSE OF COMMONS Monday, January 25, 2021 The House met at 11 a.m. (j) when a recorded division is requested in respect of a debatable motion, in‐ cluding any division arising as a consequence of the application of Standing Or‐ der 61(2) or Standing Order 78, but excluding any division in relation to motions relating to the budget debate, pursuant to Standing Order 84, or the business of supply occurring on the last supply day of a period, other than as provided in Prayer Standing Orders 81(17) and (18)(b), or arising as a consequence of an order made pursuant to Standing Order 57, ● (1105) (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 [Translation] (ii) after 2 p.m. on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, or at any BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE time on a Friday, it shall stand deferred until the conclusion of Oral Ques‐ tions at the next sitting day that is not a Friday, provided that, if a recorded Hon. Mona Fortier (Minister of Middle Class Prosperity and division on the previous question is deferred and the motion is subsequently Associate Minister of Finance, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, I rise on a adopted, the recorded division on the original question shall not be deferred; point of order. provided that any extension of time pursuant to Standing Order 45(7.1) shall not exceed 90 minutes; There have been discussions among the parties, and I believe (k) when a recorded division, which would have ordinarily been deemed de‐ that, if you seek it, you will find unanimous consent for the follow‐ ferred on a Wednesday governed by this order, to no later than the expiry of the ing motion: time provided for Government Orders, or to immediately before the time provid‐ ed for Private Members’ Business, is requested, the said division is deemed to That, notwithstanding any standing order, special order or usual practice of the have been deferred until the conclusion of Oral Questions on the same Wednes‐ House, until Wednesday, June 23, 2021: day; (a) members may participate in proceedings of the House either in person or by ● (1110) videoconference; (l) for greater certainty, this order shall not limit the application of Standing Or‐ (b) members who participate remotely in a sitting of the House are counted for der 45(7); the purpose of quorum; (m) when a recorded division is to be held, the bells to call in the members shall (c) any reference in the Standing Orders to the need for members to rise or to be be sounded for not more than 30 minutes, except recorded divisions deferred to in their place, as well as any reference to the chair, the table or the chamber shall the conclusion of Oral Questions, when the bells shall be sounded for not more be interpreted in a manner consistent with the virtual nature of the proceedings; than 15 minutes; (d) the application of Standing Order 17 shall be suspended; (n) until such a time as a remote voting application is ready to use, recorded di‐ (e) the application of Standing Order 62 shall be suspended for any member par‐ visions shall take place in the usual way for members participating in person and ticipating remotely; by roll call for members participating by videoconference, provided that mem‐ bers participating by videoconference must have their camera on for the duration (f) in Standing Orders 26(2), 53(4), 56.1(3), and 56.2(2), the reference to the of the vote; number of members required to rise be replaced with the word “five”; [English] (g) documents may be laid before the House or presented to the House electroni‐ cally, provided that: (o) in relation to the development of a remote voting application, the House ad‐ ministration be directed to begin the onboarding process of all members as soon (i) documents deposited pursuant to Standing Order 32(1) shall be deposited as possible and conduct two comprehensive simulations with all members being with the Clerk of the House electronically, invited to attend; (ii) during Routine Proceedings, members who participate remotely may ta‐ (p) after the two simulations outlined in paragraph (o) have been completed and ble documents or present petitions or reports to the House electronically, pro‐ after the Speaker has received a notice from the House leaders of all recognized vided that the documents are transmitted to the Clerk prior to their interven‐ parties in the House stating that they are satisfied that the remote voting applica‐ tion, tion is ready to be used, starting the next sitting day and concluding on Wednes‐ (iii) any petition presented pursuant to Standing Order 36(5) may be filed day, June 23, 2021, the Speaker shall so inform the House and recorded divi‐ with the Clerk electronically; sions shall take place in the usual way for members participating in person or by electronic means for all other members, provided that: (iv) responses to questions on the Order Paper deposited pursuant to Standing Order 39 may be tabled electronically; (i) electronic votes shall be cast from within Canada through the House of Commons electronic voting application using the member's House-managed (h) should the House resolve itself in a committee of the whole, the Chair may mobile device and the member's personal House of Commons account, and preside from the Speaker’s chair; that each vote requires visual identity validation, (i) when a question that could lead to a recorded division is put to the House, in (ii) the period allowed for voting electronically on a motion shall be 10 min‐ lieu of calling for the yeas and nays, one representative of a recognized party can utes, to begin after the Chair has read the motion to the House and members rise to request a recorded vote or to indicate that the motion is adopted on divi‐ voting electronically may change their vote until the electronic voting period sion, provided that a request for a recorded division has precedence; has closed, 3366 COMMONS DEBATES January 25, 2021 Business of the House (iii) in the event a member casts their vote both in person and electronically, a When the minister was reading it earlier she said, “relating to the vote cast in person task precedence, project debate, pursuant to Standing Order 84”. (iv) any technical issues encountered by: (A) members of recognized parties shall be brought to the attention of their re‐ I would like the minister to confirm whether we are talking about spective whip, and that whip may then rise before the results are announced to indicate to the Speaker the voting intention of the identified members of their a “budget” or a “project”. party, (B) members not part of a recognized party shall be brought to the attention of [English] the Speaker and the member shall immediately confirm to the Speaker how they cast their vote, before the results are announced, Hon. Mona Fortier: Mr. Speaker, this is on the standing order. (v) the whip of each recognized party have access to a tool to confirm the vi‐ sual identity of each member voting by electronic means, and that the votes of members voting by electronic means be made available to the public dur‐ [Translation] ing the period allowed for the vote, (vi) the process for votes in committees of the whole take place in a manner Mr. Gérard Deltell: Mr. Speaker, let me be even more specific. similar to the process for votes during sittings of the House with the excep‐ tion of the requirement to call in the members, The minister has the text in front of her. Let us look at paragraph (vii) any question to be resolved by a secret ballot be excluded from this or‐ j), which is on line 6. The minister read the word “project”, but the der; and text we agreed to adopt uses the word “budget”. I believe the minis‐ (q) during meetings of standing, standing joint, special and legislative commit‐ ter said “project”, but the word should have been “budget”. Could tees and the Liaison Committee, as well as their subcommittees, where applica‐ ble, members may participate either in person or by videoconference and wit‐ she just clarify that she meant to say “budget”? nesses shall participate remotely, provided that the priority use of House re‐ sources for meetings shall be established by an agreement of the whips and, for Hon. Mona Fortier: Mr. Speaker, “budget” is the right word. virtual or hybrid meetings, the following provisions shall apply: ● (1115) The Speaker: Does the hon. minister have the unanimous con‐ (i) members who participate remotely shall be counted for the purpose of sent of the House to move the motion? quorum, (ii) except for those decided unanimously or "on division", all questions shall Some hon. members: Agreed. 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 The Speaker: The House has heard the terms of the motion. Is it taken as a notice of motion and such motions shall be put to the committee the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion? seriatim until one is adopted, (iv) public proceedings shall be made available to the public via the House of Some hon.