Government Business No. 9—Changes to the Standing Orders
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Sitting 111
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Showing 1–20 of 26
A bill to remove federal barriers to interprovincial trade and improve labour mobility. During discussion, members mostly argued about parliamentary procedure, transparency, and majority vs. minority governments, rather than the substance of the bill.
“I want to talk a lot about a small issue. The government is adding more Liberals to committees. This gives the Liberals a lot of power. The government said they would collaborate. Now they are not doing that. People should be warned about what the government is doing.”
“The government has its majority. We accept that and the committees should match that in the end. But we still don't like how you formed that majority without talking to us. If you had talked to us, we might have suggested some other options.”
“I want the government to consult us more. The government changed rules without asking us. That shows the government is arrogant. We could have worked together, but the government wasted that opportunity.”
“I am praising my leader. I think she is great at explaining why the government is wrong. The government should not change the rules to help itself. The government's changes will hurt Canadians. The government is acting badly.”
“I want to praise my colleague. The government should not change the rules to help itself. The government's changes will hurt Canadians. The government is acting badly. The government does not want to be held accountable. The government is hiding its decision-making. The government is pretending these decisions are independent. This is bad for citizens.”
“I want to add more about what I think. The government wants to change the rules of the House. They want more power to force easy wins. That would hurt the people who we represent. The government wants its own way no matter what.”
“The Prime Minister says nice words about working together. But the government does the opposite. What if there is a scandal? The government changed the rules. Liberals can now block transparency and stop any discussion they don't like in committee.”
“The Liberals want less transparency. They avoid questions. The Prime Minister avoids question period. But the opposition will get creative to expose them.”
“I want the government to allow more debate on Motion No. 9. The government should not use closure to limit discussion. I think this motion sets a bad tone for the government's term. I worry about the government's approach to minority rights.”
“I want to say the Green speech was insightful. But I want to use it to claim bad motives and a slippery slope. The other parties are dangerously authoritarian, not constructive, breaking trust. I will talk a lot about conscience and danger but not give a concrete reason.”
“I think Elizabeth May is impressive for lasting so long as the only Green MP. But more importantly, the current government found a sneaky way to give themselves a majority and shut down debate on their first day. Is this what they call democracy? Maybe May can give advice to newer MPs since she's been here since 2011.”
“The Liberals say they just want to update committee membership to match party numbers. They say they aren't playing games and really want everyone to work together. They say other parties just want to fight and cause trouble for their own reasons. They say Canadians don't want that. Is that what's happening?”
“That was a nice speech. Whips work hard. Some committees are stuck. Liberals are stalling them on purpose. They don't want transparency. We don't mind a committee having more Liberals, but seven is too many. It's an abuse of power. I want to know if the opposition whip agrees with me.”
“You want more power than you deserve. You don't have a real majority. But you're giving yourself 60% of committee seats. That's too many. You're not playing fair.”
“The Liberals are stalling in committees to block the opposition from investigating and checking the government's decisions. They're doing this on purpose. They want to waste time and keep control so the government never has to answer to anyone. They're not trying to help the opposition do its job. They want to make sure the opposition can't do its job at all.”
“It's ridiculous. You're rounding wrong to get more people on committees. Just because Conservatives annoy you doesn't mean you get to break the rules. Explain why you suddenly think using your majority gives you the right to take over everything.”
“I'm using humor and cheap shots about the attendance of other members to deflect from the real point. I'm arguing over the math about how many seats on a committee the other party should get. I want to distract from the government's main point, which is that they want to change the rules to limit debate and scrutiny. I'd rather bicker about technicalities than debate their power grab.”
