Scott Reid, Lanark—Frontenac
Linked statement
“The government's new seating plan for Centre Block gives cabinet ministers bigger desks and packs other MPs too tightly into bleachers. We should copy Quebec's seating plan instead. It would give all MPs proper desks and enough room to work, treating everyone equally.”
“Mr. Speaker, I hope that all colleagues have reviewed the seating plan that has been proposed for our return to Centre Block. Faced with a growing number of MPs in a fixed space, the government’s solution is, number one, to expand by about 30% the size of the desks assigned to cabinet so the Prime Minister will feel like he is back home on his favourite luxury jet, and number two, having thereby caused an artificial space shortage for everyone else, to shove 300 MPs into four rows of bleachers, so tightly packed that MPs will no longer have a usable workspace and will have to tread on each other’s toes to get to their seat. A better idea would be to use the Quebec legislature’s new seating plan as our model. We could have five rows, with each row containing 36 members, connected by four aisles. This would result in wider seats, retention of desks instead of bleachers, and enough room for members to circulate behind each other’s seat rather than over each other’s feet. All we need for this to happen is to acknowledge the ancient principle that all MPs are treated and seated equally. Let us do that.”
Mr. Speaker, I hope that all colleagues have reviewed the seating plan that has been proposed for our return to Centre Block. Faced with a growing number of MPs in a fixed space, the government’s solution is, number one, to expand by about 30% the size of the desks assigned to cabinet so the Prime Minister will feel like he is back home on his favourite luxury jet, and number two, having thereby caused an artificial space shortage for everyone else, to shove 300 MPs into four rows of bleachers, so tightly packed that MPs will no longer have a usable workspace and will have to tread on each other’s toes to get to their seat. A better idea would be to use the Quebec legislature’s new seating plan as our model. We could have five rows, with each row containing 36 members, connected by four aisles. This would result in wider seats, retention of desks instead of bleachers, and enough room for members to circulate behind each other’s seat rather than over each other’s feet. All we need for this to happen is to acknowledge the ancient principle that all MPs are treated and seated equally. Let us do that.