Hello everyone! The House is back in session and there were a few Motions to look at from last week.
Opposition Motions
Our first Opposition Motion this week comes from Michael Cooper (Conservative, Alberta, St. Albert—Edmonton). This is a pretty lengthy one, so if you want to see the full details you can find them here.
The general idea of the Motion is, in light of the foreign interference in Canadian elections by China, to have the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy, and Ethics study all aspects of foreign interference in the 2019 and 2021 elections. Katie Telford, Trudeau’s Chief of Staff, would be required to appear before the committee by April 14th. The rest of the motion is a list of other people that would be invited to appear before it.
The Motion failed with 147 in favour and 177 against.
| Party | For | Against | Paired |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal | 0 | 152 | 2 |
| Conservative | 113 | 0 | 1 |
| Bloc Quebecois | 30 | 0 | 1 |
| NDP | 0 | 25 | 0 |
| Green Party | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Independent | 2 | 0 | 0 |
The debate here is a bit of a mess. The Conservatives were mostly throwing around accusations, and were called out on some of them (including suggesting that a specific MP is working for China but refused to respond when asked which MP they were referring to). The Liberals argue that the current measures protected those two elections and examinations into them at the time they happened found that the foreign interference (from multiple countries) had a negligible impact. The NDP want the committee to look into all foreign interference, not just that from China and not just from those two elections. The Bloc wants to see the public inquiry happen.
Pierre Poilievre (Conservative Leader, Ontario, Carleton) sponsored the next Opposition Motion.
That, given that,
- The Liberal government is increasing taxes on beer, wine, and spirits by 6.3% on April 1, 2023
- This is the largest tax increase on alcohol in the last 40 years
- The heads of eight different unions representing brewery workers across the country, who are nervous about their jobs, have written to the Minister of Finance calling for a freeze to the April 1, 2023 tax increase on beer, citing “a freeze on federal beer taxes is the single most important thing you can do for our workers and their families”
- This tax increase will unfairly punish Canadians already struggling with increased costs due to 40-year inflation highs, and make it harder for Canadians to enjoy a drink after a long day’s work, or while relaxing with friends or celebrating with their families
The House call on the Liberal government to cancel its April 1, 2023 tax increase on beer, wine, and spirits
The Motion passed, 170 in favour and 149 against.
| Party | For | Against | Paired |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal | 0 | 148 | 1 |
| Conservative | 114 | 0 | 0 |
| Bloc Quebecois | 29 | 0 | 1 |
| NDP | 23 | 0 | 0 |
| Green Party | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Independent | 2 | 1 | 0 |
It’s worth noting that the wording of this Motion is a little misleading. As the Liberals point out, this is an excise tax. The price of a can of beer isn’t going to increase by 6.3%, the practical impact per can is pretty much negligible. That said the people speaking for the Conservatives, Bloc, and NDP all seem to be from ridings that contain wineries or breweries, and were pretty much all agreeing that this increase will hurt those businesses.
Author’s Note
Something worth being aware of with this Motion is the wording. It’s another tricky one trying to influence how we feel about it. First of all, as the Liberals pointed out, it’s a 6.3% increase, not increasing by 6.3%. This would be like declaring that an increase from 1% tax to 1.5% is a 50% increase. It isn’t wrong, but focusing on the bigger number can be misleading.
We should also be wary of anyone talking about our “friends and families” like they do in this Motion. If someone’s declaring that something is going to make it harder to “celebrate with your family” we should immediately be taking a good hard look at what they’re pushing for, as they’re just trying to get an emotional response out of us so we support the Motion.
Private Members’ Business
Arielle Kayabaga (Liberal, Ontario, London West) sponsored a Motion calling for the government to continue working with relevant representatives (from the provincial governments, housing providers, service providers to people with disabilities, etc) to uphold a federal framework to improve access to affordable housing for people with non-visible disabilities.
The Motion would ask for an expert on people with disabilities (visible and non-visible) to be on the National Housing Council. It would ask the government to amend the National Housing Strategy Act to include recognition for the barriers faced by people with disabilities. Arielle also calls for NHS programs to prioritize the creation and repair of accessible units, and to ensure that the right to adequate housing is applied equitably across all vulnerable populations, specifically for people with disabilities.
The Motion passed with everyone voting in favour.
Closing Fun
And that’s all! Most of the week seemed to be tied up with committee reports and submitting/responding to questions, so not a lot of other updates have come through. I’m going to try to dig into some heavier Bills over the next week or so, but my schedule’s about to get a little rocky for a bit so I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to do. I’ll keep the updates coming, but we may have to keep the focus on smaller bills for a bit longer. Sorry about that!