Happy Wednesday everyone! Been a bit slow this past week with the unfortunate presentation on Friday and the House dealing with the fallout from that. Details below!
Motions
Our first Motion for the week has to do with the inquiry into foreign electoral interference. Not going to get much into detail on this one but the parties have settled on how the inquiry will be handled and gave unanimous consent for it to go ahead.
Next we had a Motion to condemn Russia taking Ukrainian children and moving them into Russia, and demand that they be returned. Worth noting that the terms “war crimes” and “genocide” are both used here which carry some pretty hefty meaning. This Motion was also passed with unanimous consent.
Our next Motion, also passed with unanimous consent, condemns Nazism in all its forms, condemns the invitation of Yaroslav Hunka to the House, and withdraws any tribute paid to him.
And finally, again with unanimous consent, Louis Plamondon (Bloc Quebecois, Quebec, Bécancour—Nicolet—Saurel) was declared interim Speaker. An election for a new Speaker was also set for Oct. 3rd.
Bill Updates
C-318 – An Act to amend the Employment Insurance Act and the Canada Labour Code (adoptive and intended parents)
On Sept 20, 2023 C-318 went up for its Second Reading and passed with 178 in favour and 146 against.
| Party | For | Against | Paired |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal | 4 | 145 | 1 |
| Conservative | 116 | 0 | 1 |
| Bloc Quebecois | 30 | 0 | 0 |
| NDP | 24 | 0 | 0 |
| Green | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Independent | 2 | 1 | 0 |
The Liberals voted against it as they’ve just increased EI for parental leave, though its a few weeks less than C-318. They also say that they’re in the process of updating EI across the board. The MPs that broke rank and voted in favour of C-318 are Chandra Arya (Ontario, Nepean), Pam Damoff (Ontario, Oakville North—Burlington), Hedy Fry (British Columbia, Vancouver Centre), and Wayne Long (New Brunswick, Saint John—Rothesay).
C-318 will now move on to committee consideration. Note that it still hasn’t received a Royal Recommendation, which means it will fail automatically when it reaches its Third Reading.
Closing Fun
And that’s all for this week! Our quote for the week is about the sudden filling of the Speaker’s seat by the Deputy Speaker:
I know that I would not want to have to sit in your chair and manage me, so on behalf of everybody in here, thank you for stepping into an unexpected breach today.
Michelle Rempel Garner (Conservative, Alberta, Calgary Nose Hill)