| Historical Information |
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| This post is about a previous Session of Parliament. Any legislation here that did not receive Royal Assent has been terminated. |
Happy Wednesday!
We’ve got another week of very little happening due to the ongoing stalling of the House. There was movement on some legislation coming back from the Senate, including the Pharmacare Act, as well as a few committee reports!
Motions
Anniversary of Oct 7 Attack – Melissa Lantsman (Conservative, Ontario, Thornhill)
Melissa proposed a Motion that the House:
- Unequivocally reaffirms Israel’s right to defend itself from terrorists who attack it
- Expresses support for the victims of the October 7th attack, their families and the people of Israel
- Calls for the immediate release of the 101 hostages still being held captive
- Condemns the grotesque rise in antisemitism and hate towards Jews in Canada over the past year
- Condemns Hamas and Hezbollah as terrorist entities which must be eliminated
This was passed with unanimous consent.
Issues of Privilege
Failure to Produce Documents – Amendment – Dan Muys (Conservative, Ontario, Flamborough—Glanbrook)
Dan wants to amend the list of people we covered last time that were to testify before committee regarding the issue of the Liberals not handing over documents regarding spending. He wants to add:
- The Privacy Commissioner of Canada, who respected the order of the House and deposited unredacted documents
- Paul MacKinnon, the former Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet
I’m not entirely sure why these two need to be called, and I’m not sure what the implication is if the Privacy Commissioner handed over the documents this whole thing is about. Reading through the debate I can’t find anything about these two, it was just kind of dropped at the end of a rant from Dan. It is worth noting that in the endless debates here that are tying up the House, the Conservatives seem to be the only ones that are opposed to their own Motion to send the issue to committee. Their demand is now that the Liberals produce the documents without anything going to committee. When accused of filibustering by the other parties they just reiterate that this whole thing stops when the Liberals produce the documents. It’s also been called out in the debates that there’s only one Conservative MP in the House at several points. (Worth noting that MPs aren’t allowed to comment on the attendance of other MPs)
No vote has been held on this amendment yet.
Bill Updates
C-291 – An Act to amend the Criminal Code and to make consequential amendments to other Acts (child sexual abuse and exploitation material)
C-291 has completed its run through the Senate without change and was then granted Royal Assent.
C-64 – The Pharmacare Act
C-64 made its way through the Senate unchanged and has been granted Royal Assent.
Committee Reports
So I’ve just noticed that some of these reports have been sitting around for quite a while before coming up for a concurrence vote. I’ll still be reporting on them as they go up for votes as I think their findings are still important, but I’ll be adding the month and year they were sent to the House just so people know they’ve been around a while. Unfortunately I don’t have time to keep on top of these in a more timely fashion in addition to everything else.
Canada Disability Benefit (May 2024)- Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities (HUMA)
HUMA was doing a study into the implementation of the Canada Disability Benefit and came back with a set of recommendations for the House. They suggest that the government protect the Benefit from clawbacks, and consult the disability community on:
- Ensuring the Benefit is enough to help people with disabilities out of poverty
- Ensuring the Benefit is accessible through the reconsideration of the Disability Tax Credit as a barrier to access, and establishing a more accessible enrollment method
- Acknowledging the unseen expenses of living with a disability
- Recognizing the negative impact of benefit reductions as household incomes go up, making it harder for low-income households to get ahead
- Working with provinces and territories to improve support systems for people with disabilities
A vote was held to accept this report and everyone voted in favour.
Reducing the Impact of Commercial Shipping on the Shoreline Erosion in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Corridor (April 2023) – Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities (TRAN)
TRAN was doing a study on the impact of commercial shipping on shoreline erosion in the Great Lakes and came back with the following recommendations:
- Re-establish a shoreline protection program in areas of the St. Lawrence River, particularly in narrow areas
- Continue investing in research that provides guidance on the best solutions to this problem, and put existing research to better use
- Draw up a list of areas affected by erosion and identify sites for priority intervention
- Support research into finding the most appropriate way to protect the banks and their ecosystems from damage caused by shipping traffic
- Evaluate the effectiveness of current voluntary speed reduction measures and consider applying them at a larger scale through regulations
- Consider creating a fund to restore and enhance riverside environments affected by erosion that will be funded by users of the river corridor
This report was accepted with everyone voting in favour of doing so.
Chronic Homelessness (November 2023) – Standing Committee on Public Accounts (PACP)
PACP has been looking into the issue of chronic homelessness in Canada and how effective current measures to bring it under control have been. There were a few key findings from the Auditor General on the issue:
- Infrastructure Canada and Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) doesn’t know if their efforts are leading to improvements in the situation
- The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) doesn’t know who’s benefiting from its initiatives
- There was minimal accountability from the feds for reaching the National Housing Strategy (NHS) target to reduce chronic homelessness by 50% by 2027
It looks like the main source of all the problems found by PACP is poor data collection on what’s happening. They make the following recommendations:
Recommendation 1 – On homelessness data and the Reaching Home program
The first recommendation was that, by January 15, 2024, the Office of Infrastructure Canada provide PACP with a report showing:
- Its plan to accelerate the availability of national shelter, homelessness, and chronic homelessness statistics
- Its research plan on homelessness, which should aim to understand what’s driving homelessness trends and assess the alignment of funded projects for addressing the needs of people suffering from homelessness
- Estimates of emergency shelter use, homelessness, and chronic homelessness in 2020, 2021, and 2022
- The annual goals and results of the Reaching Home program from 2020 to 2023
- To what extent the incremental funding provided through Budget 2022 for the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 fiscal years will be used
- Any changes made to the Reaching Home program’s goals
- The results of gender-based analysis and assessment
Recommendation 2 – On coordinated access implementation
The next recommendation was that, by January 15, 2024, the Office of Infrastructure Canada send them a report of how many of the 44 eligible communities in 2021-2022 implemented coordinated access to housing support services and an explanation on why any that haven’t haven’t. A second report was requested by April 30, 2024 asking for the same of the 64 communities that would be eligible in 2023-2024.
Recommendation 3 – On identifying who benefits from initiatives
Also due January 15, 2024, PACP asked for a report from CMHC outlining the measures taken to:
- Define the housing needs of vulnerable groups and measure how programs are meeting those needs
- Determine if the housing situation for vulnerable groups is improving using specific metrics
- Take the steps needed to align the definitions of affordability for all initiatives so they’re consistent
- Provide evidence that the targeted groups are actually getting housing assistance
Recommendation 4 – On coordination and accountability
As its final recommendation, PACP asked that by January 15, 2024 CMHC provide a report on what measures are being taken to improve coordination between all agencies involved in the National Housing Strategy, as well as changes to clearly identify accountability regarding the Strategy.
The report was accepted with everyone voting in favour of it.
Closing Fun
That’s all for the week! There won’t be an update on Wednesday next week as the House is currently taking a week off.
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