Conservatives intervene to delay debate on NDP motion in House of Commons

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This article was published 06/12/2024 (653 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA – The Conservatives stalled debate on an NDP opposition day motion in the House of Commons on Friday, a day after the New Democrats intervened in the Tories’ own opposition day.

The NDP was set to begin debate on a motion calling on the government to expand the upcoming GST break to cover what the party calls essentials. This includes things like prepared foods at grocery stores, home heating, and cellphone and internet bills.

The motion also calls on the government to expand the proposed $250 “working Canadians rebate” to include fully retired seniors, people who rely on disability benefits and others who did not have an employment income in 2023, a key criteria for the Liberal rebate.

Instead, Conservative deputy leader Melissa Lantsman raised a point of privilege about a protest that happened earlier this week, saying three NDP members voiced support for protesters who blocked MPs from doing their work.

On Tuesday, about 100 protesters held a sit-in at the Confederation Building, which houses MP offices, calling for an arms embargo against Israel.

Most of Friday’s debate time was eaten up by Lantsman’s privilege motion and a series of points of order raised by MPs who seemed bent on stalling NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh’s opposition motion.

It was just the latest procedural hijinks among the opposition parties, after the NDP had delayed debate on a Conservative non-confidence motion on Thursday by forcing a debate on abortion instead.

The House adjourned for the week just before 2 p.m. on Friday, with deputy speaker Chris d’Entremont saying the debate on the privilege motion will resume on Monday.

The votes on both the NDP GST motion and the Conservative non-confidence motion were scheduled to take place that day.

The House of Commons has been in gridlock since late September, when the Conservatives began a filibuster on a separate privilege debate.

That centres on the Liberals’ refusal to provide unredacted documents about a now-defunct green technology fund to Parliament and to the RCMP.

The government has provided redacted copies of the documents, citing privacy concerns, and has said it would not be appropriate for Parliament to provide documents to the police. For its part, the RCMP says it is investigating the fund and that it likely could not use documents obtained through Parliament in an investigation.

Still, the Tories say they will force the debate to continue until the Liberals hand over the documents or until the NDP agrees to bring down the government.

Because questions of privilege take precedence over nearly all other House business, the government has not been able to advance legislation.

Parliament was heading toward an unprecedented situation of being unable to vote on a request from the government for more than $21 billion in spending.

Earlier this week, House Speaker Greg Fergus intervened to pause the filibuster, scheduling the four remaining days for opposition business and the vote on supplementary spending.

Singh has said he will not vote in favour of the latest Conservative non-confidence motion.

The NDP and Bloc Québécois have voted down the Conservatives’ two previous attempts to bring down the government this fall.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 6, 2024.