The new Parliament tackles controversial issues

Members of Parliament are returning to the House of Commons today for the first time in five months.

It is a new Parliament that looks almost identical to the old one, after the September 20 elections in which only a handful of seats changed hands and gave Justin Trudeau’s Liberals their second consecutive minority.

And it faces many of the same issues: the ongoing battle against COVID-19, rebuilding the battered economy, climate change, indigenous reconciliation.

He is also likely to face a similar partisan divide, with conservatives harshly opposing most liberal initiatives, forcing the government to rely primarily on the NDP and occasionally the Bloc Quebecois to pass laws and outlive the votes. trustworthy.

The session opens today with the election of a new spokesperson, followed by a speech from the throne by Governor General Mary Simon in the Senate on Tuesday.

Liberal MP Anthony Rota, president during the last session, is expected to win re-election after skillfully guiding the Commons through the first three waves of the COVID-19 pandemic with a new hybrid format that gave them a parliamentarians the option to participate virtually. in process.

But presidential elections, in which deputies cast votes by hierarchy, can be unpredictable. Rota faces three Conservative MPs, Marc Dalton, Chris d’Entremont and Joel Godin, as well as Liberal MP Alexandra Mendes and new Democrat Carol Hughes, who served as deputy speakers in the last session.

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Veteran Green MP Elizabeth May is also in the running, but said in an interview Sunday that she actually believes Rota deserves to be re-elected. As a candidate, however, you can give a five-minute speech, which you intend to use to draw attention to what you consider a major mistake by various speakers over the past 40 years: allowing party whips to dictate who can speak. in the Commons, renouncing the authority of the Speaker to choose who to recognize.

Only the deputies who are in the Chamber may vote for the President.

But after that, the House will have to decide whether to resume hybrid sessions. Liberals, New Democrats and Greens are in favor of the continuation of the hybrid format, but Conservatives and Bloc want the Commons to fully return to normal procedures in person.

Because there is no unanimity on how to proceed, the matter will likely need to be put to a vote later in the week.

The new president will also have to deal almost immediately with a conservative challenge to a decision by the internal economy board, the all-party body that governs the House, to demand that anyone entering the Commons be fully vaccinated. against COVID-19.

The issue of the vaccination status of Conservative MPs, which haunted leader Erin O’Toole during the election campaign and beyond, gained new urgency over the weekend when Conservative Quebec MP Richard Lehoux was diagnosed with COVID- 19 despite being fully vaccinated.

Lehoux had attended a two-day in-person caucus retreat late last week and, based on public health guidelines the party says will be followed, that could mean any unvaccinated peers will have to self-isolate.

While all the other parties say that all of their MPs are fully vaccinated, O’Toole has consistently refused to say how many of his MPs have not received two injections. He has only said that the 119 conservatives will be able to enter the Commons, because they are vaccinated or have a medical exemption.

But House Leader Mark Holland suggested Sunday that the Commons should adopt a system to verify the validity of medical exemptions claimed by an unknown number of Conservative MPs.

The legislative agenda promises to be packed, as liberals have pledged on their electoral platform to present or reintroduce at least eight bills in the first 100 days of their third term. The Commons is scheduled to sit just 24 days before the 100-day clock ends on February 3.

The government also plans to present two bills that are not included in the platform and that it hopes will be approved quickly: one that implements new and more specific benefits aimed at people and sectors, such as tourism, those most affected by the pandemic, the another intended to criminalize harassment. and intimidation of health workers.

But since they occupy only a minority of seats, liberals cannot necessarily control the agenda. The opposition parties have their own priorities that they intend to push forward.

“Conservatives are ready to return to Parliament and focus on securing the economic future of Canadians. This includes addressing Justin Trudeau’s inflation crisis and the labor shortage,” said Conservative House Leader Gerard Deltell. .

“After Justin Trudeau unnecessarily delayed his legislative agenda with an unnecessary election, it is up to him to develop a collaborative approach in the Commons that includes the perspectives of all parties.”

For his part, the bloc’s leader, Yves-Francois Blanchet, has threatened to “unleash hellfire” over the current formula to redesign the country’s electoral map to account for population changes, which would make Quebec lose a seat.

He has noted that the Bloc will also pressure the government to disburse an additional $ 28 billion in unconditional annual transfers to the provinces for medical care, as demanded by prime ministers.

The NDP, who is likely the Liberals’ main dance partner, also wants to see more generous health transfers and advancements in pharmaceutical and dental care. The new Democrats also intend to pressure the government to reverse its decision to end pandemic emergency benefits, ensure the ultra-rich pay their fair share of taxes, and take more aggressive action against climate change.

This Canadian Press report was first published on November 22, 2021.