Liberals push to end all-night voting
More late-night sittings, but not past midnight
OTTAWA • The Liberal government is tweaking Parliament’s rules to include more late-night sittings and an end to any all-night voting marathons in a bid to get more legislation through the House of Commons.
Government House leader Steven Mackinnon announced the proposed changes, which have NDP support, as the House of Commons resumed sitting on Monday. Once the motion passes, MPS will be able to sit regularly until midnight to debate legislation, but no votes will be held between midnight and 9 a.m., ending the possibility of another overnight sitting like the Conservatives forced in December.
Mackinnon said the Conservatives have made it clear their goal is to slow down legislation, even when they support a bill, to make the government less effective.
“What we’re trying to do today is overcome temper tantrums by (Conservative Leader) Pierre Poilievre and obstruction by Conservatives that is systematic, even on things that they support,” he said. “They are only about obstruction. They are only about stopping progress from being made for Canadians.”
In December, the Conservatives pushed for line-by-line votes of budget estimates, leading to a 30-hour voting session in the House of Commons where MPS voted more than 100 times.
Mackinnon said asking MPS to stay awake for 30 hours is unreasonable and not how Parliament should decide on billions of dollars in spending.
“It’s not healthy. It’s not healthy for anyone. No nurse, no doctor, no concierge, no anyone in this country should be subjected to that kind of thing. No workplace would ever tolerate that kind of behaviour.”
The motion also targets other delaying tactics or dilatory motions that MPS can use like calling for an adjournment of the House or unanimous consent motions that don’t have unanimous support, but do delay legislation.
Conservative House leader Andrew Scheer said the government should be focusing on the economy instead of pushing through systemic change to how the House operates. He said these sorts of changes will significantly alter how legislation is passed.
“These are substantive changes that fundamentally alter the timeline for bills to be debated and moved through the House. It gives the government incredible new powers that are not in the standing orders and have not been contemplated by any of our procedural books,” he said.
Scheer said the Liberals were setting a precedent for how future governments could treat the House of Commons.
NDP House leader MP Peter Julian said the Conservatives have been consistently obstructionist and uninterested in having Parliament work. He said the late-night sittings will allow the House of Commons to actually pass more legislation.
“What this motion represents is working smarter and working harder, having evening sessions that the NDP has long been a proponent of, and stopping the kind of all-night voting marathons that have led to health issues with a number of members of Parliament and with staff,” Julian said