MPs finally left the House of Commons late Friday night after voting for more than 24 hours straight, fulfilling a Conservative promise to stall the Liberal government’s legislation with an avalanche of votes unless it agrees to scrap parts of its carbon tax.
The Tories forced delays by prompting 135 votes in the House, most of them on the government’s budgetary estimates. The result was round-the-clock voting that began Thursday evening and went late into Friday night.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke before the final vote, which ended just after 11:30 p.m. ET.
“For the past 30 hours, parliamentarians from every corner of this country have been standing and voting and engaged in this House, representing their constituents, focused on implementing their vision for the future of this country,” Trudeau said.
In response, Conservative MP Rick Perkins said he would like “to remind Canadians that the Liberals and NDP just voted 134 times to increase the cost of everything.”
NDP House Leader Peter Julian thanked parliamentary staff for their hard work, prompting a standing ovation from MPs from all parties.
As proceedings moved into Friday evening, Deputy Speaker Chris d’Entremont hinted at how MPs were holding up when he struggled to remember the name of an individual member’s riding.
“The honourable member for …,” d’Entremont began, waving his hands as he tried to remember the riding name.
“It’s been a long day.”
According to Parliamentary rules, the calendar day doesn’t change until the House officially adjourns. Because MPs sat overnight, the House still considered it a Thursday session — even though the voting took up most of what the rest of the world considered Friday.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre rises to vote on a motion during a session that went through the night in the House of Commons. The House calendar is still marked as Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)
Earlier this week, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre promised the Liberals “will have no rest until the [carbon] tax is gone.”
But as voting kicked off Thursday, the Liberals and NDP criticized Poilievre for ducking out of the House that evening to attend a fundraiser in Quebec.
Poilievre later visited with members of the Montreal Jewish community at a synagogue that was recently hit by Molotov cocktails before attending Hanukkah events in the city, a party spokesperson told CBC News on background.
MPs took note of his absence from the House on Thursday evening. Some began chanting, “Where is Pierre?” at the Conservative benches.
‘Refrain from that kind of fun,’ deputy Speaker tells House
Deputy Speaker Chris d’Entremont warns MPs not to chant leaders’ names in the House of Commons.
Conservatives responded with chants of, “Where is Trudeau?” The prime minister was also absent earlier Thursday evening but arrived later and could be seen voting throughout the early morning hours.
D’Entremont promised to have MPs removed if the chanting continued.
The Conservative leader returned to the House shortly after 1 a.m. on Friday and stayed until just after 6 a.m. to participate in voting. While away from the House, he appeared to have participated in votes virtually.
In a speech to his caucus that was posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, Poilievre acknowledged the marathon vote was challenging.
“I want to thank all of you for the energy that you’re putting in,” he said early Friday. “I know this is not easy. It’s extra time away from family, it’s hard on your health, but we have to make a point. We said we would fight to axe the tax.”
Fast food and occasional naps
The House smelled of fast food as voting stretched from Thursday into Friday. Health Minister Mark Holland showed up to vote in a loud green jacket he said he was wearing to mark the Christmas season.
As voting continued into Friday afternoon, some MPs began wearing more comfortable clothing, including sweaters, jeans and T-shirts.
The chamber was filled with yawns and a number of ministers were seen reading books, while Trudeau was spotted playing a game on his iPad between votes. A rendition of John Denver’s Country Roads could be heard from the government lobby on Friday evening.
At one point, International Trade Minister Mary Ng had to be woken up to cast her vote after she nodded off in the chamber.
MPs react to Conservatives delaying House business
Conservative MP Andrew Scheer says mission accomplished while Liberal MP Karina Gould and NDP MP Peter Julian decry the Conservatives’ effort to delay the Christmas break.
Procurement Minister Jean-Yves Duclos, who sits beside Ng and was distracted by his tablet, also had to be tapped to ensure he cast his vote. He then jokingly grabbed a glass of water and pretended to dump it on his head.
House members voted both in person and virtually. At times during the night, the Liberal benches were three-quarters full, while the Official Opposition benches were more sparsely populated.
Votes to approve government spending are confidence votes: If they don’t pass, the government falls.
All of the votes were won by the government side of the House by large margins throughout the night and into the morning, with the Bloc and NDP siding with the Liberals.
The Conservatives voted against every government estimate, one of which drew criticism from the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC).
The spending estimates for the Department of National Defence include funding for Operation Unifier, an armed forces training mission for Ukrainian soldiers. The Conservatives voted against approving that estimate.
“Canada’s support for Ukraine should be unanimous and beyond political games,” UCC national president Alexandra Chyczij said in a statement.
MPs get silly after marathon overnight House session
MPs embraced the silliness on Friday morning after an overnight marathon session of votes in the House of Commons sparked by a flood of amendments by the Conservatives.
At 8:39 am on Friday, Speaker Greg Fergus told the House that about half of the 135 votes had been dealt with, an announcement that was met with tired cheers and applause from the government benches.
Shortly after that announcement, NDP MP Daniel Blaikie stood up in the House to say, according to his math, the remaining votes will not force the House to sit until Christmas.
“Are there some other votes that we’re not aware of that the leader of the Conservative Party is, or did he mislead Canadians?” he said, referring to Poilievre’s promise to keep MPs voting throughout the Christmas season.
Conservative House leader Andrew Scheer spoke to reporters just before 11 a.m. He said his party had “successfully killed a day of government business” and Conservative MPs “are going to keep doing this until [Trudeau] listens to Canadians and axes the tax.”
House leaders speak after long night
“The purpose of this [is] to do everything we can to hold up Justin Trudeau’s destructive agenda. And if he wants to get out of Ottawa, to get out of town early, he’s going to have to listen to us and take the tax off,” he added.
The Conservatives say they want the Liberals to lift the carbon tax from all home-heating energy sources, pass a bill to grant carbon tax relief to some farmers and exempt all First Nations from the carbon levy, as some chiefs have demanded.
Poilievre put forward a motion calling on the government to meet those demands on Thursday. It was defeated.
Government House leader Karina Gould spoke to reporters after Scheer. She said the tactics the Conservatives are employing in the House would not accomplish any of Poilievre’s stated objectives.
“What the Conservatives are doing right now is so silly and absolutely ridiculous,” she said. “This is not leadership. Mr. Poilievre continues to gaslight Canadians for clickbait.
“There are three parties in this House that believe that climate change is real. There is one that doesn’t.”
Gould said the Conservatives can keep the government voting “all day” and the Liberals will continue to stand up to the Conservatives, whom she described as “bullies.”
NDP House leader Peter Julian said the Conservatives’ tactics do not serve their MPs well and suggested the cost to keep the House operating overnight does not represent value for money.
“What [Poilievre] was trying to do was cancel Christmas, but what he’s really done is cancel his own credibility, I think, over the course of the last few hours,” he said.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
MONTREAL – NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says he will not be taking advice from Pierre Poilievre after the Conservative leader challenged him to bring down government.
“I say directly to Pierre Poilievre: I’m not going to listen to you,” said Singh on Wednesday, accusing Poilievre of wanting to take away dental-care coverage from Canadians, among other things.
“I’m not going to listen to your advice. You want to destroy people’s lives, I want to build up a brighter future.”
Earlier in the day, Poilievre challenged Singh to commit to voting non-confidence in the government, saying his party will force a vote in the House of Commons “at the earliest possibly opportunity.”
“I’m asking Jagmeet Singh and the NDP to commit unequivocally before Monday’s byelections: will they vote non-confidence to bring down the costly coalition and trigger a carbon tax election, or will Jagmeet Singh sell out Canadians again?” Poilievre said.
“It’s put up or shut up time for the NDP.”
While Singh rejected the idea he would ever listen to Poilievre, he did not say how the NDP would vote on a non-confidence motion.
“I’ve said on any vote, we’re going to look at the vote and we’ll make our decision. I’m not going to say our decision ahead of time,” he said.
Singh’s top adviser said on Tuesday the NDP leader is not particularly eager to trigger an election, even as the Conservatives challenge him to do just that.
Anne McGrath, Singh’s principal secretary, says there will be more volatility in Parliament and the odds of an early election have risen.
“I don’t think he is anxious to launch one, or chomping at the bit to have one, but it can happen,” she said in an interview.
New Democrat MPs are in a second day of meetings in Montreal as they nail down a plan for how to navigate the minority Parliament this fall.
The caucus retreat comes one week after Singh announced the party has left the supply-and-confidence agreement with the governing Liberals.
It’s also taking place in the very city where New Democrats are hoping to pick up a seat on Monday, when voters go to the polls in Montreal’s LaSalle—Émard—Verdun. A second byelection is being held that day in the Winnipeg riding of Elmwood—Transcona, where the NDP is hoping to hold onto a seat the Conservatives are also vying for.
While New Democrats are seeking to distance themselves from the Liberals, they don’t appear ready to trigger a general election.
Singh signalled on Tuesday that he will have more to say Wednesday about the party’s strategy for the upcoming sitting.
He is hoping to convince Canadians that his party can defeat the federal Conservatives, who have been riding high in the polls over the last year.
Singh has attacked Poilievre as someone who would bring back Harper-style cuts to programs that Canadians rely on, including the national dental-care program that was part of the supply-and-confidence agreement.
The Canadian Press has asked Poilievre’s office whether the Conservative leader intends to keep the program in place, if he forms government after the next election.
With the return of Parliament just days away, the NDP is also keeping in mind how other parties will look to capitalize on the new makeup of the House of Commons.
The Bloc Québécois has already indicated that it’s written up a list of demands for the Liberals in exchange for support on votes.
The next federal election must take place by October 2025 at the latest.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante is defending her decision to turn off comments on her social media accounts — with an announcement on social media.
She posted screenshots to X this morning of vulgar names she’s been called on the platform, and says comments on her posts for months have been dominated by insults, to the point that she decided to block them.
Montreal’s Opposition leader and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association have criticized Plante for limiting freedom of expression by restricting comments on her X and Instagram accounts.
They say elected officials who use social media should be willing to hear from constituents on those platforms.
However, Plante says some people may believe there is a fundamental right to call someone offensive names and to normalize violence online, but she disagrees.
Her statement on X is closed to comments.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
