House of Commons Speaker Greg Fergus was heckled repeatedly on Wednesday over his decision to delay question period in order to deliver a speech to MPs about the issue of heckling.
The drama began unfolding around 2:20 p.m. EDT. After members’ statements were completed, MPs are to begin question period, but Fergus had other plans. He rose from his chair to inform the House that he planned to first “make a statement about order and decorum in the House.”
That didn’t go over well on the Official Opposition benches. Perhaps not hearing Fergus, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre rose to begin his first question to the government.
“After eight years this government,” Poilievre began, before Fergus cut him off to let him know he’d have to wait a few minutes before getting to grill the Liberals.
“The Speaker has the choice as to when to start question period. There will be a full question period that will follow after this declaration from the Speaker,” Fergus said.
Conservative MP Michael Cooper could be heard yelling that it was time for question period, then Conservative House Leader and former House Speaker Andrew Scheer rose to remind Fergus that, per the House rules, question period was to begin “no later than 2:15 p.m.”
Fergus then noted that it has become common to see question period getting underway a bit late, and while he doesn’t plan to make a habit of it, he wanted to get his statement out of the way first.
Cue further back and forth, with Scheer balking about how the Speaker should be the one enforcing, not bending House rules, and Fergus forging ahead citing past precedent, with the backing of the Liberal benches.
Poilievre then stood on a point of order, imploring Fergus to allow question period to proceed and make his statement after.
“The Speaker has a plethora of occasions to stand on his feet and make any point he wants or any declaration he likes. He does not need to do it in the middle of the sacred period during which we hold the government to account,” he said, accusing Fergus of violating the rules to do so.
That didn’t persuade the Speaker, and so Fergus — a former parliamentary page and just two weeks into his role as House Speaker — began with his prepared remarks.
When he was elected, the Liberal MP had promised at the outset to come back to his colleagues with plans to tackle what he saw as a downturn in the order and decorum in what he called the “sanctum of democracy.”
As he worked his way through his speech on the ills of heckling and how he’s noticed a “deterioration in the collective decorum in this place,” heckling poured out from the opposition benches.
At one point, Conservative MP Chris Warkentin rose to ask if Fergus was “filibustering” and to inform the House how much longer his remarks would take.
“It will continue for the time that it will take,” the Speaker responded.
And so on he went, vowing to look for ways to improve the tone and tenor in the chamber, while asking all MPs to help him in this goal by taking responsibility for being respectful and not drowning out their colleagues. During his remarks, however, he faced more heckles.
“Excessive, disruptive, and loud heckling must be toned down. Occasional heckling has always been a part of our proceedings, and a light hearted or clever comment will often enhance debate rather than detract from it,” Fergus said.
“However, far too often heckling is boorish and rude, designed to intimidate, insult, or drown out others. Members have a right to be heard, and to hear the proceedings going on around them. The frequent and time-consuming disorder it creates must stop.”
Fergus ended by thanking members “for their attention,” while vowing to continue discussions with all parties on improving their parliamentary behaviour.
After all was said and done, question period got underway at 2:45 p.m. EDT, 30 minutes behind schedule.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
