The Bloc Québécois leader says his party “may play a role” in helping the Liberals resume business in the House of Commons after days of Conservative-led debate on the privileges issue, but said his support said there would be a cost.
“We have stated what we really want in order for this parliament to function properly, and that is to get the royal recommendation on C-319,” Bloc leader Yves-François Blanchet said on Wednesday, which remains unfulfilled. He said this while referring to the ultimatum that was not given. The Liberals must ensure the two block bills pass parliament by October 29 or risk an election before the new year.
“We are not responsible for the actions of other parties,” Blanchett said ahead of Wednesday’s caucus. “And I believe that both the Liberals and the Conservatives, no matter what they say, are very happy with this situation, because they are profiting from the fact that Parliament is not functioning. Because it looks like that.
“Everyone is trying to keep things the way they are and claiming the other person is responsible for what’s happening,” he continued. “We’re not in that state of mind. We want things to move forward and we could potentially play a role in what happens over the next few days.”
Since late September, the House of Commons has been mired in a fight over the process and the production of unredacted documents, which has effectively brought all government business to a standstill.
The Conservatives are in a position of privilege after House of Commons Speaker Greg Fergus ruled that the Liberals had not fully complied with a June order seeking material on fraudulent spending by the now-defunct Canada Sustainable Development Technology Fund. advanced. Motion for disclosure.
The Conservatives insist the Liberals are demanding the unredacted documents be turned over to the RCMP and are prepared to continue buying time to block the motion at hand until the Liberals agree. There is.
The motion calls for the unusual circumstances of the incident to be investigated by the House Procedures and House Affairs Committee and requests testimony from key public officials and federal employees. This bitterness stems from a certain accusation Auditor General Report.
This motion, and the debate surrounding it, has priority over most other items in accordance with parliamentary rules, resulting in MPs spending several days debating the issue and preventing the government from proceeding with debate on priority legislation. hindering.
The Liberal Party says handing the documents to police would set a dangerous precedent and be a “gross” abuse of Parliament’s powers.
Unless debate breaks down to allow the motion to be voted on and end the current impasse, another party will be needed to help force the House to move on to another topic.
The NDP still appears unenthusiastic about helping the Liberals end what they call the Conservatives’ strategy of delay.
“The ball is in the government’s court,” NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh told reporters ahead of question period. “They will do the right thing, they will be held accountable, and Congress will move forward.”
Ahead of Wednesday’s Freedom Caucus, General Government Leader Karina Gould provided little information about how negotiations with the bloc are progressing, including any outstanding ultimatums or how to end the standoff in the House of Commons. Ta.
Gould then said, “We’re debating privilege every day, but we’re not debating bills that are important to Canadians.”
Ahead of Wednesday’s Conservative caucus, several Conservative MPs said they would reconvene parliament if the Liberals released the document.
“What do these documents say about this $400 million scandal that the prime minister is so afraid of?” Conservative leader Pierre Poièvre asked during questioning.
In response, Mr Gould said: “This is a classic witch hunt by opposition leaders.” “These are files such as personnel files that contain personal information about individuals that has nothing to do with what is going on. The government’s view is that this is the family’s job. ”
Next week is constituency week, meaning MPs will take a break from deliberations in Ottawa and spend their time voting. If the Conservative motion is not voted on by the end of this week, the House could be stuck in this debate after Thanksgiving.
