NDP already being annoying in new Parliament
David Christopherson MP (Hamilton Centre), the sole New Democratic member on the House of Commons Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs is also the committee's second vice-chair (required under the Standing Orders of the House to be a member of an opposition party other than the Official Opposition). He filibustered the work of PROC on December 10, 2015.
David Christopherson MP (Hamilton Centre), the sole New Democratic member on the House of Commons Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs is also the committee's second vice-chair (required under the Standing Orders of the House to be a member of an opposition party other than the Official Opposition). He filibustered the work of PROC on December 10, 2015.
The New Democratic Party is already demonstrating that it intends to start off the new elected term being as irritating and annoying as possible, just days into the 42nd Parliament. At the second meeting of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Procedure & House Affairs, the committee had two hours scheduled to take care of routine business, to set the stage for committees' work for the rest of the parliamentary session.
Unfortunately, despite the non-controversial nature of the routine business that the committee needed to take care of, and despite the fact that in previous sessions these motions have been voted upon in mere minutes, the New Democratic Party filibustered the meeting.
The committee got hung up on the appointment of the agenda and procedure sub-committee (the sub-committee responsible for setting the meeting agenda and schedule for the full committee). The argument, with which the NDP filibustered the proceedings, centred around the Liberals' proposal to remove their own parliamentary secretary from the sub-committee.
The Liberals have proposed that their parliamentary secretaries be removed from all House committees, in order to ensure that the parliamentary secretaries — who essentially represent their corresponding Ministers — are unable to use their vote and influence to sway the work of House committees in their oversight of the Government.
David Christopherson MP (Hamilton Centre), of the NDP, refused to let the motion go to a vote, feeling that the only way for the sub-committee to be truly independent of the Government is for each of the opposition parties should have a veto on decisions of the sub-committee. Not only did he refuse to let the matter come to a vote; he also refused to let the chair move on to any other agenda items. This means that some key parliamentary activities are going to be delayed.
None of the House's other committees can meet until the Procedure & House Affairs Committee has reported back to the House on their recommended compositions. This means that the New Democratic Party is blocking national studies, the comprehensive review of financial estimates, and the pre-budget consultation.
The Liberals attempted to strike an interim finance committee to consult Canadians on the development of the national budget; however, since the Standing Orders require committee memberships to come from the Procedure & House Affairs Committee, they required the unanimous consent of the House. The Bloc Québécois refused, as the Bloc is not a recognized party in the House, and therefore is not entitled to committee representation.
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