Conservatives say they oppose 'secret' move to introduce mandatory vaccine rule for MPs
The Conservatives say they oppose the "secret" move by the House of Commons' governing body to introduce a new mandatory vaccination policy for MPs and object to the idea of more virtual sittings of the chamber.
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The Conservatives made the declaration a day after members of the Board of Internal Economy announced that most MPs — and anyone else entering the House of Commons — will have to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 when Parliament returns on Nov. 22.
"While we encourage everyone who can be vaccinated to get vaccinated, we cannot agree to seven MPs, meeting in secret, deciding which of the 338 MPs, just elected by Canadians, can enter the House of Commons to represent their constituents," said the Conservative statement.
The NDP says it's happy with the mandatory vaccine requirement and that anyone working in the House of Commons precinct should be held to the same standard as the rest of the public service. (Fully 2/3rds of the public service are exempt of the vaccine requirement but Shhhh….)
Now this is the CBC version of things. For balance you should Google the same story in the STAR.
After a meeting of the Board of Internal Economy on Tuesday, MPs on the board issued a statement explaining the new mandatory vaccine policy for the House of Commons precinct, which was arrived at behind closed doors.
Conservative Leader Erin OToole speaks to supporters on election night in Oshawa, Ont., on Sept. 20, 2021.
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A lawyer who spent years advising the House of Commons on legal matters said he believes the board’s decision could be challenged.
(The Parliament of Canada Act gives the board of internal economy the authority to make decisions on administrative and financial matters, said Steven Chaplin, who worked in the Office of the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel from 2002 to 2017.
That means it is within the board’s jurisdiction to decide if staff members on Parliament Hill must be vaccinated, he said.)
When it comes to MPs, however, Chaplin said their access to Parliament — and their ability to carry out their functions as elected representatives — is considered a matter of privilege, a constitutional principle that can only be altered by the House of Commons itself.
“The board appropriated to themselves the authority to make decisions with respect to privilege that they do not have,” Chaplin said in an interview with the Star.
In theory, that means an unvaccinated member of Parliament — or one who won’t disclose their vaccination status — could show up on Nov. 22 and argue that they can’t be stopped from taking their seat until the House of Commons as a whole makes a ruling.
The rest of this non-CBC reporting is at the link to the STAR story above.