| Address debate — maximum of six appointed days, pursuant to Standing Order 50(1). |
| Wednesday, December 8, 2021 — fourth appointed day. |
| Friday, December 10, 2021 — fifth appointed day. |
| December 2, 2021 — Resuming debate on the motion of , seconded by , — That the following address be presented to Her Excellency the Governor General: |
| To Her Excellency the Right Honourable Mary May Simon, Chancellor and Principal Companion of the Order of Canada, Chancellor and Commander of the Order of Military Merit, Chancellor and Commander of the Order of Merit of the Police Forces, Governor General and Commander-in-Chief of Canada. |
| MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY: |
| We, Her Majesty's most loyal and dutiful subjects, the House of Commons of Canada, in Parliament assembled, beg leave to offer our humble thanks to Your Excellency for the gracious Speech which Your Excellency has addressed to both Houses of Parliament; |
| And on the amendment of , seconded by , — That the motion be amended by adding the following: |
| “, and wish to inform Your Excellency that the Speech from the Throne fails to adequately address critical issues that threaten the prosperity of Canadians, including: |
| (a) a cost of living crisis that is cutting the average Canadian worker’s paycheque by 2.7%, which requires urgent action by the government to (i) table a plan to control spending and apply a laser focus on policies that will create growth, (ii) maintain the Bank of Canada’s 2% inflation target, (iii) increase production of Canadian energy to boost supply and lower gas prices, (iv) take action to improve the resilience of Canadian supply chains; |
| (b) a stagnant economy, with Canada’s real GDP growth now the weakest in the G-7, actually shrinking by 1.1% in the second quarter, which requires urgent action by the government to (i) reduce the burden of taxes and regulation to restore Canada as an attractive place to invest and build a business, (ii) table a plan to create growth in all sectors of the economy and boost real wages, (iii) drive innovation and technology by overhauling Canada’s R&D programs; |
| (c) a housing crisis that has driven home prices up 30% over the past year and priced thousands of young families out of the market, which requires policies that will build an additional one million homes over the next three years by (i) reallocating 15% of the government’s real estate portfolio for housing, (ii) tackling regulatory barriers that raise costs of construction, (iii) linking infrastructure dollars to higher density zoning, (iv) committing to not tax principal residences; |
| (d) an acute labour shortage that is affecting 60% of businesses in Canada and 82% of Canadian manufacturers, which requires the government to (i) improve alignment of immigration criteria with the needs of employers, (ii) streamline the rules of the temporary foreign workers program, (iii) improve skills training and give more powers to provinces; and |
| (e) a national unity crisis, which requires (i) respecting provincial jurisdiction, (ii) supporting and growing all parts of the economy, including the energy sector, (iii) restoring confidence in our national institutions, starting by returning ethics and accountability to the government”. |
| Voting on the amendment — not later than 15 minutes before the end of the time provided for the address debate, pursuant to Standing Order 50(5). |
| December 3, 2021 — — That, given that real-time parliamentary oversight was impossible due to the dissolution of Parliament, the House appoint a special committee with a mandate to conduct hearings to examine and review the events related to the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban, including, but not limited to, the government's contingency planning for that event and the subsequent efforts to evacuate, or otherwise authorize entry to Canada of, Canadian citizens, and interpreters, contractors and other Afghans who had assisted the Canadian Armed Forces or other Canadian organizations, provided that: |
| (a) the committee be composed of 12 members, of which six shall be from the government party, four shall be from the official opposition, one shall be from the Bloc Québécois, and one shall be from the New Democratic Party;
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| (b) the members shall be named by their respective whip by depositing with the Clerk of the House the list of their members to serve on the committee within 24 hours of the adoption of this order;
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| (c) membership substitutions be permitted, if required, in the manner provided for in Standing Order 114(2);
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| (d) changes to the membership of the committee shall be effective immediately after notification by the relevant whip has been filed with the Clerk of the House;
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| (e) the Clerk of the House shall convene an organizational meeting of the committee no later than Friday, December 17, 2021;
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| (f) the committee be chaired by a member of the government party and, notwithstanding Standing Order 106(2), there shall be one vice-chair from each of the other recognized parties;
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| (g) quorum of the committee be as provided for in Standing Order 118 and that the Chair be authorized to hold meetings to receive evidence and to have that evidence printed when a quorum is not present, provided that at least four members are present, including one member of the opposition and one member of the government party;
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| (h) the committee be granted all of the powers of a standing committee as provided in the Standing Orders;
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| (i) the provisions of Standing Order 106(4) shall also extend to the committee, provided that any request shall be signed by members representing at least two recognized parties;
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| (j) the committee have the power to authorize video and audio broadcasting of any or all of its proceedings;
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| (k) the Prime Minister, the Minister of International Development, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Public Safety, the Minister of National Defence, the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, the member for Notre-Darne-de-Grace-Westmount, and other ministers and senior officials, be invited to appear as witnesses from time to time as the committee sees fit;
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| (l) the committee be instructed to present a final report within six months of the adoption of this order;
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| (m) the committee's initial work shall be supported by an order of the House issuing for all memoranda, emails, documents, notes or other records from the Privy Council Office, the Department of National Defence, the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development, and the Department of Citizenship and Immigration, including the Office of the Prime Minister and the relevant ministers' offices, which refer to:
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| (i) the initiation of evacuation planning,
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| (ii) instructions to implement those plans,
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| (iii) the effect upon the implementation of those plans attributable to the dissolution of Parliament, the caretaker convention, or the facts that relevant ministers were simultaneously occupied with seeking re-election to the House and that many ministerial exempt staff were on leaves of absence, or
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| (iv) the determination of the number of individuals who would be evacuated or otherwise authorized to enter Canada, |
| provided that, |
| (v) these documents shall be deposited with the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel, in both official languages, within one month of the adoption of this order,
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| (vi) a copy of the documents shall also be deposited with the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel in both official languages within one month of the adoption of this order, with any proposed redaction which, in the government's opinion, could reasonably be expected (A) to compromise national security, military tactics or strategy of the armed forces of Canada or an allied country, or intelligence sources or methods, or (B) to reveal the identity or location of any Canadian citizen in Afghanistan or of any interpreter, contractor or other Afghan individual who had assisted the Canadian Armed Forces or other Canadian organizations, |
| (vii) the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel shall promptly thereafter notify the Speaker, who shall forthwith inform the House, whether he is satisfied the documents were produced as ordered;
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| (viii) the Speaker shall cause the documents, as redacted pursuant to subparagraph (vi), to
be laid upon the table at the next earliest opportunity and, after being tabled, they shall stand referred to the committee, |
| (ix) the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel shall discuss with the committee, at an in
camera meeting, to be held within two weeks of the documents being tabled pursuant to subparagraph (viii), whether he agrees with the redactions proposed by the govermnent pursuant to subparagraph (vi), |
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(x) the committee may, after hearing from the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel
pursuant to subparagraph (ix), accept the proposed redactions or, reject some or all the proposed redactions and request the production of those unredacted documents in the manner to be determined by the committee; and
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| (n) any proceedings before the committee, when hybrid committee meetings are authorized, in relation to a motion to exercise the committee's power to send for persons, papers and records shall, if not previously disposed of, be interrupted upon the earlier of the completion of four hours of consideration or one sitting week after the motion was first moved, and, in turn, every question necessary for the disposal of the motion shall be put forthwith and successively, without further debate or amendment. |
| Notice also received from: |
| , , and — December 3, 2021 |
| Voting — not later than 15 minutes before the expiry of the time provided for Government Orders, pursuant to Standing Order 81(16). |
| December 3, 2021 — — That, given that, |
| (i) Canadians deserve climate action, access to low cost, readily available alternatives to high carbon products, and sustainable jobs, |
| (ii) energy producers in Alberta are rapidly decarbonizing their production processes and are subject to a 100MT per year emissions cap, |
| (iii) Canada allows the importation of high carbon oil and gas from countries like Saudi Arabia that do not have emissions productions caps, |
| (iv) this imbalance has the net effect of making Canadians more reliant on high cost, high carbon fuel, and increasing global greenhouse gas emissions, while offshoring Canadian jobs to high carbon producing nations, |
| the House call on the government to support Canadian energy sector efforts to decarbonize production, support Canadian energy sector workers, and impose commensurate tariffs on imported sources of carbon energy so that it is not free for polluters outside of Canada to provide energy to Canadians while contributing to rising greenhouse gas emissions. |
| Notice also received from: |
| and — December 3, 2021 |
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| December 3, 2021 — — That, given that Canada's economic and trade relations with the United States of America have deteriorated badly, and so far in 2021, Canada has seen the cancellation of the Keystone XL Pipeline, the threatened shut-down of Line 5, new Buy American rules that exclude Canada from public procurement, trade challenges on the allocation of dairy quota, a doubling of the softwood lumber tariffs, and a $12,500 tax credit for electric vehicles which excludes Canada, |
| the House call on the government to: |
| (a) abandon its "progressive trade agenda", which has proven ineffective and entirely symbolic; focus instead on Canada's trade interests, the Canada-United States security partnership and renewed cooperation; |
| (b) work with the United States to build a North American supply chain resilience strategy, strengthen North American industry and form a common approach towards China; |
| (c) develop Canada's rare earth minerals and offer them as a privileged source for North American battery and electric vehicles (EVs), in exchange for being part of the EV tax credit; and |
| (d) table documents related to the government's efforts to get an agreement on softwood lumber, and do so within 10 days following the adoption of this motion. |
| Notice also received from: |
| and — December 3, 2021 |
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| December 3, 2021 — — Whereas on October 21, 1880, the Government of Canada entered into a contract with the Canadian Pacific Railway Syndicate for the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway; |
| Whereas, by clause 16 of the 1880 Canadian Pacific Railway contract, the federal government agreed to give a tax exemption to the Canadian Pacific Railway Company; |
| Whereas, in 1905, the Parliament of Canada passed the Saskatchewan Act, which created the province of Saskatchewan; |
| Whereas section 24 of the Saskatchewan Act refers to clause 16 of the 1880 Canadian Pacific Railway Contract; |
| Whereas the Canadian Pacific Railway was completed on November 6, 1885, with the Last Spike at Craigellachie, and has been operating as a going concern for 136 years; |
| Whereas, the Canadian Pacific Railway Company has paid applicable taxes to the Government of Saskatchewan since the province was established in 1905; |
| Whereas it would be unfair to the residents of Saskatchewan if a major corporation were exempt from certain provincial taxes, casting that tax burden onto the residents of Saskatchewan; |
| Whereas it would be unfair to other businesses operating in Saskatchewan, including small businesses, if a major corporation were exempt from certain provincial taxes, giving that corporation a significant competitive advantage over those other businesses, to the detriment of farmers, consumers and producers in the province; |
| Whereas it would not be consistent with Saskatchewan's position as an equal partner in Confederation if there were restrictions on its taxing powers that do not apply to other provinces; |
| Whereas on August 29, 1966, the then President of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company, Ian D. Sinclair, advised the then federal Minister of Transport, Jack Pickersgill, that the Board of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company had no objection to constitutional amendments to eliminate the tax exemption; |
| Whereas section 43 of the Constitution Act, 1982 provides that an amendment to the Constitution of Canada may be made by proclamation issued by the Governor General under the Great Seal of Canada where so authorized by resolutions of the Senate and House of Commons and of the legislative assembly of each province to which the amendment applies; |
| Whereas the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan, on November 29, 2021, adopted a resolution authorizing an amendment to the Constitution of Canada; |
| Now, therefore, the House of Commons resolves that an amendment to the Constitution of Canada be authorized to be made by proclamation issued by Her Excellency the Governor General under the Great Seal of Canada in accordance with the annexed schedule. |
| SCHEDULE |
| AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION OF CANADA |
| 1. Section 24 of the Saskatchewan Act is repealed. |
| 2. The repeal of section 24 is deemed to have been made on August 29, 1966, and is retroactive to that date. |
| CITATION |
| 3. This Amendment may be cited as the Constitution Amendment, [year of proclamation] (Saskatchewan Act). |
| Notice also received from: |
| , , ,, , , ,, , ,, and — December 3, 2021 |