{"time": "2019-05-15 17:50:00", "attribution": {"en": "Mr. David Christopherson (Hamilton Centre, NDP)", "fr": "M. David Christopherson (Hamilton-Centre, NPD)"}, "content": {"en": "

Madam Speaker, I want to begin by thanking colleagues both in the first hour and specifically today.

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My friend for Beauport\u2014Limoilou was very generous in his remarks. He was very kind with regard to my time here. I am reminded that there is an axiom in politics that I am finding to be absolutely accurate, which is that one is never more loved than when one first gets here and when one leaves. It is the stuff in between that tends to be a little rocky.

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I want to thank my good friend and caucus colleague for Trois-Rivi\u00e8res for his remarks and also for taking the time to care enough about this issue to work with me to ensure that we have wording that, quite frankly, stands the best chance of passing.

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Finally, I want to thank my colleague from Sackville\u2014Preston\u2014Chezzetcook for his remarks. I appreciate his taking the time to make those remarks.

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Here is where I am on this. I originally had a motion that sort of spoke to the principle. My goal, if it carried, was that it would lay the groundwork for the next parliament to pick up that torch and run with it. We then went through the tragedy of the untimely death of Michael Ferguson, who was a phenomenal Canadian and an amazing agent of Parliament. I thought this could be in his memory, because he was one of those, as far as I know, along with all the other agents of Parliament, who signed a document recommending this change. The government likes to brag about the quality of appointments, but these very appointments recommended the very change that is in front of us right now. We cannot say that they are high-quality people with great advice and then ignore them.

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There has been a movement in the last few months in particular and over the last year, especially among new members, which I am not. The new members who came in wanted to reform this place. In large part, they wanted to make sure of the relevance of ordinary MPs, meaning those who are not in a leadership capacity or ministers of the Crown. They would become more meaningful, and being here would have a purpose.

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There are people working in the background now. We now have a democracy caucus. There are cross-party discussions. There are proposals in front of the House and in front of PROC to consider further changes. It is not easy. It is complicated.

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The beauty of this motion and this matter is that the power to hire the agents of Parliament is already ours. We do not have to change a single law. All we have to do is follow a different procedure. If a majority of members in the House, never mind government caucuses, ministers or whips, stand up and say yes to this motion, we will have struck the single biggest blow against keeping backbenchers from playing a meaningful role. It is one vote.

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Will the process be completed in this term? No, but I would hope that it would at least get started. More importantly, it would send a message to the next parliament and those after it, which is that in this Parliament, we cared enough about our work to stand up to our own leadership and say that we are members of Parliament, and we will oversee the hiring of our own agents. That is what this is about. It is about us standing up in the majority and saying that enough is enough. These are our agents and our process, and we are now standing up and taking ownership of it, and from this day forward, all agents of Parliament will be hired by Parliament and not by the executive.

", "fr": "

Madame la Pr\u00e9sidente, je veux commencer mon intervention en remerciant les coll\u00e8gues qui ont particip\u00e9 \u00e0 ce d\u00e9bat depuis le tout d\u00e9but, et en particulier ceux qui ont pris la parole aujourd'hui.

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Mon coll\u00e8gue de Beauport\u2014Limoilou a \u00e9t\u00e9 tr\u00e8s g\u00e9n\u00e9reux dans ses commentaires. Il a tenu des propos fort aimables sur mon travail \u00e0 la Chambre. Il y a un axiome qui dit, fort justement, qu'un politicien n'est jamais plus appr\u00e9ci\u00e9 que lorsqu'il entre sur la sc\u00e8ne politique et lorsqu'il la quitte. C'est la p\u00e9riode entre les deux qui est habituellement un peu houleuse.

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Je souhaite remercier mon bon ami et coll\u00e8gue le d\u00e9put\u00e9 de Trois-Rivi\u00e8res de ses remarques, ainsi que de s'\u00eatre suffisamment int\u00e9ress\u00e9 \u00e0 cette question pour travailler avec moi afin de r\u00e9diger la motion de fa\u00e7on \u00e0 lui donner la meilleure chance d'\u00eatre adopt\u00e9e.

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Enfin, je tiens \u00e0 remercier mon coll\u00e8gue de Sackville\u2014Preston\u2014Chezzetcook de ses commentaires. Je lui sais gr\u00e9 d'avoir pris le temps de les faire.

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Voici o\u00f9 j'en suis. Au d\u00e9part, j'avais pr\u00e9sent\u00e9 une motion qui, en quelque sorte, partait d'un principe. Si la motion \u00e9tait adopt\u00e9e, j'esp\u00e9rais que la Chambre pourrait y donner suite lors de la prochaine l\u00e9gislature. C'\u00e9tait avant la mort tragique et pr\u00e9matur\u00e9e de Michael Ferguson, qui \u00e9tait un Canadien extraordinaire et un merveilleux agent du Parlement. Apr\u00e8s son d\u00e9c\u00e8s, j'ai pens\u00e9 que cette motion pouvait lui rendre hommage parce que, \u00e0 ce que je sache, avec tous les autres agents du Parlement, il a sign\u00e9 un document recommandant ce changement. Le gouvernement aime se vanter de la qualit\u00e9 de ses nominations. Or, ce sont les personnes qu'il a nomm\u00e9es qui recommandent le changement propos\u00e9 dans la motion \u00e0 l'\u00e9tude. Nous ne pouvons pas affirmer que ces gens sont hautement qualifi\u00e9s et qu'ils donnent d'excellents conseils, puis ignorer ce qu'ils ont \u00e0 dire.

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Au cours de la derni\u00e8re ann\u00e9e, et surtout des derniers mois, nous avons pu observer une tendance, particuli\u00e8rement chez les nouveaux d\u00e9put\u00e9s, groupe dont je ne fais pas partie. D\u00e8s leur arriv\u00e9e, les nouveaux d\u00e9put\u00e9s ont voulu r\u00e9former la Chambre. Essentiellement, ils voulaient garantir la pertinence des simples d\u00e9put\u00e9s, \u00e0 savoir ceux qui n'ont pas un r\u00f4le de leadership ou de ministre de la Couronne. Ainsi, ces d\u00e9put\u00e9s pourraient jouer un r\u00f4le plus important, et leur pr\u00e9sence ici aurait une raison d'\u00eatre.

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Il y a d\u00e9sormais des gens qui travaillent en coulisse. Il existe maintenant un Caucus des d\u00e9mocraties. Il y a des discussions entre les partis. On propose certaines choses \u00e0 la Chambre et au comit\u00e9 de la proc\u00e9dure pour apporter d'autres modifications. Ce n'est pas facile. C'est un sujet complexe.

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La beaut\u00e9 de cette motion et de cette question, c'est que le pouvoir d'embaucher des agents du Parlement nous appartient d\u00e9j\u00e0. Nous n'avons pas \u00e0 modifier une seule loi. Nous avons seulement \u00e0 suivre une proc\u00e9dure diff\u00e9rente. Si la majorit\u00e9 de d\u00e9put\u00e9s \u2014 oublions les membres du caucus du gouvernement, les ministres et les whips \u2014 appuie cette motion, nous aurons port\u00e9 le plus gros coup possible contre ceux qui s'opposent au fait de permettre aux d\u00e9put\u00e9s d'arri\u00e8re-ban de jouer un r\u00f4le plus significatif. Il ne s'agit que d'un vote.

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Est-ce que le processus sera men\u00e9 \u00e0 terme au cours de la pr\u00e9sente l\u00e9gislature? Non, mais j'esp\u00e8re que nous pourrons au moins l'amorcer. Chose plus importante encore, il ferait comprendre aux l\u00e9gislatures qui suivront que, au cours de la pr\u00e9sente l\u00e9gislature, nous avons pris notre travail tellement au s\u00e9rieux que nous avons tenu t\u00eate \u00e0 nos propres dirigeants et que, en tant que d\u00e9put\u00e9s, nous avons d\u00e9cid\u00e9 de superviser nous-m\u00eames la s\u00e9lection des agents du Parlement. C'est la raison d'\u00eatre de cette motion. Elle nous incite \u00e0 dire qu'assez, c'est assez. Il s'agit de nos agents et de notre processus. Nous d\u00e9cidons d'assumer la responsabilit\u00e9 du processus pour que, dor\u00e9navant, tous les agents du Parlement soient s\u00e9lectionn\u00e9s par le Parlement, plut\u00f4t que par le pouvoir ex\u00e9cutif.

"}, "url": "/debates/2019/5/15/david-christopherson-2/", "politician_url": "/politicians/david-christopherson/", "politician_membership_url": "/politicians/memberships/1373/", "procedural": false, "source_id": "10635594", "h1": {"en": "Private Members' Business", "fr": "Affaires \u00c9manant Des D\u00e9put\u00e9s"}, "h2": {"en": "Officers of Parliament", "fr": "Les agents du Parlement"}, "document_url": "/debates/2019/5/15/", "related": {"document_speeches_url": "/speeches/?document=%2Fdebates%2F2019%2F5%2F15%2F"}}