Liberals, NDP vote to waive normal Commons proceedings during pandemic

New Democrats joined forces Tuesday with the governing Liberals to waive normalHouseofCommonsproceedings for another four months during the COVID-19 pandemic.

They voted in favourofa government motion to continue with an expanded versionofthe special COVID-19 committee that has acted as a stand-in for the chamber over the past month.

The motion passed by a voteof28-23 in a skeletonHouseof Commons, with Liberal, NDP and Green MPs supporting it.

The Conservative and Bloc Quebecois MPs who had argued for a resumptionofnormalCommonsoperations with a reduced numberofMPs in the chamber voted against.

As a result, the special committee will resume sitting Wednesday but in a new hybrid format, with a small numberofMPs in the Commonsand others participating virtually via two large screens set up on either sideofthe Speaker's chair.

The committee which has been meeting twice a week virtually and once a week in person with reduced numbers in theCommons will now meet four times each week for the next month and four times over the summer.

A previous restriction that prevented MPs from asking questions on issues other than the pandemic will also be lifted.

TheCommonshas been largely adjourned since mid-March, when the country went into lockdown to curb the spreadofthe deadly virus that causes COVID-19. It has met only briefly to pass emergency aid legislation and several times to come to agreement on how the chamber should function while the pandemic continues.

The last agreement expired Monday, triggering a brief resumption of"normal" proceedings in theCommons, with only about 50ofthe country's 338 MPs actually in the chamber.

Prior to the vote, Conservative and Bloc MPs contended that continuing normal operations in theCommonsis necessary for the proper functioningofCanada's democracy.

They argued that the special committee structure does not allow MPs to use all the tools they would normally use in theCommonsto hold the government to account, including opposition days, introducing motions, posing written questions and debating and voting on legislation on topics other than the novel coronavirus.

'Fake Parliament'

ConservativeHouseleader Candice Bergen called the special committee "feeble" and a "fake Parliament."

However, until the issueofhow MPs can vote electronically is resolved, Liberals and New Democrats maintained the special committee is the best way to continue since it allows all 338 MPs to be involved in the proceedings not just those who are in the chamber.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said earlier Tuesday that there are still limitations in allowing MPs to vote virtually that would effectively disenfranchise millionsofCanadians whose representatives would have no official say on government policies.

"I think it would be important to ensure that Canadians across the country have an ability to make their voices and decisions heard in Parliament through that process. That continues to be something we are working on," he said.

The motion calls on the procedure andHouseaffairs committee to further study how a secure electronic voting system could be set up.

Bloc, 'Sulk(ing)in a corner,' saysRodriguez

The committee has heard from experts that there may be constitutional and technical concerns over electronic voting, which may also violate traditional principlesofparliamentary procedure.

But Bloc MP Stephane Bergeron contended that the issueofvoting is a "fallacious argument" being used to "silence Parliament."

He maintained that a solution to electronic voting could have been found had MPs put their minds to it.

Bergeron also accused the governmentofsecretly negotiating a deal to secure the NDP's support for continuing with the COVID-19 committee format, including a promise to work with the provinces to ensure workers are allowed at least 10 daysofpaid sick leave during the pandemic. That is an intrusion into provincial jurisdiction, he said.

Because the Liberals hold only a minorityofseats in the Commons, they need the supportofat least oneofthe main opposition parties to pass the motion.

GovernmentHouseleader Pablo Rodriguez chided the Bloc which had refused to take part in the most recent negotiations about the futureoftheCommonsbecause it maintained the government had reneged on previous agreements for going off to "sulk in a corner."

New Democrat MP Charlie Angus went after the Conservatives, saying it's "pretty rich" for them to complain about shutting down Parliament when the previous minority governmentofStephen Harper prorogued Parliament altogether in 2008 to avoid defeat in a confidence vote.

They'll be able to resume "howling at the moon, the abuseofthe privilegesofthe most privileged people in Canada" in September but, in the meantime, he argued there's work to get done to help Canadians weather the COVID-19 crisis.

"I want to get to that work tomorrow so that we can start to drill down and ask serious questionsofministers, where we have a good periodoftime to actually go through the issues, push, find out and insist on responses. So let's just get down to it," Angus said.