HANSARD: What happened to caregivers' PR on arrival promised by the government?
Mr. Speaker, I am rising to add my perspective on the question of privilege raised on Friday by my colleague the member for London—Fanshawe. The opposition deputy House leader explicitly named me and put completely false information on the record regarding my conduct in the lobby as an attempt to deflect from the deliberate, premeditated plan to disrupt the voting proceedings in the House. I am rising to correct the record and put on the record what actually happened.
Prior to the vote, on my way to the washroom, I overheard the Conservative lobby staff instruct Conservative MPs to disrupt proceedings in the chamber once the NDP rose to vote. He then egged them on and said, “The NDP deserves it.” I shook my head, made a comment under my breath and left the lobby. Not only was there no intimidation, but there was no heated exchange of words between me and that staffer. In other words, the Conservative staff was suggesting the NDP deserves to have its House privilege violated, in clear contravention of section 16 of the Standing Orders.
When the vote took place, sure enough, the Conservatives carried out their premeditated plan to deliberately violate the privilege of NDP members. During the vote, I was not able to hear if my vote was registered and I did not know if in fact it had been or not. I stood for some time watching and waiting. After the vote, a number of MPs and staff had gathered, and I repeated that the staffer in question had instructed Conservative MPs to disrupt the House, which he affirmed. I also raised this with the Conservative whip and asked if it amounted to bullying, to which he responded that he knew nothing about it. The question is, if he knew nothing about it, then who instructed the Conservative lobby whip staff to disrupt the House? Was it the leader of the official opposition? If not, did the staff act on their own?
I understand what happens in the lobby is not subject to debate in the House, but the member for Mégantic—L'Érable brought it up, and I need to defend myself and put the truth on the record. The member's fabrication does not end there. In his comment, he said an NDP staffer had to “physically take hold of” me. This is absolutely untrue. When I returned from the washroom and walked through the lobby, I was not manhandled by anyone. On the contrary, I proactively reported what I had overheard to the NDP lobby staff, who were already aware at the time that the Conservatives intended to violate Standing Order 16 by disrupting the House when the NDP got up to vote. This was reported to the clerk so the Speaker would be informed and aware.
It is deeply disturbing for the Conservatives to resort to fabricating such a story to malign me and the hard-working staff of the NDP. Mr. Speaker, not only are the member's comments completely untrue, but I think as you deliberate, you should be aware of the premeditation and intentional nature of the disruption of Standing Order 16 by the Conservative MPs on Thursday. The truth needs to be told and I hope this information will assist you in that deliberation.
