New Parliament kicks off with friction over vaccine mandate

OTTAWA —
Parliamentarians are back to work in Ottawa today, with friction over the new mandatory vaccination policy already front and centre, making it likely one of the first issues the soon-to-be-elected House of Commons Speaker will have to face.

Monday is the first day of the 44th Parliament, seeing a mix of new and re-elected MPs return to the House of Commons for the first time in five months, and two months after the 2021 federal election.

It is also the first day that new rules requiring anyone entering House of Commons and Senate buildings be fully vaccinated or have a valid medical exemption are in place, and the Liberals are already casting doubt on how the Conservatives are abiding by the policy.

The rules state that in order to enter Hill buildings, all MPs and their staff, as well as all others who work on the Hill, either have to be fully vaccinated or have a valid medical “contraindication” and show a recent negative test result to the House authorities who have been put in charge of confirming who is cleared to come onto the premises.

The Liberals, New Democrats, Greens, and Bloc Quebecois have all said their members are all fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole has said that his entire caucus will follow the rules, meaning if present in person, they’ll be fully vaccinated or have an exemption, but the party continues to refuse to specify how many of its members have exemptions, with previous unconfirmed indications that approximately a ‘handful’ of the caucus is unvaccinated.

“Let’s be frank, from the chief medical officers of health, the likelihood that you have a medical exemption from a vaccination is one to five in 100,000. The Conservative caucus is 119 people. Statistically the likelihood that they would have multiple people who are exempt on that basis, is extraordinarily low,” Government House Leader Mark Holland told reporters on Monday during a press conference in West Block.

While speculating on the number of Conservative MPs with exemptions, as he said he does not actually know how many may be unvaccinated, he said “the math doesn’t add up.”

While one Liberal did have an exemption, that member has since been immunized, Holland said.

He’s now suggesting that the policy, which he championed and helped pass, may need reworking to ensure that the House administration is verifying medical exemptions based on a limited number of physician-supported reasons.

Tied to the vaccine mandate, Holland also expressed frustration that after weeks of talks, no consensus has been reached to reinstate what’s supposed to be a temporary, COVID-19-necessitated hybrid sitting structure.

The government has the backing of the NDP in wanting to see the hybrid sittings resume, though both the Conservatives and Bloc Quebecois have said they are ready for a full resumption of in-person proceedings.

Without all-party backing, it’ll likely mean that a motion will have to be presented in the next few days that is debated and then voted on before members could resume participating and voting virtually from their ridings.

Holland said that with the Conservatives resisting reviving hybrid sittings, it could mean MPs will be disenfranchised from participating in-person if they have to isolate, as is the case with at least one Conservative this week: Beauce, Que., MP Richard Lehoux, who is fully vaccinated but tested positive for COVID-19 just days after attending an in-person caucus retreat in Ottawa.

“It’s important for people to feel safe here, and it’s frustrating to me that they would not provide that information and then say this place should be sitting shoulder-to-shoulder, force a vote with every member in the Chamber, and they’re not even telling people what their status is,” Holland said. “That’s not fair.”

FIRST UP: SPEAKER ELECTION

The first and main order of business today will be the election of the next House of Commons Speaker, whose job it is to oversee the goings-on in the Chamber and act as the impartial adjudicator over all House business.

The process will kick off at 1 p.m., with each candidate given an opportunity to give a speech making the case to their colleagues why they should be given the job, before MPs will be able to cast their ballots, in person, and secretly. It’s a ranked ballot system, meaning it could take a few rounds of reallocating of support by the House officers conducting the vote, before a victor is declared.

Once the winner is named, they will be invited to take the chair. Traditionally they are ushered up by the prime minister and Official Opposition leader, and the new Speaker is to display some degree of ceremonial resistance to walk up, given the role in the past was one MPs were actually reluctant to take.

After the vote, the House will likely adjourn for the day.

Here are the candidates who are in the running for the role, which comes with a nearly $89,000 salary top-up.

• Incumbent Liberal MP Anthony Rota
• Liberal MP Alexandra Mendes
• Conservative MP Chris d’Entremont
• Conservative MP Marc Dalton
• Conservative MP Joel Godin
• NDP MP Carol Hughes
• Green MP Elizabeth May

The deputy and assistant deputy speakers will likely be named in subsequent days, and generally are decided upon by consensus amongst the party leaders.

With the Conservatives already indicating an intention to this week raise a question of privilege over the Board of Internal Economy’s decision to impose the House vaccine mandate, deciding on whether or not the current policy will stand or be modified in any way will likely fall on whomever is elected today.

According to House officials, while it may be unorthodox to entertain a question of privilege before the opening motions are all dealt with, it’ll be up to the Speaker to determine how quickly this issue could be raised and dealt with.

FEDS OUTLINE PRIORITY BILLS

The main event of the opening of a new Parliament is always the speech from the throne, which will take place on Tuesday afternoon in the Senate. There, Canadians will hear what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s key priorities and commitments will be for the months ahead.

Many of the key issues facing parliamentarians in 2021 are the same as those that the previous Parliament was occupied with: The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and proper health and economic responses to it, affordability, Indigenous reconciliation, and climate change.

“This next chapter of our work together is about finishing the fight against COVID-19, taking bold action against climate change, investing in affordable and accessible child care for families all across the country, walking the path of reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, supporting better health and mental health care, and so much more,” reads the latest Liberal fundraising email sent Monday morning.

This new minority Parliament’s makeup is quite similar to the previous minority Parliament, with Canadians sending back to Ottawa a near-identical number of MPs from each party as were elected in 2019, requiring the government to find allies across the aisle to help pass their initiatives.

The Liberals have a lot to get going on with just 20 days on the sitting calendar before the holiday break.

Holland told reporters Monday morning to expect a few key bills be tabled imminently, including: the anticipated extension of COVID-19 aid benefits and implementation of 10 days of paid sick leave for all federal workers; a new bill imposing criminal sanctions on those who threaten health care workers or medical facilities; as well as the long-promised ban on LGBTQ2S+ conversion therapy practices.

“I think with goodwill, all of the things that I’ve mentioned are possible in terms of adoption by the end of the Christmas period,” Holland said.

While the debate on the throne speech can take up to six days, it’s up to the government to decide when they are allotted or whether all six will be used, meaning they don’t have to be consecutive. This means that bills could be tabled early this week and advanced even if debate on the throne speech has not concluded.