The leader of the Trudeau government in the House, Mark Holland, returned to the charge to try to set up a joint committee to study the use of the Emergency Measures Act.
Posted at 1:12 p.m.
It is the act itself that provides for the creation of a joint committee of MPs and senators to examine the ways in which last resort legislation has been used.
The motion tabled by MP Holland calls for this joint committee to be made up of seven MPs and four senators. As for the deputies, three would come from the Liberal Party, two from the Conservative Party, one from the Bloc Québécois and one from the New Democratic Party (NDP).
This committee would be co-chaired by the Bloc MP, the NDP MP and a senator chosen by the Senate.
The vice-presidency would be held jointly by a Liberal MP and a Conservative MP. Since the start of discussions on the creation of this joint committee, the Conservatives have opposed the proposed co-chairs. According to them, the co-chairmanship on the side of the deputies belongs to them, just like that of the side of the Senate.
The deputy leader of the Conservatives, Luc Berthold, as well as their parliamentary leader, John Brassard, are particularly opposed to an NDP co-chair. They both argued last week that “Traditionally, oversight committees are chaired by the official opposition, not by a member of the fourth party who sees himself as an extension of government.”
Mark Holland, who criticizes the Conservatives for wanting to lead the work of the committee alone, believes that the latest version proposed is “more reasonable and more balanced”. He intends to submit it to the 338 deputies this Monday in order to be able to go ahead with the study of the application of the Emergency Measures Act.