House of Commons.

• Date: 22 March 2021
• Author: Hawkes, Marielle

This account covers the period of October to the end of December 2020.

Legislation

On November 4, 2020, the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Pablo Rodriguez (Honore-Mercier, LIB), requested and received unanimous consent for a motion to dispose of Bill C-9, An Act to amend the Income Tax Act (Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy and Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy).

As provided for in the motion, the bill was referred to and considered in Committee of the Whole on November 5. On November 6, the bill was considered at report stage, and, exceptionally as it was a Friday, a vote was held on a report stage motion, following which the bill was deemed concurred in on division at report stage and deemed read a third time and passed on division.

Procedure / Privilege

On October 20, 2020, the House debated a supply day opposition motion in the name of the Leader of the Opposition, Erin O'Toole (Durham, CPC), to create a special committee on anti-corruption. Mr. Rodriguez indicated that the House's decision on this motion would be considered a matter of confidence. In response, the House Leader of the Official Opposition, Gerard Deltell (Louis-Saint-Laurent), proposed an amendment to change the name of the special committee (replacing "anti-corruption" with "allegations of misuse of public funds by the government") and adding a clause that "the establishment of the committee shall not, in the opinion of the House, constitute legitimate grounds for calling a general election." Neither the motion nor the amendment was adopted.

On October 28, 2020, pursuant to Standing Order 32(7), Mr. Rodriguez tabled the Report to Parliament outlining the reasons for the prorogation of the First Session of the 43rd Parliament. This is the first use of the Standing Order (which requires the government to table such a document within 20 sitting days of the second or subsequent session of a Parliament) since its adoption in 2017.

On November 19, 2020, pursuant to Section 28 of the Conflict of Interest Code for Members of the House of Commons, the Speaker tabled a report from the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner entitled "Maloney Report." In the report, the Commissioner concluded that James Maloney (Etobicoke--Lakeshore, LIB) had contravened paragraph 20(1)(i) of the Code and that no mitigation circumstances applied given the length of the delay in the member's submission of the Disclosure Report in question; therefore, the Commissioner recommended...