By Jeff Henson

MP WANTS TO GO TO WORK

Warkentin slams plan to suspend all regular House of Commons sittings until September

Jun 1, 2020 | 5:00 AM

Our Member of Parliament is not a fan of a plan to suspend all regular sittings in the House of Commons until September.

The plan, which was proposed last week by the governing Liberals and supported by the NDP and Green parties, will see the special all-party COVID-19 committee continue to act as a stand-in until June 17th, followed by four special sittings in the House of Commons over the summer.

Grande Prairie-Mackenzie Conservative MP Chris Warkentin says this format though will only deal with issues concerning COVID-19.

“The speaker has already ruled on a number of occasions that Members of Parliament are ruled out of order for asking questions that don’t involve an issue around COVID-19. And we believe that the Prime Minister needs to be held accountable for anything and everything that the government is doing.”

“The government is continuing to make decisions, continuing to make policy announcements, and continuing to change regulations.”

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Warkentin feels with the economy re-opening across the country, that Parliament should be considered an essential service.

“There is no more important element of society than the democratic voice of Canadians. So, at a time when restaurants are re-opening and hair salons re-open, we believe that Parliament should be re-opened as well.”

“We believe that Parliament should have re-opened first, as most legislatures have and most city councils have re-opened across the country.”

Warkentin says the current format makes it difficult to hold the prime minister and the rest of the government accountable through means like question period.

He adds in the midst of a minority government, the Prime Minister must involve all opposition parties in the decision making process.