Elizabeth May: I will always oppose closure motions except in truly extraordinary circumstances

Speaker: Ms. May
Time: 26/10/2022 16:54:35
Context: Questions and Comments

Ms. Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands, GP): Mr. Speaker, I am restricting my comments right now to the issue of time allocation. I will oppose time allocation on every instance, unless the circumstances are truly exigent. What we saw happen and I first observed in this place when Stephen Harper's government had a majority was that for the first time in parliamentary history closure motions such as this became routine. We lamented it at the time. At the time, we, including the Liberal third-party members and the New Democrats, all lamented and opposed the fact that, when I counted it up, there had been more closure motions in the last 40 days than in the previous 40 years. We kept counting them up and seeing how egregious this was. I will oppose closure motions except in a case where we see Canadians are desperate for financial help and we are slowing something down.

This bill is very much needed. With respect to the case that was just referred to by the hon. justice minister, the judge was someone who, two weeks before being appointed to the bench, was caught on video buying cocaine. This is not someone we want on the bench, but the current state of the rights of a judge to keep going through appeals lasts a long time. I agree that it is egregious. The bill should be passed, but not at the cost of our democracy.