A take note debate is scheduled tonight on Canada's role in the Mali crisis.
Last week Canada announced $13 million in new humanitarian aid for Mali. The government there has been fighting al-Qaeda-linked insurgents in the country's north, with the help of a French-led international mission.
The government has ruled out combat activity, sending only a C-17 transport plane as requested by France. The NDP agrees, but also supports using troops to guard Canadian assets on the ground, which is the case according to recent media reports.
Liberal interim leader Bob Rae told reporters last week that Canada "should not be rejecting a partnership with the United Nations" and international partners, adding the government has failed to adequately support the U.N.-sanctioned force.
MPs switch to a Committee of the Whole for this style of debate, which looks at broader national issues rather than specific bills. MPs can speak as many times as they wish – 10 minutes at a time.
About Committees of the Whole
Committees of the Whole date back to the 1500s and the creation of the committee system in England's Parliament. Major bills were debated in a less restrictive forum than formal proceedings of the House of Commons overseen by a Speaker. Canadian legislatures adopted the custom with little change until 1968, when the current system of standing committees was established.
Today, the House of Commons switches to this less formal setting on rare occasions. One notable example was the 2008 official apology to residential school victims. Sitting in a Committee of the Whole allowed First Nations representatives to sit on the floor of the Commons and deliver remarks after the prime minister and opposition leaders spoke.
The Speaker leaves their customary chair and moves to the Clerk's seat at the main table on the Commons floor. MPs can speak more often than a normal House debate.
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Earlier in the day, MPs debate an NDP opposition day motion.
That the House call on the government to reverse devastating changes it has made to Employment Insurance which restrict access and benefits, depress wages, push vulnerable Canadians into poverty and download costs to the provinces;
and reinstate the Extra Five Weeks pilot project to avoid the impending “black hole” of financial insecurity facing workers in seasonal industries and the regional economies they support.
The House of Commons also votes on last week's NDP motion on aboriginal Canadians.
Two pieces of private member's business are also on the agenda: a bill from Conservative MP Cheryl Gallant to restrict fee payments for third-party consultants to disabled persons, and a motion by NDP MP Mylène Freeman on financial support for rural sanitation:
That, in the opinion of the House, the government should study the possibility of establishing, in cooperation with the provinces and territories, one or more financial support programs, inspired by the one proposed by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, that would bring up to standard the septic systems of homes not connected to a sanitation system, in an effort to ensure urban/rural balance, lake protection, water quality and public health.
-Andrew Thomson
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