Today: December 7, 2021

Today: December 7, 2021

By Andrew Thomson | UPDATED 3:42pmET

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was at today's question period; on his way into the chamber reporters asked whether Canada will join the diplomatic boycott of the 2012 Olympic Winter Games in China.

Watch question period:

This morning the government re-introduced a bill on reforming mandatory minimum sentences that would represent a major shift in drug policy away from incarceration and towards treatment.

Bill C-5 (the former Bill C-22) would repeal mandatory minimum sentences for certain drug offences that disproportionately affect Indigenous and Black offenders and those struggling with addictions. Judges would have more flexibility to impose conditional sentence orders (CSOs) when an offender faces less than two years imprisonment but does not pose a public safety threat.

C-5 would also force police and prosecutors to consider different options for simple possession charges, including treatment programs or conditional sentences for those posing no threat to public safety.

Indigenous people comprise roughly 30% of the federal prison population despite being only 5% of Canada’s overall population. The disparity is even higher in many provincial jails. Black Canadians make up 10% of the federal prison population, compared to 3.5% of the overall population.

The Standing Committee on Finance holds two meetings today on Bill C-2. 

But with most other committees not yet running, the House will sit in committee of the whole tonight to consider $13.4 billion of supplementary estimates for the 2021-22 fiscal year.

As part of last month's motion on hybrid sittings and mandatory vaccination for in-person attendance, the House agreed to refer supplementary estimates to committee of the whole this week instead of the normal process of using standing committees. 

During the day, debate unfolds on a Conservative motion to form a special parliamentary committee on Canada's response to the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan, including plans to evacuate Canadians and Afghan nationals.

Read the full Conservative motion:

That, given that real-time parliamentary oversight was impossible due to the dissolution of Parliament, the House appoint a special committee with a mandate to conduct hearings to examine and review the events related to the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban, including, but not limited to, the government's contingency planning for that event and the subsequent efforts to evacuate, or otherwise authorize entry to Canada of, Canadian citizens, and interpreters, contractors and other Afghans who had assisted the Canadian Armed Forces or other Canadian organizations, provided that:

(a) the committee be composed of 12 members, of which six shall be from the government party, four shall be from the Official Opposition, one shall be from the Bloc Quebecois, and one shall be from the New Democratic Party;

(b) the members shall be named by their respective whip by depositing with the Clerk of the House the list of their members to serve on the committee within 24 hours of the adoption of this order;

(c) membership substitutions be permitted, if required, in the manner provided for in Standing Order 114(2);

(d) changes to the membership of the committee shall be effective immediately after notification by the relevant whip has been filed with the Clerk of the House;

(e) the Clerk of the House shall convene an organizational meeting of the committee no later than Friday, December 17, 2021;

(f) the committee be chaired by a member of the government party and, notwithstanding Standing Order 106(2), there shall be one vice-chair from each of the other recognized parties;

(g) quorum of the committee be as provided for in Standing Order 118 and that the Chair be authorized to hold meetings to receive evidence and to have that evidence printed when a quorum is not present, provided that at least four members are present, including one member of the opposition and one member of the govenunent party;

(h) the committee be granted all of the powers of a standing committee as provided in the Standing Orders;

(i) the provisions of Standing Order 106(4) shall also extend to the committee, provided that any request shall be signed by members representing at least two recognized parties;

(j) the committee have the power to authorize video and audio broadcasting of any or all of its proceedings;

(k) the Prime Minister, the Minister of International Development, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Public Safety, the Minister of National Defence, the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, the member for Notre-Darne-de-Grace-Westmount, and other ministers and senior officials, be invited to appear as witnesses from time to time as the committee sees fit;

(l) the committee be instructed to present a final report within six months of the adoption of this order;

(m) the committee's initial work shall be supported by an order of the House issuing for all memoranda, e-mails, documents, notes or other records from the Privy Council Office, the Department of National Defence, the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development, and the Department of Citizenship and Immigration, including the Office of the Prime Minister and the relevant ministers' offices, which refer to:

(i) the initiation of evacuation planning,

(ii) instructions to implement those plans,

(iii) the effect upon the implementation of those plans attributable to the dissolution of Parliament, the caretaker convention, or the facts that relevant ministers were simultaneously occupied with seeking re-election to the House and that many ministerial exempt staff were on leaves of absence, or

(iv) the determination of the number of individuals who would be evacuated or otherwise authorized to enter Canada, provided that,

(v) these documents shall be deposited with the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel, in both official languages, within one month of the adoption of this order,

(vi) a copy of the documents shall also be deposited with the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel in both official languages within one month of the adoption of this order, with any proposed redaction which, in the government's opinion, could reasonably be expected (A) to compromise national security, military tactics or strategy of the armed forces of Canada or an allied country, or intelligence sources or methods, or (B) to reveal the identity or location of any Canadian citizen in Afghanistan or of any interpreter, contractor or other Afghan individual who had assisted the Canadian Armed Forces or other Canadian organizations,

(vii) the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel shall promptly thereafter notify the Speaker, who shall forthwith inform the House, whether he is satisfied the documents were produced as ordered;

(viii) the Speaker shall cause the documents, as redacted pursuant to subparagraph (vi), to be laid upon the table at the next earliest opportunity and, after being tabled, they shall stand referred to the committee,

(ix) the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel shall discuss with the committee, at an in camera meeting, to be held within two weeks of the documents being tabled pursuant to subparagraph (viii), whether he agrees with the redactions proposed by the govermnent pursuant to subparagraph (vi),

(x) the committee may, after hearing from the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel pursuant to subparagraph (ix), accept the proposed redactions or, reject some or all the proposed redactions and request the production of those unredacted documents in the manner to be determined by the committee; and

(n) any proceedings before the committee, when hybrid committee meetings are authorized, in relation to a motion to exercise the committee's power to send for persons, papers and records shall, if not previously disposed of, be interrupted upon the earlier of the completion of four hours of consideration or one sitting week after the motion was first moved, and, in turn, every question necessary for the disposal of the motion shall be put forthwith and successively, without further debate or amendment.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh outlined the affordability measures his party wants to see included next week in the government's fiscal update.

Singh also confirmed his party's support for a diplomatic boycott of Beijing Olympics and called on the Liberal government to follow the United States in announcing the measure.