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Thursday, December 4, 2008 · sitting No. 13

Commons debates economic update before prorogation

The House devoted the bulk of its sitting to government orders on the economic and fiscal statement. Conservative MP Pierre Lemieux defended the update as a necessary step to protect Canada's future and warned against a coalition that includes the Bloc Québécois. He said former premier Jacques Parizeau had applauded the Bloc's election result.

Liberal MP Brian Murphy questioned the Prime Minister's statements about flags during the coalition signing and noted past reliance on Bloc support. Conservative MP Pierre Lemieux replied that no Canadian flags stood directly behind the leaders and that Bloc votes for government bills did not equate to coalition membership.

Minister Rob Nicholson later informed the House that the Governor General had issued proclamations proroguing Parliament.

From the Hansard record of the sitting. Full Hansard

No CPAC Question Period upload is on file for this day. CPAC’s channel goes back to December 2019.

Who held the floor · 2008-12-04

Government (Conservative)OppositionOver the day: government 35%, opposition 65% of the words spokenGovernment business▲ Government side held the floor▼ Opposition held the floorOpened 10:0011:00Last speech 11:50Time of day, Ottawa · the House sat 1 h 50 min · each dot is a stretch of debate, placed at the minute it began
30Another sitting that went nowhereThe House devoted nearly all its time to the Economic and Fiscal Statement yet passed no bills and held no votes. Parliament was prorogued after routine petitions and one privilege matter.AI-rated Score out of 100; the verdict and the answer ratings behind it are a model’s reading. How the AI rates this

AI-rated The sitting score and the rating of each answer come from a language model reading Hansard. How the AI rates this

Other moments

Petitions

Liberal MP Mauril Bélanger tabled a petition from Ottawa—Vanier and the national capital region calling for a ring road and bridges to remove heavy trucks from the downtown core.

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Questions on the Order Paper

Conservative MP Tom Lukiwski asked that all questions on the order paper be allowed to stand and received unanimous consent.

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Question of Privilege

The Speaker began a ruling on a question of privilege raised by the member for Malpeque concerning a letter sent by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources and for the Canadian Wheat Board.

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Economic and Fiscal Statement

Bloc Québécois MP Thierry St-Cyr called the Conservative focus on flag placement during the coalition signing a fallacious argument and questioned differing French and English messaging.

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