Joint Statement by the Opposition House Leaders on the Liberals’ Parliamentary Power Grab

Today the Liberal government voted against an Opposition proposal that would require all-party support for recommendations to overhaul the rules of Parliament.

By doing so the Liberal government has confirmed its intention to run roughshod over the Opposition’s rights to hold the Government to account. This is truly regrettable.

While we are always open to thoughtful discussions about improving the way the House of Commons operates, the Government’s heavy-handed approach has left us with little choice but to use the procedural tools at our disposal to protect the rights of Parliamentarians to hold the Government to account.
While the Liberal House Leader claims to want engagement and “meaningful discussions”, her Government’s actions betray this in favour of a unilateral power grab.

The Prime Minister and Government House Leader can fix this mess by publicly committing that overhauling the rules of Parliament will only occur with the consent of all parties.

The opposition is open to any reasonable proposal on how to proceed that respects the all-party tradition, and the ball is now squarely in the Government’s court to make that happen.