Close X
Friday, November 22, 2024
ADVT 
National

Parties agree on hybrid Commons sittings

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 23 Sep, 2020 08:04 PM
  • Parties agree on hybrid Commons sittings

The House of Commons will sit this fall with most MPs participating by video link so they can stay physically apart during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Government House leader Pablo Rodriguez introduced a motion to set the rules for "hybrid" sittings as the Commons sat for the first time in months Wednesday afternoon.

Those include having MPs vote via video conference until a secure remote voting application for smartphones is ready, and reducing the number of members who have to be physically present for quorum.

The plan also includes reconstituting committees such as a special body examining Canada-China relations.

The Conservatives had argued for in-person sittings only, with limited numbers of MPs in the chamber, and had opposed electronic voting.

But the MPs present Wednesday, including Tories, approved the plan unanimously.

The arrangement is to stay in place until Dec. 11, though MPs could vote to extend it then.

MORE National ARTICLES

RCMP launch raid tied to White House ricin letter

RCMP launch raid tied to White House ricin letter
The home is located in a multi-unit building on Vauquelin Blvd. in St-Hubert, bordering a forest and not far from an airport.

RCMP launch raid tied to White House ricin letter

COVID-19 gains steam in Quebec, Ontario

COVID-19 gains steam in Quebec, Ontario
The news prompted Dr. Horacio Arruda, Quebec's public health director, to declare a second wave of COVID-19 had begun in the province.

COVID-19 gains steam in Quebec, Ontario

'It's like he snapped': spouse of N.S. gunman

'It's like he snapped': spouse of N.S. gunman
Fifty-one-year Gabriel Wortman took 22 lives on April 18-19 before police killed him at a service station in Enfield, N.S.

'It's like he snapped': spouse of N.S. gunman

Sea ice at second-lowest level in record

Sea ice at second-lowest level in record
The U.S.-based National Snow and Ice Data Centre has decided that today is likely to be when the overall level of sea ice across the Arctic stops melting and starts growing again.

Sea ice at second-lowest level in record

Feds OK industrial carbon taxes in Ontario, N.B.

Feds OK industrial carbon taxes in Ontario, N.B.
A similar letter was sent to New Brunswick Environment Minister Jeff Carr.

Feds OK industrial carbon taxes in Ontario, N.B.

Feds pledge $1B for rapid-housing program

Feds pledge $1B for rapid-housing program
The Liberals expect the program will create 3,000 new affordable housing units across Canada.

Feds pledge $1B for rapid-housing program