Ottawa ON – John Brassard, Conservative House Leader, and Luc Berthold, Deputy Leader of the Official Opposition, issued the following statement on the Liberal’s motion to change the rules of the House of Commons through government motion 11:

“Justin Trudeau has already bought himself a majority government by paying off his NDP allies. Now he is attempting to limit the remaining opposition parties’ ability to hold his government to account.

“The Prime Minister is trying to give himself the power to shut down Parliament until September at his will, as well as the power to disrupt the work of parliamentary committees.

“This is part of a pattern of behaviour where Justin Trudeau runs from accountability and transparency. This is the same Prime Minister who used the power of prorogation to shut down Parliament to end the investigation into his dealings in the WE Scandal.

“Justin Trudeau is already preventing Parliament from reviewing documents related to the security breach at the Winnipeg Lab, he is withholding documents related to his invocation of the Emergencies Act, and he may be the subject of an RCMP criminal investigation into allegations of fraud.

“When Canada is in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, is in desperate need of economic recovery, and has serious geopolitical issues abroad, now is not the time for Justin Trudeau to grant himself even more power and be less accountable to Canadians.

“If Jagmeet Singh and the NDP want to maintain credibility as an independent party, they will oppose this power grab, speak out against the Prime Minister’s attempt to give himself the ability to shut down Parliament and join the opposition parties in opposing this change to the rules of our democracy.

“Canadians can rest assured Conservatives will fulfil our constitutional obligation of holding this government to account. We will continue to be the voice of the millions of Canadians who are left behind while Justin Trudeau presides over the decline of democracy in Canada.”