You could call it a surprise attack of parliamentary proportions.
The federal NDP wrested control of the House of Commons on Friday, outnumbering the majority-holding Conservatives and forcing a debate on Canada’s 1,200 missing and murdered indigenous women.
“It’s a debate that’s long overdue, and the Conservative couldn’t stop us,” Julian told the NOW. “We had members of Parliament who were in town. We had 80 MPs. Because it’s such an old tired government, (the Conservatives) had barely 40 MPs in the House of Commons, and so we saw an opportunity.”
As Opposition house leader, Burnaby-New Westminster MP Peter Julian orchestrated the move, which he described as a rare accomplishment.
“In modern history, we have never seen a majority government lose control of the House the way the Conservative government did today,” he said.
According to Julian, the Conservatives can’t stop the debate not that’s it’s been triggered, and the House must vote on whether to accept the recommendations in the report on missing and murdered indigenous women. Julian said the Conservatives will reject those recommendations, which is why they were trying to quash the debate in the first place.
Many groups presenting to the government’s special committee on violence against indigenous women called for a national inquiry, but the Conservatives have rejected the idea.
