Invitation of Jaspal Atawal: the conservatives put an end to the marathon vote in the Commons

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Maxime Huard

Friday, 23 march 2018 15:16

UPDATE
Friday, 23 march 2018 15:21

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OTTAWA | After nearly 20 hours of voting, consecutive to the Commons, the conservatives have brought to an end Friday afternoon in the procedure of obstruction aimed at forcing the liberals to testify before the elected representatives of the national security adviser, Daniel John.

“We will withdraw our motions to allow the whole world to take a rest,” said the parliamentary leader, conservative Candice Bergen, confirming that his party would put an end to the marathon.

The procedure for the obstruction forced the House to vote on 268 appropriations, one-to-one.

The conservatives challenged the refusal of the liberals to let Mr. John speak publicly about the invitation of Jaspal Atawal, a former sikh terrorist, to an official reception during his trip to India Justin Trudeau, in February last.

Mr. John offered to journalists in a briefing technique where it had attributed the incident to factions within the indian government, information that the office of the prime minister has not wanted to provide to the members.

“Clearly, the Trudeau government has something to hide”, and regretted Mrs Bergen, accusing the liberals of “cover-up”. She is said to have negotiated with the government throughout the night to have the right to hear Mr. John, would it be only 30 minutes, without success.

A story the HuffPost revealed on Thursday evening that the leader of the conservatives Andrew Scheer was offered such a meeting with Daniel Jean by the office of the privy council. The parliamentary leader said in a press briefing that his chief had not been made aware.

The conservatives do not believe that the public will judge severely their approach, even if it has incurred costs for the Parliament. The party had criticised the ndp, in 2011, for having initiated a similar exercise at the cost of thousands of dollars per hour.

The marathon of votes started around 18 h on Thursday and had to stretch out until Saturday afternoon. The government and the official opposition accused each of being responsible for the situation, which has forced many mps to cancel events in their district.