Richard Cannings, MP (Photo supplied)

Richard Cannings, MP (Photo supplied)

Richard Cannings, the MP for South Okanagan-West Kootenay, last week tabled his first three items of private member’s business in the House of Commons.

Cannings introduced three motions:

  • M-50 calls on the federal government to establish a Department of Peace;
  • M-51 calls on the federal government to apologize to Canada’s British Home Children, along with their families and descendants;
  • M-52 calls on the government to introduce mandatory labeling of food products containing ingredients that have been genetically modified.

Motions M-50 and M-52 were introduced in previous Parliaments by Cannings’ predecessor, Alex Atamanenko.

Unlike a private member’s bill, a motion is not binding on the government. It only expresses the will of Parliament.

In the typical life of a Parliament, an MP only has one chance to bring a private bill or motion before the House of Commons for a vote. This chance is according to a list chosen by luck of the draw.

Unlike a bill, a motion doesn’t need to pass through the steps of committee study and a repeat of the process in the Senate. Nonetheless, only a minority of private members’ bills and motions are ever adopted.

Asked which of the three he plans to put forward for a vote, Cannings said he hasn’t yet decided and will likely table one or two more.

“I’m number 82 (on the list), which means my spot will come up in about a year,” Cannings said.

Even if MPs can’t bring their bills or motions to a vote, they often introduce them to make a statement and to signal to constituents that they care about an issue.

Cannings said M-50, to establish a Department of Peace, previously received wide support from civil society and religious groups when Atamanenko introduced it.

M-51 on Canada’s British Home Children pertains to the period from the late 1860s to 1939 when about 100,000 children were sent from the United Kingdom to Canada to be used as indentured farm workers and domestics.

Although Canadians believed them to be orphans, only about two per cent actually were, Cannings said in a news release.

In 2009, the government of Australia formally apologized and in 2010, the UK government did so too.

In November 2009, then Immigration Minister Jason Kenney refused to consider an apology, saying, “Canadians don’t expect their government to apologize for every sad event in our history.”

RICHARD McGUIRE

Osoyoos Times