During the pandemic, members of Parliament began voting and attending committee meetings from home. Six years later, Parliamentarians are divided over whether those hybrid rules should remain in place.
In March 2020, the House of Commons adopted a motion allowing the health and finance committees to meet virtually. Four months later, the first House of Commons sitting took place in hybrid format, with some members attending the Commons chamber in person and others dialing in by video conference.
Today, it’s common for members of Parliament to cast votes on their phones during announcements, or even while they’re out to dinner.
At the U.S.-Canada Summit in June, AI Minister Evan Solomon paused a discussion to vote from his phone.
But even as private and public sector employees return to their offices, MPs remain divided on whether it’s time to end the hybrid Parliament rules.
Major banks and companies like RBC, Bank of Montreal and Rogers have increased the amount of time workers are required to be in the office. Thousands of provincial government employees have been called back to the office full-time.
Many federal public servants started a new work schedule last month that requires them to be in the office four days a week. Executive public servants returned to the office full-time in May.
Nathan Prier, president of the Canadian Association of Professional Employees, said it seems “contradictory” to deny public service workers the kind of work flexibility enjoyed by members of Parliament.
“Parliamentarians have clearly seen the benefits of remote work with the way technology assists in connecting with colleagues and the savings it generates for Canadian taxpayers,” said Prier, who leads a union that represents more than 27,000 federal public sector workers.
The Public Service Alliance of Canada argues in favour of the hybrid Parliament, saying that flexible work arrangements can help MPs fulfil their responsibilities both in Parliament and in their ridings.
“We have been highlighting the advantages of remote work for several years and believe that all workers should have access to remote or hybrid work options where operational requirements allow and the work can be performed effectively,” reads a statement from the union.
The Professional Institute of the Public Service said in a statement that “the answer to an arbitrary return-to-office mandate is not necessarily another arbitrary mandate for Parliamentarians.”
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“Whether someone is a scientist, an IT expert or a member of Parliament, in-person attendance should be required when it serves the work — not simply for the sake of visibility,” said the union.
Members of Parliament seem to have mixed opinions about the hybrid work rules.
Conservative MP Michael Chong told the House of Commons in February he thinks Canada should “end hybrid Parliament.”
“We are the only national legislature amongst western Liberal democracies to remain in hybrid mode,” he said.
The U.K. House of Commons ended hybrid sittings in 2021, while the U.S. House of Representatives ended proxy voting in 2023.
Replying to Chong, Liberal MP Corey Hogan said that as a father of three young children, he has “really appreciated the flexibility that hybrid sittings have allowed on those unique occasions when it was necessary.”
“My father was in the hospital recently, in the ICU for 11 days, and being able to be there at his bedside and do my work for Parliament from the hospital was really important to me,” he said.
Bloc Québécois MP Yves Perron told the Commons that “we agree that remote interventions should be a little more of an exception than they are right now.”
“They should be allowed for family reasons, as my Liberal colleague pointed out, and that is very valid, or for health reasons, but with approval from the whip in order to limit their use,” he added.
“If a member is participating remotely, they should not be in a public place or in a car. We have seen all kinds of foolish and ridiculous situations. Yes, the hybrid Parliament absolutely needs to be tweaked.”
Since Parliament went virtual, several Parliament Hill interpreters have experienced hearing damage due to poor sound quality and feedback. In 2024, the federal government was forced to adjust the audio setup in the House of Commons and committee rooms.
NDP MP Heather McPherson said in an interview last week there is “value” in the hybrid Parliament.
“It allows for us to have a more diverse participation in our Parliament,” she said. “I think for the vast majority of Canadians, they are more concerned with the work that we are getting done and perhaps less concerned about whether we’re doing it in our constituency or in the House of Commons.”
McPherson said she finds it “rich” that other MPs would say hybrid rules should end when they also use virtual voting and other hybrid options.
Olivier Duhaime, a spokesperson for the Office of the Speaker of the House of Commons, said in an email there are no detailed statistics — or statistics that are easy to extract — on when MPs participate or vote remotely.
McPherson said she believes that some of the conversations happening in and around the Commons chamber are important and she tries to be present when the House is sitting.
“I think we all need to be able to do our work as effectively as we can, but I think having that option to allow, for example, people living with disabilities, people dealing with illness, single parents, people living in remote or rural communities, to have more flexibility to represent their constituents better is an excellent tool that we have at our disposal,” she said.
“We want members of Parliament to represent the diversity of our nation, and if you want to have that, you have to have flexible working conditions that will allow for that to happen.”
McPherson said the nature of work has changed and that, in some ways, the way the House of Commons operates can be “dated.”
“Modernizing the way that we do our work is not a bad thing,” she said.
I gotta agree with Ben on this one.Its all Harper and PeePees fault.I have all my shots as recommended by the government and I still have my Covid mask.Its not my original mask but a 2nd one I got for free when I got my boosters.I broke the earlobes on my first mask using it to hold my elbows up while fighting fascists but I wear my 2nd one all the time.
Anyways we should get together sometime Ben and talk about how great Carney is,Trudeau was and Maple MAGA PeePee
Harper could have done something about it but instead he left Trudeau with the Covid Pandemic. Too bad we didn’t have Carney in 2020.He could have just waved his hand and the Covid would have disappeared.
And the Canadians that keep the nation alive and running,the hard working blue collars, worked through it all every day while the lazy and entitled sat in their pajamas.
They’re paid very well with OUR money to be in the HoC, go to work and stop whining!
MP’s work?!?! Gimme a break!
Oh my memory fails me again the Liberals don’t spend millions on travel to and from the house of commons on hotels and meals etc but Carney really knows how to waste millions of dollars traveling the world !!!
Poilievre and the conservatives spend tens of millions of dollars on traveling to and from the House of Commons and on hotels, meals, etc. and this largesse would continue without the hybrid model. Outrageous!
Carney uses it as an excuse to not attended Parliament.
Lazy libs havent worked a day since elekted
Like the pervert Liberal MP who was found twice naked when he was “working” remotely from Parliament. At some point, Canada must have some standards.
potato armchair wash carriage buttons leaf nebulas
They are just cowards who lack the courage required to even tell people to get back to work
Don
The Trudeau/ Singh partnership will in History be remembered as the beginning of the downfall of Canada.
I still remember the weirdo NDP MP from B.C. who brought her infant to parliament. She was so unprofessional. The NDP was a total laughing stock under Singh. Chief Trudeau bootlicker.
Since when do Liberals care about saving money? Carney spends about $250k for each trip just on inflight cateringz
Elizabeth A.K.A Ben
No need to attack you personally you already did that to yourself !!!
Teleconferencing cuts travel costs and saves millions of dollars for the taxpayer. If you disagree, feel free to attack me personally instead of addressing my argument. Seems to be the MO by a few here. Childish
They dont work. The liberals closed the government for a year to spin the America is evil narrative.
Carney could n9t fly around the world doing zero for Canada but lots for Brookfield online. Saving taxpayers those expensive neverending trips with most expensive food and drink.
Now you can see I’m not only an idiot but I’m also a complete hypocrite. Carney has been flying all over the world for 16 months costing Canadian taxpayers millions of dollars. Yet as per my comment below “it will save money if MP’s don’t fly in to parliament”
P:S I’ve started believing my own
B u l l s h I t
What is the point of having a parliament building if the MPs are all sitting at home on their computers or phones. Is it any wonder Canadians are not getting any information about anything when the MPs are not there to ask or answer questions. Carney is a master of not showing up for question period
MP get plenty of time back in their ridings, including a 3 month break from mid June to mid September as the House is not sitting. Unless it is serious health concerns, they should be in Ottawa for most of the time.
They chose to have a political life and so they should be doing the job and attending parliament to do that job that is what Canadians expect them to do Who wouldn’t like a job that allows you to go out for dinner or any other social function and just push a button to vote on something that will impact millions of Canadians. Many Canadians have families and leave them every day to go to work because they don’t have the opportunity to work from home.
Of course the Liberal talks about his families needs. He ran as an MP after he had children. Carney abuses this policy and is barely in Parliament.
Saves money if they don’t fly in. Of course the Poilievre conservatives will oppose it!
They get a lot of money for not showing up to work must be great
The members of the House of Commons appear to vote the way they are told to by party leaders so any real debate is just theatre.
How about just get back to f*ckin work!! Lazy bunch of fascist p*gs!
This is rediculous. Covid is over. You are paid by the public. Get back to work or get another job.