House of Commons to rise for summer 2 days early as inquiry talks continue

Government house leader Mark Holland introduced the motion to adjourn the House until Sept. 18 during a floor debate Wednesday evening.

The House of Commons is expected to adjourn for summer break at the end of Wednesday’s proceedings — two days earlier than scheduled — as negotiations over a public inquiry into foreign interference appear to be reaching a conclusion.

Government House Leader Mark Holland introduced the motion to adjourn the House until Sept. 18 during a floor debate Wednesday evening, with the motion receiving unanimous consent.

Holland said under the motion, the House will be considered to have sat on Thursday and Friday, which were the final scheduled days of the spring session. All parties agreed to the motion before it was introduced, he said.

Once the House rises, MPs and Parliament staffers will begin their summer recess with a number of high-profile issues still looming over the government — the most pressing of which is whether to call a foreign interference inquiry.

Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc is leading what the government called ongoing and productive discussions with the Conservatives, NDP and Bloc Quebecois about how to move forward on a potential inquiry.

Earlier Wednesday, Holland told reporters that he expected news on the question of an inquiry “very, very soon, given the productive nature of those conversations.”

The public inquiry was on the negotiating table as the government sought to get priority bills passed. It also wanted to avoid the possibility of hundreds of votes on Conservative amendments to the government’s main and supplementary estimates, which lay out specific amounts that can be spent on hundreds of government programs.

The government’s usual end-of-session motion agreeing to fast-track some final pieces of legislation through various stages of debate passed Wednesday with unanimous consent.