Hybrid sittings return: House votes to allow MPs to do their jobs from home until mid-2022

Citing concerns over the ongoing COVID-19 spread Canada-wide, as well as hesitation over the vaccination statuses of 'a few' Conservative MPs, the House of Commons voted late Thursday to revive the hybrid sitting format, meaning members of the 44th Parliament will have the option of working from home until at least late June.

The government motion proposing to reinstate the ability for MPs to participate virtually was passed 180 to 140, seeing the NDP side with the Liberals, while the Bloc Quebecois and Conservatives wanted to see a full resumption of in-person proceedings. A Conservative amendment to the motion seeking more time to scrutinize and vote on specific spending matters also passed without opposition.

The issue had been the main topic of debate in the House of Commons the first week back, which saw most of the 338 MPs descend on Ottawa for the first time in five months, with the benches in the chamber their fullest since before the pandemic.

As a result of this decision, effective Friday, MPs will be allowed to vote remotely using an app on their phones, and virtually participate from their homes or offices and still appear, via screens, inside the chamber, or at House committee meetings once those get underway in the coming weeks. There will be no capacity limit in the chamber though, so if every MP still wants to show up in-person, they can.

It’s expected there will still be some onboarding time needed for the rookies who will be taking on the remote work tools for the first time.