Alex Ruff

There's also our provincial and federal representatives here.

Right now it's Paul Vickers and Alex Ruff, but them and folks preceding them have a reputation of kind of being rogue, you know, in the legislature, that they represent their voters before the party, you know, that they really have a backbone.

And there's just something up here.

There's a spark that I just love.

And so, This got followed up in 2023 with the first ban on prayer and explicit Christian references, which presumably came from the 2022 report in general.

And then in response to the reaffirmation of that policy in 2024, as referenced here by Dane Lloyd, the conservative MP for Parkland, the conservatives or conservative MP Alex Ruff put forward a motion on November 8, 2024, that was intended to clear this up because the Trudeau government was giving very differing vibes.

You had defense minister at the time, Bill Blair, saying, They're exaggerating.

This is not a ban on prayer at all.

But then you actually had members of the Canadian Royal Chaplaincy Service saying, no, no, for sure, you're not allowed to pray to the Christian God at Remembrance Day.

And so to clarify these differing accounts of events, Alex Ruff put forward this motion and the motion was as follows.

that considering the government has stated that there is no prayer ban, that's what Bill Blair said, the House call on the government to confirm that military chaplains, ahead of Remembrance Day ceremonies, have the right to offer prayers in their denominations in public spaces and will never be restricted on Remembrance Day or any day, nor will any military chaplain face any disciplinary or administrative actions for praying in public spaces.

Not a single MP spoke in opposition to this, and so the Assistant Deputy Speaker declared that it is agreed.