Evidence of meeting #109 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was company.

A video is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Clerk of the Committee  Mr. Thomas Bigelow
Darren Anthony  Partner, GC Strategies

2:40 p.m.

Liberal

Majid Jowhari Liberal Richmond Hill, ON

I'm sorry, Mr. Chair. Are you talking to me?

2:40 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Kelly McCauley

Yes. Your hand is up.

2:40 p.m.

Liberal

Majid Jowhari Liberal Richmond Hill, ON

Yes.

2:40 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Kelly McCauley

Was it on the same issue, to ask for a short suspension?

2:40 p.m.

Liberal

Majid Jowhari Liberal Richmond Hill, ON

Yes. I ask for a 10-minute suspension.

2:40 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Kelly McCauley

Why don't we do five minutes? We'll come back at a quarter to three.

We're suspended for five minutes.

2:45 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Kelly McCauley

Colleagues, can you come back in, please? We are returning.

Thank you.

Are we ready to move ahead on this, Mr. Jowhari?

2:45 p.m.

Liberal

Majid Jowhari Liberal Richmond Hill, ON

Mr. Chair, in the interest of time and given the fact that we've now asked the witness to wait a couple of times, can we proceed with the next round of questions—i.e., the Liberals, the Bloc and the NDP—and then dismiss Mr. Anthony and then go back to this motion? Otherwise, we are going to run out of time and lose our support, our translation.

2:50 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Kelly McCauley

Well, you can put forward a motion to adjourn debate on the motion. Otherwise—

2:50 p.m.

Conservative

Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB

Chair, on a point of order, what's the timeline in terms of resources?

2:50 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Kelly McCauley

It's to about three o'clock, and then we lose our interpreters. Also, we may end up losing Mr. Anthony at three o'clock, although that's certainly not our intention.

2:50 p.m.

Conservative

Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB

Are we able to resume with further interpretation?

2:50 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Kelly McCauley

Give me one moment, please.

It probably would require a break of about 10 to 15 minutes.

2:50 p.m.

Conservative

Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB

Okay. We could resume.

My suggestion is that the simplest thing is that we adopt this motion quickly and then get back to the testimony. That would be what I suggest.

2:50 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Kelly McCauley

Go ahead, Mr. Jowhari.

2:50 p.m.

Liberal

Majid Jowhari Liberal Richmond Hill, ON

Mr. Chair, we are not ready to adopt this motion.

The logic of asking for an investigation is based on Mr. Anthony's not reading an AG report, etc.

Chair, it's fair for us to be able to—

2:50 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Kelly McCauley

Mr. Jowhari, I'm sorry. Let me interrupt. I see where this is going.

I'm going to suggest that if it's fine with everyone, we release Mr. Anthony. He's been with us an hour past what was expected, and we're going to lose interpreters anyway, so if everyone's fine, I'm going to release Mr. Anthony.

2:50 p.m.

An hon. member

Yes.

2:50 p.m.

Liberal

Majid Jowhari Liberal Richmond Hill, ON

I still have a round of questions for Mr. Anthony, sir.

2:50 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Kelly McCauley

Okay. Well, continue, and we'll see where we sit in 10 minutes.

Go ahead, Mr. Jowhari, on Mr. Genuis's motion.

2:50 p.m.

Liberal

Majid Jowhari Liberal Richmond Hill, ON

Yes. I think for us it leaves room for interpretation, and we just want to take the time to be able to look at the underlying reason and what the implication is. We can suspend this motion and come back to finish the testimony from Mr. Anthony and we can come back to the motion on Monday.

Thank you.

2:50 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Kelly McCauley

Thanks.

Actually, I've found out that it's going to be a 30-minute wait for the pause to bring in the new interpreter team.

Mr. Sousa, go ahead.

2:50 p.m.

Liberal

Charles Sousa Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Yes, I think we will have some amendments to the motion. I agree: Let's allow ongoing questions with the witness and then return to this motion later today or on Monday.

2:50 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Kelly McCauley

Thanks.

I understand what you're saying, but we do require dilatory motions, such as moving to the next order of business or adjourning debate on this motion or having UC to do so.

2:50 p.m.

Liberal

Charles Sousa Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON

Yes. I move a motion to adjourn debate.