Evidence of meeting #1 for Veterans Affairs in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was chair.
A recording is available from Parliament.
11:10 a.m.
The Clerk
It has been moved by Mr. Samson that Mr. Desilets be elected as second vice-chair of the committee.
Are there any further motions?
(Motion agreed to)
11:10 a.m.
The Clerk
I declare the motion carried and Mr. Desilets duly elected second vice-chair of the committee.
11:10 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bryan May
Thank you.
Before we proceed, I did have some continued difficulties with the translation. The French was coming through, but when people switched to English, I was hearing the French and not their microphone, so we do have some continued technical issues here.
Did anybody else experience difficulties, or is it just me? I see that some of us did.
Okay, just to clarify, when there was a switch from French to English, I heard the interpreter in both situations. I did hear the translation into English when French was being spoken, but when the speaker switched to English, I was hearing the French being spoken in my ear, not the person speaking.
We'll just give them a few minutes here to see if they can figure out what the issue is before we proceed.
Was anybody having difficulty with anything other than the French translation? Was the English translation working for those who were listening to the French?
I'm just getting word that we should be good now to move forward. That's great. Thank you.
This is going to be an ongoing thing, folks. I just wanted to say at the outset a huge thank you to the technical folks there in Ottawa. This is not going to be an easy process, and we will try to be as patient as possible as we learn the process together.
First and foremost, thank you for your confidence. It's an honour to chair this committee again. Today's meeting is taking place by video conference, and the proceedings will be made available via the House of Commons website. The webcast will always show the person speaking rather than the entirety of the committee.
Before we get into the routine motions, I promised MP Brassard that I would do a run-through of how we would proceed. To ensure an orderly meeting, I would like to outline a few important things to know moving forward.
Number one, interpretation in the video conference will work very much as it does in a regular committee meeting. You have the choice at the bottom of your screen of either “floor”, “English” or “French”.
Two, as you are speaking, if you plan to alternate from one language to the other, you will need to also switch the interpretation channel so it aligns with the language that you're speaking. You may want to allow a short pause when switching.
Three, before speaking, please wait until I recognize you by name. When you're ready to speak, you can click on the microphone icon to activate your microphone.
Four, I remind you that all comments by members should be addressed through the chair.
Five, should members need to request the floor, they should activate their mike and state that they have a point of order.
Six, if you wish to intervene on a point of order that has been raised by another member, you should use the “raise hand” function. This will signal to the chair your interest in speaking. In order to do so, you should click on the “participants” button at the bottom of the screen. When the list pops up, you will see next to your name that you can click on “raise hand”.
Seven, when speaking, please speak slowly and clearly.
Eight, when you're not speaking, your mike should be on mute.
Nine, the use of the headset is strongly encouraged. In fact, if we can all agree that it would be not just an encouragement but a requirement, that would be good. Interpreters will have a very difficult time if you don't have your headset in use.
Should any technical challenges arise—for example, in relation to interpretation or a problem with your audio—please advise the chair immediately, and the technical team will work to resolve them. Please note that we may need to suspend during these times, as we need to ensure all members are able to participate fully.
Before we get started, can everyone click on their screen on the top right-hand corner to ensure that they are in gallery view? With this view you should be able to see all the participants in a grid view. It will ensure that all video participants can see one another.
If the committee wishes, we can now proceed to the consideration of routine motions.
October 14th, 2020 / 11:15 a.m.
NDP
11:15 a.m.
NDP
Rachel Blaney NDP North Island—Powell River, BC
I'm just asking for clarification. I just see on the screen here that a staff member from Mr. Brassard's office is here, and that is fine, but my staff don't have access. Just for clarity, I'm wondering if this is a normal practice or if something else has happened.
11:15 a.m.
The Clerk
No, he isn't supposed to be there.
11:15 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bryan May
I'm not sure who is talking there. It says “clerk”.
I'm not sure who admitted him, so you're absolutely correct, MP Blaney, that that person should not be on there. There is a phone line that staff can sign into. If your staff do not have that phone line, please let the clerk know, and we'll get that to you right away. This is important because, if they try to listen on the website, there is a delay. We want you guys to have access to your staff in real time, so the phone line is critical to use.
Thank you for catching that, MP Blaney.
11:15 a.m.
NDP
Rachel Blaney NDP North Island—Powell River, BC
I just thought I was unaware of something that had changed, so thank you for that clarification.
11:15 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bryan May
I appreciate that. Thank you.
Are there any other questions before I move on to routine motions?
I see the “raised hand” function. Very good, MP Lalonde, for using that. You have the floor.
11:15 a.m.
Liberal
Marie-France Lalonde Liberal Orléans, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I wish you congratulations from the people here in Orléans on this appointment as chair.
I would like to bring, Mr. Chair, the routine motions, and I would like to start with the analyst services:
That the committee retain, as needed and at the discretion of the Chair, the services of one or more analysts from the Library of Parliament to assist it in its work.
11:15 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bryan May
Is there any discussion?
I guess a question for the clerk is whether a hand up is sufficient, and I'm just getting word here. Yes, as long as we have agreement from everybody, we can move forward in that way.
At this point, seeing no disagreement, I would like to invite Jean-Rodrigue Paré, the committee's analyst, to activate his camera in order to participate in the meeting.
Seeing that he's just joined us, hello, sir.
11:20 a.m.
Jean-Rodrigue Paré Committee Researcher
Good morning.
I'm only going to make a few comments in French, so as not to confuse the interpreter unnecessarily. I know some of you, and it's a pleasure to meet you again. If you need anything in terms of content, organization of files or material you may need, it will of course be my pleasure to help and support you until the end of the session.
11:20 a.m.
Liberal
Marie-France Lalonde Liberal Orléans, ON
Thank you very much.
We will continue with the motion on “Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure”:
That the Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure be established and be composed of five members; the Chair, one member from each recognized party; and that the subcommittee work in a spirit of collaboration.
11:20 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bryan May
Is there any discussion?
(Motion agreed to)
Excellent.
Go ahead, MP Lalonde.
11:20 a.m.
Liberal
Marie-France Lalonde Liberal Orléans, ON
This is the motion about meeting without a quorum:
That the chair be authorized to hold meetings, to receive evidence, and to have that evidence printed when a quorum is not present, provided that at least four members are present, including two members of the opposition and two members of the government, but when travelling outside the Parliamentary precinct, when a quorum is not present, that the meeting begin after 15 minutes, regardless of members present.
11:20 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bryan May
Thank you.
Is there any discussion?
(Motion agreed to)
Excellent.
MP Lalonde, you may proceed.
11:20 a.m.
Liberal
Marie-France Lalonde Liberal Orléans, ON
The motion on “Time for Opening Remarks and Questioning of Witnesses” is as follows:
That witnesses be given 10 minutes for their opening statement; that, at the discretion of the Chair, during the questioning of witnesses, there be allocated six minutes for the first questioner of each party as follows: Round 1: Conservative Party, Liberal Party, Bloc Québécois, New Democratic Party. That for the second and subsequent rounds, the order and time for questioning be as follows: Conservative Party, five minutes; Liberal Party, five minutes; Conservative Party, five minutes; Liberal Party, five minutes; Bloc Québécois, two and a half minutes; New Democratic Party, two and a half minutes.
11:20 a.m.
Liberal
11:20 a.m.
NDP
Rachel Blaney NDP North Island—Powell River, BC
Thank you.
Again, I want to add my congratulations. I've always enjoyed you as a chair, so I'm happy to see that happen again.
I have a couple of amendments that I would like to propose.
In PROC and in many other committees, they have looked at the 10-minute timeline for an opening statement and changed it to “between five and seven and a half minutes”. That's to make sure that when people do their presentations, we get through them quickly so that we can get to the question portion, which is so important.
The other amendment I would like to propose in this section is changing the second round to “Conservative Party, five minutes; Liberal Party, five minutes; Bloc Québécois, two and a half minutes; New Democratic Party, two and a half minutes; Conservative Party, five minutes; and Liberal Party, five minutes.” Again, this has been done in PROC and the majority of the other committees that have met to this point.
11:20 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bryan May
Do we have any discussion on this amendment? We obviously have to deal with the amendment first.
Go ahead, Monsieur Brassard.
11:20 a.m.
Conservative
John Brassard Conservative Barrie—Innisfil, ON
Rachel, I am wondering if you could clarify. You're proposing to reduce the 10-minute timeline to five minutes to seven and a half minutes.
