Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'm delighted to be joining you all today. I'm glad to see we had some unanimity around the concept of the routine motions. The Conservatives want to see things built. We've been arguing for the past 11 years that this country has not gotten it right, largely under the direction of the previous government, and now under the current government.
We would like to see some changes made. We know the Liberals seem to be very intent on a very speedy timeline, but we want to make sure that we scrutinize the bill. What I'm suggesting, Mr. Chair, is the following motion to give this committee some guardrails in order to see that we scrutinize the legislation and that we have the opportunity to bring in witnesses and bring forward amendments in a timely way. We hope that the government will be in agreement with this.
I move the following motion:
That, for the purpose of its consideration of Bill C-39, the committee:
a. Invite the following ministers, accompanied by officials, to appear before the committee, separately, for one hour each:
1. The Honourable Steven MacKinnon, Minister of Transport and Leader of the Government in the House of Commons,
2. The Honourable Julie Dabrusin, Minister of the Environment, Climate Change and Nature, and
3. The Honourable Patty Hajdu, Minister of Jobs and Families and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario;
b. Invite parties represented on the committee to provide preliminary witness lists to the Clerk, ranked in priority order, provided that they are received by the Clerk by no later than 12:00PM on Friday, October 9, 2026;
c. Invite parties represented on the committee to provide final witness lists to the Clerk, ranked in priority order, provided that they are received by the Clerk by no later than 5:00PM on Thursday, October 15, 2026;
d. Instruct the Chair to, wherever possible, schedule three witnesses per panel, except for the witnesses referenced in (a);
e. Set a deadline of 5:00PM on Thursday, October 29, 2026, for amendments to be submitted to the Clerk;
f. Begin clause-by-clause consideration of the bill during the week of November 2, 2026;
g. Notwithstanding the above deadlines and requirements, allow for flexibility respecting the committee’s agenda should the occasion arise to justify it; and
h. Issue a press release requesting interested stakeholders to submit briefs to the committee, provided that it advises stakeholders that it is preferred that briefs are submitted in both official languages and that they must be received by the Clerk by no later than 5:00PM on Thursday, October 22, 2026, to be considered by the committee.
Thank you.