Canada-China Relations Committee on Aug. 6th, 2020

[Dan Albas, Conservative, Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, BC]

Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

I'm sorry. I guess you probably had a hand up. This is the problem with not seeing these hands up all the time.

Mr. Albas.

[Dan Albas, Conservative, Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

As the subcommittee report clearly indicated, there were a number of former ambassadors, including Mr. McCallum, who were invited. I note today that we are going to be speaking with one of the invited guests.

Could I ask the clerk the status of the other two?

[The Clerk]

The other two, Mr. Wright and Mr. McCallum, have declined the invitation of the committee.

[Dan Albas, Conservative, Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, BC]

Okay, so they've declined. Is it because they were not able to make it today or have they declined from participating completely? Could you elaborate?

[The Clerk]

They didn't give me any explanation. They just said they were not available to appear before the committee.

[Dan Albas, Conservative, Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, BC]

Okay.

[The Chair, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

All right. Thank you, Mr. Albas.

Now I'll ask the clerk to proceed to—

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Mr. Chair, I have a hand raised, but I believe Mr. Harris had his raised ahead of mine.

[The Chair, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Okay, I'm having trouble with that. Thank you.

Mr. Harris.

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

I don't know how that hand got raised, Chair, so I'll take it off and pass the floor over to whomever was ahead of me.

[The Chair, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

I think it's Mr. Genuis.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

In light of the clerk's response to Mr. Albas's intervention, I want to propose an amendment to the motion, that we add to the text of the motion “that Canada's former ambassador to the People's Republic of China, the Honourable John McCallum, be summoned to appear before the committee at a time, date and location to be determined by the chair and the clerk of the committee”.

[The Chair, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

That would be a motion to amend the motion before us. I believe it's in order. I'm not seeing an indication from the clerk otherwise, so I'll now ask the clerk to proceed to a recorded vote on Mr. Genuis's amendment to the main motion.

[The Clerk]

Okay. The vote is on the amendment.

I need to hear a yes or no: Mr. Virani—

[Rob Oliphant, Liberal, Don Valley West, ON]

Could I have a point of order?

I would like to have the amendment read. I wasn't prepared for an amendment, and it sounds contradictory to the motion. I want to make sure I understand the amendment and what it is.

[The Chair, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

I'll ask Mr. Genuis to read his motion to amend, please.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

I'm very happy to do that. I think it very much follows in the spirit of the proposal, given the witnesses that people wanted to hear from.

The amendment is “that Canada's former ambassador to the People's Republic of China, the Honourable John McCallum, be summoned to appear before the committee at a time, date and location to be determined by the chair and the clerk of the committee”.

[Rob Oliphant, Liberal, Don Valley West, ON]

May I speak to the amendment?

[The Chair, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

I have Mr. Oliphant and then Mr. Bergeron.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

On a point of order, Mr. Chair, we're in the middle of a vote.

[The Chair, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Mr. Genuis is quite correct. I did ask the clerk to proceed to a recorded vote on the motion.

[Rob Oliphant, Liberal, Don Valley West, ON]

Mr. Chair, with all due respect, I don't believe you asked if there was any debate on the amendment. I think you missed that part. I would beg that you allow us just a minute for clarification.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Mr. Chair, that's obviously not in order.

[The Chair, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Mr. Genuis, Mr. Oliphant is correct. I did not ask for debate on the motion, which clearly I should have done.

So I will—