Canada-China Relations Committee on Oct. 9th, 2020

[The Chair, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Mr. Fragiskatos.

[Peter Fragiskatos, Liberal, London North Centre, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

This is the second-last motion. It relates to the transcripts of in camera meetings:

That one copy of the transcript of each in camera meeting be kept in the committee clerk’s office for consultation by members of the committee or by their staff.

[The Chair, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Are there any objections?

(Motion agreed to)

Mr. Fragiskatos.

[Peter Fragiskatos, Liberal, London North Centre, ON]

Actually, that wasn't the second-last motion. This is the second-last one.

It is rather lengthy, so just indulge me for a bit. It's with regard to notices of motion:

That 48 hours notice, interpreted as two nights, shall be required for any substantive motion to be considered by the committee, unless the substantive motion relates directly to business then under consideration; provided that (1) the notice be filed with the clerk of the committee no later than 4:00 p.m. (EST) from Monday to Friday; that (2) the motion be distributed to members in both official languages by the clerk on the same day the said notice was transmitted if it was received no later than the deadline time; and that (3) notices received after the deadline hour or on non-business days be deemed to have been received during the next business day and that when the committee is travelling on official business, no substantive motions may be moved.

[The Chair, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Thank you.

Are there any objections?

(Motion agreed to)

Mr. Fragiskatos.

[Peter Fragiskatos, Liberal, London North Centre, ON]

Thank you very much.

The final motion is with regard to other routine motions adopted:

That all meetings, other than those deemed in camera, be televised or, if that is not possible, then webcast.

[The Chair, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Are there any objections?

(Motion agreed to)

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

I have a point of order, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Mr. Harris on a point of order.

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

I may have missed this properly, but I was looking at the notice of motion from previous times and the one Mr. Fragiskatos read out. One of them says “4:00 p.m. (EST) from Monday to Friday” and the other one has no designation of the time zone. Are we to presume it's Eastern Standard Time, or was that actually said by Mr. Fragiskatos?

Do you have the right—

[Peter Fragiskatos, Liberal, London North Centre, ON]

I believe I do, Mr. Chair.

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

You said Eastern Standard Time.

[Peter Fragiskatos, Liberal, London North Centre, ON]

That's right.

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

Perfect.

[The Chair, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Thank you very much, Mr. Harris; it's good to have that.

[Peter Fragiskatos, Liberal, London North Centre, ON]

My apologies, but I believe I did read that into the record a few moments ago.

[The Chair, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

It's good to have the clarification.

Mr. Genuis.

[Peter Fragiskatos, Liberal, London North Centre, ON]

Of course.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'd like to move an additional routine motion. This responds to an issue that we had in the last session of the committee. There was some confusion and debate about the application of Standing Order 106(4). This standing order applies to every regular committee and allows members of the committee to request that a meeting take place. There was some question about whether or not the standing order applies to a special committee.

In order to have clarity around that issue, I'd like to move that the chair be instructed to convene a meeting of the committee within five days of the receipt by the clerk of the committee by email of a request signed by any four members of the committee provided that a) the reasons for convening such a meeting shall be stated in the request, and b) there shall be 48 hours' notice of the meeting.

That applies the same rules that exist for all standing committees with respect to special meetings to this committee as well.

[The Chair, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Thank you.

Before I go to Mr. Oliphant, Madam Clerk, is there anything about that that's not in order?

[The Clerk]

Not to me. Routine motions are normal motions; it's just that they apply throughout the session.

[The Chair, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Thank you very much.

Mr. Oliphant.

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

I just have a concern about it for two reasons. I think we should get clarification from the House on this, not just from our own very good procedural clerk.

First of all, it's not a routine motion. We do have routine motions, and this is not routine. We are a special committee, the only special committee that exists this Parliament. There are Standing Orders related to special committees that are intentionally different from the Standing Orders related to standing committees. Special committees and standing committees are different, and I would like to understand what the thinking is in our Parliament where it has decided that special committees don't have that same requirement.

I don't want to assume that I know the answer to that, but someone may have intentionally decided not to put that under the work of a special committee, and there may be a reason for it that has to do with other things.

I think it's not a routine motion, and so I would like to not vote on it. I'm not saying that we defeat it, but I would like to get a response from the Clerk of the House about the history of why it is intentionally not done in our overall Standing Orders.

I'm not sure how I best accomplish what I want to do, such as whether I move to adjourn debate on it, which I could do. Now that I have the floor, I could move to adjourn debate, subject to the clerk's clarifying this with House officials.

Is it possible to make a motion to adjourn debate, subject to the clerk's verifying that it is an appropriate motion with the House and the history of our Standing Orders? I think we need to honour Parliament. We are the master of our own house, yes, but we should also honour Parliament.

I would, therefore, move that we adjourn debate on this, subject to the clerk's clarifying the Standing Orders that apply to standing committees and special committees.

[The Chair, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Madam Clerk, do you...?

[The Clerk]

I can perhaps say a few things. A motion to adjourn is normally not debatable and not amendable, but if you add a condition saying that the clerk needs to come back to the committee with some kind of information, that becomes amendable and debatable. It's really your choice, your option, of whichever motion you would like to move.