Evidence of meeting #21 for Canadian Heritage in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was broadcasting.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Han Dong Liberal Don Valley North, ON
Absolutely. Thanks for the clarification. I would support that amendment, then.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Scott Simms
Okay.
Seeing no more debate, we're going to do a recorded vote on the amendment that was put forward by Ms. McPherson.
(Amendment agreed to: yeas 11; nays 0)
We now go to the main motion, as amended.
We have Mr. Rayes first.
Conservative
Alain Rayes Conservative Richmond—Arthabaska, QC
Mr. Chair, I call for the vote.
We've talked about this a lot already. There is some consent from the vast majority of us. Both Mr. Dong and Ms. McPherson have explained the situation to us. Everyone is in agreement. We may have had a preference for one motion or the other, but we are in agreement on the substance.
The meeting will be extended. I would like to speak again after the vote is over. I will raise my hand to make another motion.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Scott Simms
Seeing no more debate, we're going to go to a vote.
(Motion as amended agreed to: yeas 11; nays 0 [See Minutes of Proceedings])
Now we're going to Ms. Dabrusin.
Liberal
Julie Dabrusin Liberal Toronto—Danforth, ON
In the interest of not taking time away from witnesses, I moved a motion at the beginning that we add time during clause-by-clause so we can get through Bill C-10 expeditiously. I would like us to have the rest of that discussion, which we suspended out of kindness and respect for our witnesses.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Scott Simms
That is opening the debate on the motion that you mentioned at the beginning of the meeting.
Mr. Rayes.
Conservative
Alain Rayes Conservative Richmond—Arthabaska, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
It is 3:36 p.m. I had a meeting scheduled for 3:15 p.m., which I had moved to 3:30 p.m. The meeting has been going on for an additional 36 minutes already.
If members wish to continue, I will ask for a unanimous vote to extend the meeting, unless you tell me that this is not standard procedure.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Scott Simms
One moment, Mr. Rayes. You are asking for the meeting to be adjourned. We have to put that to a vote.
Liberal
Julie Dabrusin Liberal Toronto—Danforth, ON
I just want to be clear that my motion could be done by unanimous consent.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Scott Simms
I'm sorry, Ms. Dabrusin, and I realize that, but Mr. Rayes moved a motion to adjourn.
(Motion negatived: nays 6; yeas 5)
Liberal
Julie Dabrusin Liberal Toronto—Danforth, ON
I don't think we need to spend too much time discussing this. It's just a matter of this bill being very important. Witnesses have stated it's urgent that we deal with this.
I am proposing that we add the additional time during clause-by-clause so that we can deal with it expeditiously. I think we can agree that it's in the best interests of our stakeholders that we have the time to talk about the amendments, but move the bill along quickly. I am asking the committee to commit the time necessary to be able to have that discussion and return the bill to the House expeditiously.
NDP
Heather McPherson NDP Edmonton Strathcona, AB
I don't want to continue to keep this meeting going. I'm concerned about this. My concern is what I discussed previously with Ms. Dabrusin, which is that the motion is not very clear on what “time” means. We have concerns about whether or not we're able to add to the Monday meetings. If they're Friday meetings, what does “hours” mean? My understanding was that it was a limited number of hours.
It's very important to all members of this committee that we get this bill passed, but there are also other obligations we have as parliamentarians. It's important that we clarify what that time commitment looks like before we agree or disagree with this motion.
Liberal
Julie Dabrusin Liberal Toronto—Danforth, ON
That would be at the discretion of the chair.
I will say that in my past experience at committee, we have extended hours, sometimes many hours into evenings, to be able to deal with legislation expeditiously, so this is not some outlying type of thing. In fact, it usually doesn't require much debate; it is just agreed upon.
I have sought consent from all the parties multiple times to add extra hours to our Friday meetings so that we can get through this more quickly. I've been unable to get that, so now I've put it as a formal motion. The question is this. In a virtual world, I can't pinpoint when those hours are placed, because we have other challenges we must work around, but I would think that as parliamentarians, it's incumbent upon all of us to do the work we need to do to serve our stakeholders and get this done.
As I said, it would be at the discretion of the chair to make sure it's done appropriately, but I do not understand an argument against putting in the time we need to as parliamentarians to get this work done.
Conservative
Alain Rayes Conservative Richmond—Arthabaska, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I have two questions, the first of which is technical in nature.
I would like to know if this motion requires unanimous support to pass, as it changes our meeting times.
That is my only question at this time. I will ask the second one later.
Liberal
Conservative
Kevin Waugh Conservative Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK
As we all know, when we sit in Ottawa, many of us have five- or six-hour flights on Friday after sitting in the House of Commons. That's an issue that I personally would have. I can see we have MP McPherson from Edmonton, and we have a heavy schedule coming up when we return to the House on the 12th. That would be my issue with extending hours on Friday.
NDP
Heather McPherson NDP Edmonton Strathcona, AB
I would just like to check with the clerk as well in terms of.... One of the things Ms. Dabrusin brings up is the idea that this is the normal way that this has gone in other committees.
Unfortunately, we're not in a normal world, and we are very dependent on the ability of our House of Commons resources. I worry about the ability to access translation and the ability to access space.
Can the clerk talk about the resources that are available through the House of Commons? I don't want to put any staff in any situation where they're not being cared for because we didn't make enough time for this work.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Scott Simms
I understand the ramifications, if this motion passed, about the resources. We would get to that. Personally, I would address that if it were passed, but in the meantime, I will ask the clerk to respond briefly over some of your concerns.
Committee Clerk
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
In the current situation, the schedule of committee meetings is being approved by the whips of all recognized parties. We have been told that if a committee wishes to deviate from that schedule, the request would be put to the whips for approval.
I would assume that the same would apply even if this motion were adopted. That request would have to be made by the chair to the whips of the recognized parties for their consideration, to ensure that sufficient resources exist.
Thank you.