Evidence of meeting #1 for Canadian Heritage in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was chair.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:40 p.m.
Bloc
Martin Champoux Bloc Drummond, QC
I believe the committee is meeting on Wednesday, Madam Chair.
Do you think it's possible to have the subcommittee set up and a meeting held by then?
4:40 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
I would have to defer to the parties to see whether that would be possible.
Would you like to suspend again and discuss it amongst yourselves so that we can get a date?
I'll suspend for about a minute for everyone to discuss what they want to do.
4:45 p.m.
Liberal
4:45 p.m.
Bloc
Martin Champoux Bloc Drummond, QC
Further to our discussion, I think we can move that members send their motions to the clerk by January 20, 2022.
The subcommittee will meet the following week, or thereabouts, to get everything ready for the committee's return on January 31, 2022. That gives everyone until January 20, 2022 to submit their motions, with the subcommittee meeting the week after.
4:45 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
To clarify, for everyone's benefit, I understand that everyone has agreed you will send the motions to the clerk by January 20. The subcommittee on agenda and procedure will meet the following week, and everyone will be ready to resume when the main committee meets again after January 31.
Is that clear? The time on January 20 is close of business day, 4 p.m. Are we clear on that?
I'm getting nods, so I'm going to ask all if I can get consensus on this. Does everyone agree? Is there anyone disagreeing with this?
That's good. We can move on then.
I think we have discussed everything we need to discuss until now. I will entertain a motion to adjourn.
4:45 p.m.
Conservative
Kevin Waugh Conservative Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK
Madam Chair, before we go, I've been harping for six years on this, and, unfortunately, it took the pandemic to have this. Other than the Minister of Canadian Heritage and department officials, there is no need for any guest to be live in person anymore. We must continue the virtual meetings.
We've seen this in the last 20 months. We can save a lot of money for the Government of Canada. My wish would be that, when you're thinking of bringing people in to committee, they understand that they have to have access to the Internet and we move forward from there. That's other than the department officials and the Minister of Canadian Heritage.
4:45 p.m.
Conservative
4:45 p.m.
Conservative
Kevin Waugh Conservative Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK
Madam Chair, when the committee gets together in January, we need to be aware of this situation. That helps everybody for cleaning. That helps everybody moving forward.
That's just me, though.
4:50 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
This is with regard to witnesses. I think we passed one of the routine motions that basically said that witnesses should be able to meet virtually. They should have all of the right equipment, etc., and be able to send everything in both official languages. I think we set that up with one of our motions.
What Kevin is saying is to make sure we don't bring a lot of people in. Who knows where we will be next year, so I think that's a sane motion.
I would like to hear if anyone wants to comment on it, or shall we just accept it for the committee to think about and the clerk to listen to?
4:50 p.m.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC
Madam Chair, I completely agree with my Conservative colleague, and I'm glad he's such a strong supporter of a virtual Parliament. I certainly share that.
This was part of the motion that was adopted in Parliament. Ministers and departmental officials have the ability to meet physically in person or to meet virtually, but witnesses would be part of virtual testimony. I completely, absolutely agree. It makes more sense for a whole range of reasons, including the reduction in costs.
It's not often that I'm in complete agreement with my Conservative colleague, but in this case I definitely am.
4:50 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
That's very true, Mr. Julian. It was passed in the House of Commons, and that was a kind of an “ouch” moment there.
Now perhaps Monsieur Champoux wants to speak.
4:50 p.m.
Bloc
Martin Champoux Bloc Drummond, QC
I completely agree, just as I did when Mr. Waugh put forward the motion a few months ago, at the height of the pandemic. It's still raging on, so I think we should encourage the virtual appearance of witnesses.
However, some witnesses use their appearance before a committee as an opportunity to arrange meetings on Parliament Hill, so they may wish to appear in person, and we shouldn't deny ourselves the possibility of meeting with them in person if that is their preference.
That said, I wholly agree that we should give preference to virtual participation, especially during the pandemic. Another benefit is the cost savings. I do think we should keep the door open to those who wish to appear in person, in keeping with the public health rules, of course.
4:50 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
Thank you, Mr. Champoux. We reduce the costs and also the risk.
Shall the committee and the clerk take this under advisement for future meetings, given that the House of Commons also passed the same idea?
Does anyone have anything else they want to bring up?
Okay, I will entertain a motion to adjourn.
4:50 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
Thank you, Michael.
I wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year.
This was a good example of collaboration and co-operation by this committee. That's an auspicious beginning. Thank you.
This meeting is adjourned.
