Canadian Heritage Committee on Nov. 27th, 2024

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, MB]

If Mr. Champoux believes that I called him “sexist”, certainly that was not my intention. I took issue with the comment that he made, which I find deeply troubling, but let me get back to the point here, which is the gutting of this motion by the Bloc, and now we're hearing support from the Liberals.

I don't know why the government is so keen to hide what's happening at Canada Soccer. We know that the recent report is not on the workplace culture; it is simply on the spying scandal. We know from allegations and recent media reports that the problems at Canada Soccer go far beyond that report. By gutting this motion, we are doing a disservice to finding out where Canadians' public money has gone, what kind of culture they're supporting at Canada Soccer and why we haven't heard more from the minister.

More importantly, how can we fix the problem at Canada Soccer, especially as Canada sets up to co-host the world's largest sporting event, the 2026 FIFA World Cup? Canadians deserve the truth, and we cannot support the gutting of a motion that seeks to do that in short order. Canadians deserve better.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Ms. Ashton is speaking against the amendment.

Now I want to go to Mr. Noormohamed.

Go ahead, Taleeb.

[Taleeb Noormohamed, Liberal, Vancouver Granville, BC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

There are a couple of things.

Obviously we have our witness here, and everybody seemed very keen to have this meeting—

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Madam Chair—

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

There's a point of order, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Your microphone is cutting in and out, Taleeb.

[Taleeb Noormohamed, Liberal, Vancouver Granville, BC]

I'm sorry.

I was going to say that everybody wanted this meeting to happen. We have Madame Bouchard here. Let's focus on the conversation that we're here to have.

We agree with Mr. Champoux. His amendment is entirely reasonable.

A study has already been done on this matter. We're going to speak with the author of the study. After that, the committee can decide what it wants to do.

We are absolutely in favour of what Mr. Champoux has proposed. It's reasonable, it's thoughtful and allows us to have a thoughtful conversation about this. Everybody in this room takes this issue seriously.

I think it's important that we get this conversation with Madame Bouchard back on track, but also that we speak to the authors of this study, as Mr. Champoux has proposed. That affords us the opportunity to decide what we want to do next.

We will be voting in favour of Mr. Champoux's amendment.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you.

On the amendment, I have Mr. Coteau.

[Michael Coteau, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Is it possible that we can do it in an hour and then maybe squeeze something else in?

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

We can't just let this go if anybody puts up their hand to speak. Mr. Coteau may continue the debate.

If no one does, we will go to the vote.

[Michael Coteau, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

Wait, wait. I was actually saying something.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

You asked a question about whether it was possible to do something.

[Michael Coteau, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

Yes, I'm talking about the report. We have the witness in for two hours. The lawyer is coming in and talking about the investigation for two hours. Why don't we just make it one hour and then continue to do something else with the second hour?

I actually think that it's a good motion or amendment, because it'll give us a good understanding if we should go further on pursuing this, based on what we hear in the report.

Would an hour cut it? I don't even need an answer. It's up to the mover of the amendment if he wants to make the change, but I'm supportive of the amendment.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

All right. You're supportive of the amendment.

Mr. Champoux, I don't see you moving to change it to one hour, so I will call the vote on the amendment.

(Amendment agreed to: yeas 10; nays 1[See Minutes of Proceedings])

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

We can move on now to voting on the motion as amended. I see no hands raised to speak.

Please go ahead, Clerk.

(Motion as amended agreed to: yeas 10; nays 1)

We will go back to the order of the day, which is the testimony of Madame Bouchard.

I now have a second round to begin. It's a five-minute round for the Liberals and the Conservatives, and we begin with Mr. Godin.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I'm sorry, Mrs. Bouchard. This is parliamentary procedure. It was a rather unusual and unfortunate situation. The NDP members might be a little embarrassed. You can ask them.

First of all, I would like to congratulate you on your appointment. You are the first francophone woman to hold the position of president and CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada.

As the official languages critic, I am delighted with your appointment.

Mrs. Bouchard, I understand that you haven't taken up your position yet, but you will become the new president and CEO next January.

As president, what is your opinion on the use of the performance bonus tool?

I would like to hear your comments on that.

[Marie-Philippe Bouchard]

Generally speaking, business compensation policies use mechanisms such as fixed compensation, short-term variable compensation, long-term variable compensation and flexibility. In short, there are a variety of tools.

The truth is that compensation specialists are looking at these issues, at what the best practices are—

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

I'm sorry to interrupt you, Ms. Bouchard.

I want to know what you think about governance, as the future president and CEO.

[Marie-Philippe Bouchard]

I'm explaining it to you.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Can you summarize, because I have limited time?

[Marie-Philippe Bouchard]

Okay.

I think these practices evolve over time and it's important to keep pace with what good practices tell us to do to achieve the desired results. We need to be able to attract and retain talent in the positions we are looking to fill while having fair and transparent practices.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

I understand, Mrs. Bouchard.

The way I interpret what you said is that performance can be achieved using other tools. Is that correct?

[Marie-Philippe Bouchard]

Individual performance is driven by all sorts of factors.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Thank you.

Mrs. Bouchard, you used to work for CBC/Radio-Canada.

Did you ever get bonuses?

[Marie-Philippe Bouchard]

In some of the positions I occupied, yes, there were variable compensation policies at the time.