Canadian Heritage Committee on June 8th, 2022

[Kevin Waugh, Conservative, Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK]

That was an Internet issue.

Anyway, just to wrap up on Bill C-11 here, we did get a huge amount from the clerk. We got 20 submissions yesterday alone. That seems to me....

I mean, we have ACTRA. We have APFC—you name it. As I said, Blue Ant Media and many of these organizations were on our list. They were on the list of not only the Conservatives but also the Liberals, the Bloc and the NDP.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Mr. Waugh, could you please stick to your debate on Mr. Julian's subamendment?

[Kevin Waugh, Conservative, Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK]

I do.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you.

[Kevin Waugh, Conservative, Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK]

If you don't mind, Madam Chair, my concern is this. With Bill C-11 and Hockey Canada, if we continue with Bill C-11, I am fearful that we will not have time to hear from Hockey Canada properly before we rise on, say, June 23, but—

[Peter Julian, NDP, New Westminster—Burnaby, BC]

I have a point of order, Madam Chair. I would question Mr. Waugh on relevance. The motion clearly states next Monday and next Wednesday, which are the two regularly scheduled meetings of this committee.

I would question his comments on relevance.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you, Mr. Julian.

Mr. Waugh, please be relevant. You are speaking to Mr. Julian's subamendment.

[Kevin Waugh, Conservative, Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK]

Do we have a Tuesday meeting already? Who set that up?

You said Monday and Tuesday, Mr. Julian.

[Peter Julian, NDP, New Westminster—Burnaby, BC]

I said Monday and Wednesday.

[Kevin Waugh, Conservative, Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK]

Oh, it's Monday and Wednesday.

Madam Chair, if I moved a subamendment on Mr. Julian's motion stating that all meetings be designated for Hockey Canada's study until the study is complete, and only then, when the clerk cannot fill a meeting witness, do we start with Bill C-11....

Part of this is that as I was talking about, Madam Chair, I got 20 submissions yesterday alone. We had the minister here on Monday, who made some comments on the $1 billion, all of a sudden, that he thinks Bill C-11 is going to produce, and he made some other statements that I think we're going to get some more submissions on in the next couple of days. I know we are.

My question for Mr. Julian is this. Can we first just set aside and do Hockey Canada on Monday and Wednesday? Then, and after that see what has come in, since we did have the minister here and he made some comments that I think some organizations.... For example, he made a comment on commercial content here on Monday. I am getting a ton of emails on commercial content. It's not in the bill. They're wondering where he's coming from on commercial content. He never explained it.

I never got an explanation, Madam Chair, on the $1 billion. He actually turned to Owen Ripley, the associate minister. We went from $830 million to $1 billion. There are a couple of things the Minister of Heritage said on Monday that I think we're going to see in our submissions this week. They want some clarification. We've had 20 in the last two days. I'm scared to know how many more we're going to get.

Here's what I would like to see. Let's do Hockey Canada solely on Monday and Wednesday, if you wish. Bring in the Minister of Sport, who is, like all of us, very concerned with this. She's been quoted in many articles, and not only about using Canadian funds. What about Hockey Canada? Have they learned anything from the past? Where are they going? As I just mentioned, many have left that organization since this story broke.

Let's deal with that on Monday. Let's deal with Hockey Canada again on Wednesday. For everybody, we can have our witness lists in before Friday on Hockey Canada. We don't need to identify anyone. I think the reporters in this country have identified John Does 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8. They haven't identified the person. We don't need to, but we do need to hear from officials from Hockey Canada gala, where the event was held, the foundation, and we need to hear from Hockey Canada itself.

Of course, we also need to hear from the Minister of Sport, because she's concerned that maybe Hockey Canada, who receives 6% funding from the Government of Canada.... That's 6% each year. Did they use a portion of that 6% to pay the $3.55 million that has been alleged in some of the reports?

I would like—

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Mr. Waugh, you are straying again. Are you asking Mr. Julian a question because—

[Kevin Waugh, Conservative, Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK]

I am.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

—you know that you cannot move a subamendment because you can't have more than one subamendment on the floor at one time.

[Kevin Waugh, Conservative, Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK]

Thank you.

I would like to do the Hockey Canada Monday and I'd like to do it Wednesday.

[Peter Julian, NDP, New Westminster—Burnaby, BC]

Then vote yes.

[Kevin Waugh, Conservative, Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK]

I'd like to jump on that, but because I'm seeing so much paper come in in the last two days, it tells me, around this table, we haven't done a very good job on Bill C-11 and that disturbs me.

I still haven't heard from APTN and diverse voices. We've heard from how many groups on diverse voices on Bill C-11 that will be affected? We've heard from two. We haven't heard from the national carrier for the indigenous. They haven't submitted anything. You've had it on your witness list. I think we even had it on our witness list.

I think we need to hear from the diverse voices around Bill C-11. That would give us some time to look through the 20 submissions in the last two days and see if we have any others because of commercial content, because of the billion dollars. Then we can come back next week and we can submit our amendments to Bill C-11. How's that?

We need time because here are 20...and I've had commercial content, which is not in the bill. People are wondering what that's all about and I can't answer them on that. The minister couldn't really answer it. He talked about commercial content. We've asked him about it, but the minister couldn't identify what commercial content is when it doesn't even show up in the bill.

If we're going to do both of these.... I think we have two weeks left, Madam Chair, until the 23rd, and we can get it in. We can have Hockey Canada Monday and Wednesday and have our submissions after that. We can put it in on Wednesday or Thursday next week, and we can move ahead and do Bill C-11 properly. We've been here for four or five months now dealing with it. I think the government would agree we should not proceed with Bill C-18 at this point because we've not even done Bill C-11 right now. I say Bill C-18 because I thought the minister in his testimony on Monday got both bills confused. I just felt that we needed to buckle down.

Thank you, Mr. Julian, for all your support on Hockey Canada. I think it's much needed in this country for everybody who wants to play for Team Canada, men and women. I think we need to go ahead with that.

I agree one hundred per cent but at the same time, because we're dealing with Bill C-11 and so many submissions, I would like to have a little more time to get the submissions from people who have reached out to my office, in particular about commercial content. I can't answer them on that and I'm not sure you can answer them, Madam Chair, or anyone around here, because commercial content does not appear in Bill C-11.

How do I answer that when the minister couldn't answer that on Monday? That's why I'm a little reluctant to move on with Bill C-11, when I heard some stories coming out of Monday's meeting from the Minister of Canadian Heritage and his official Mr. Ripley.... In moving from $830 million to $1 billion, where does that come from? He mentioned YouTube once, so I'd like to know where the extra $170 million is coming from. Bill C-10 had $830 million and we've gone to $1 billion.

When I asked that question on Monday it was like, where did that number come from? I'm not sure we got the answer for that. I am hearing from stakeholders who want to know a little more information on the commercial content and I'm hearing about the $1 billion, about how the government is going to get a billion dollars out of Bill C-11 and what they are going to do with that. I think we need a little more time to flesh that out, if you don't mind, in the committee. I'm not filibustering here—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[Peter Julian, NDP, New Westminster—Burnaby, BC]

You're filibustering your own proposal. Seriously, it's Hockey Canada and you're filibustering it. It's unbelievable.

[Kevin Waugh, Conservative, Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK]

Listen, we all want to do the Hockey Canada story. We all think it's important. I told you why we needed to do that before—

[Anthony Housefather, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

I have a point of clarification, Madam Chair, on the subamendment offered by Mr. Julian.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

A point of clarification, that's not a thing.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Order, please.

Mr. Housefather raised his hand on a point of order. I could not hear a word he said because someone was yelling.

Now I would like to hear Mr. Housefather's point of order, please.

[Anthony Housefather, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Can you hear me now?

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Yes, I can.

[Anthony Housefather, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

It was, Madam Chair, a point of clarification to you. I was wondering if you would be able to—