Evidence of meeting #34 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 amendment.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
John Nater Conservative Perth—Wellington, ON
On a point of order, Madam Chair, could you just explain the consequential amendments very briefly? What did we just agree to in terms of consequential amendments?
Legislative Clerk
Amendment LIB-1 provides a definition for certain words to be understood within the bill. Right now, those words are brought to the bill by other amendments, which are LIB-3, LIB-6, LIB-7 and LIB-8. That's what they do, they just bring the concept all together. The note should have been read before the vote, but the end result is the same.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC
A point of order, Madam Chair.
Can the clerk repeat that slowly?
At the moment, we have a lot to manage all at once.
Legislative Clerk
Certainly.
Would you like me to read it in French or in English?
Legislative Clerk
In LIB‑1, Mr. Housefather proposes a definition that provides a new understanding of the term “communauté de langue officielle en situation minoritaire”. He proposes to make these changes elsewhere in the bill—
NDP
Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC
I'm sorry to interrupt you, but I didn't ask for an explanation because I understood the purpose of the amendment. Rather, I wanted you to slowly read the proposed amendments that were not accepted.
Legislative Clerk
In fact, no amendments were defeated because of the adoption of amendment LIB‑1. However, some amendments are adopted because they are consequential to LIB‑1.
Legislative Clerk
This is amendment LIB‑3, which is on page 24 of the package of amendments. We also have LIB‑6, which is on page 89; LIB‑7, which is on page 92; LIB‑8, which is on page 98.
Bloc
Martin Champoux Bloc Drummond, QC
I would like clarification again.
Could you explain to me why the amendments are adopted automatically when a definition has simply been adopted? Why does the adoption of a definition mean that amendments LIB‑3 and LIB‑8, for example, are adopted?
It seems to me that the scope of these amendments is beyond the comprehension of the term.
Liberal
Anthony Housefather Liberal Mount Royal, QC
This should have been mentioned before, but I didn't know.
The objective of these four amendments is the same, that is, to replace in the act the term “francophone and anglophone minorities in Canada” with “official language minority communities”, or OLMCs.
Bloc
Martin Champoux Bloc Drummond, QC
Perfect. That's what I didn't understand. We're simply changing the term.
Liberal
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
I shall now move to CPC-1.
Now, I want to suggest, before we move any further and start getting into another amendment, that it is now almost 1:00 p.m., and we have a hard stop.
I would like to suspend this meeting until we return.
Go ahead, Mr. Julian.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC
Madam Chair, I'd like to propose that, if we have unanimous consent, we continue up until question period.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
I will ask the clerk to speak to that. I think it may have to do with resources, breaks, etc.
The Clerk
That's correct, Madam Chair. We can continue until 1:30. Those are the resources we have available today.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC
If we have unanimous consent, I think it would be useful to continue our work.