Canadian Heritage Committee on March 20th, 2023

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

I call this meeting to order.

Good morning, everyone.

Welcome to meeting No. 70 of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage.

I would like to acknowledge that this meeting is taking place on the unceded traditional territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people.

Today’s meeting is taking place in a hybrid format, pursuant to the House Order of Thursday, June 23, 2022.

There are some quick housekeeping rules we want to talk about.

While public health authorities and the Board of Internal Economy no longer mandate or require us to wear a mask indoors or on the precinct, masks and respirators are still excellent tools to prevent the spread of any kind of disease.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) and the motion adopted by the committee on Tuesday, September 20, 2022, the committee is meeting to continue its study on safe sport in Canada.

Today, by video conference, we have three witnesses representing the Canadian Soccer Association. They are Earl Cochrane, general secretary of Canada Soccer, and Paul-Claude Bérubé, independent director on the board of directors of Canada Soccer.

We will also be hearing from Stephanie Geosits, Independent Director of Canada Soccer's Board of Directors

Here's how we do this.

First and foremost, you are not allowed to take any pictures of yourselves at the meeting. No photos are allowed.

Secondly, if you look at the bottom of your screen, you will see there is a little globe. That globe, if you press it, will give you English or French translation.

Anything you say should be through the chair.

Basically, that's about it. We can begin.

Before we begin, we will be giving the three witnesses a total of 10 minutes—not each, but a total of 10 minutes.

I also wanted to remind the committee that we have a hard stop, because we have 15 minutes of business at the end of this meeting.

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

I have a point of order, Madam Chair. I want to get confirmation on something.

We asked for the outgoing president of Canada Soccer, Nick Bontis, to appear. We also asked for Mr. Cochrane, but we did not ask for the two independent directors. Through the clerk, I would like to know how they became involved in today's meeting.

I'm just going to throw this out. On Wednesday, we got the notice that Mr. Bontis was coming. When we received notice that he was not coming, I wondered if we should cancel this meeting with Canada Soccer. Everybody around this table, Madam Chair, wanted Mr. Bontis. He's not here today. We also wanted Mr. Cochrane, and I thank him for showing up, but we did not want the independent directors.

I'm going to ask the clerk, if you don't mind, how we got here today, with two people from the board whom the committee did not actually call on as witnesses.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Clerk, perhaps you can respond.

[The Clerk of the Committee, Mr. Michael MacPherson]

Sure.

The motion the committee adopted was to invite the president and CEO of Soccer Canada. Typically, when we invite any organization, we leave it up to the organization to decide which representatives it will send to the committee to testify. I believe there is no restriction on other witnesses being included. When we issue an invitation like that, it's not exclusive to just the person in the invitation. We leave it up to the organization.

If the committee has an issue with these witnesses testifying, the committee could decide to excuse them.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

If I may add, Clerk, we received a letter from Mr. Bontis telling us that due to certain circumstances that required an empathetic decision, he could not come to this particular meeting.

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

Will Mr. Bontis be rescheduled, then? This committee desperately wants to hear from the former president of Canada Soccer. Yes, you have alluded to a letter, but at the same time, when would Mr. Bontis come to committee and testify?

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

I will ask the clerk to answer that question, because he has been in touch with Mr. Bontis.

I agreed that the letter warranted that we listen to his sympathetic, humanitarian and compassionate grounds for not coming to this meeting.

Go ahead, Mike.

[The Clerk]

I have no new information other than the missive that we received from Dr. Bontis's lawyer, indicating that he would not be present today. I have no new information on when he may be available.

Moreover, Chair, I believe Mr. Lemire has a motion.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Go ahead, Sébastien.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Thank you, Chair.

I move that we invite Mr. Bontis back. I would also like Mr. Heffernan, Canada Soccer's Chief Financial Officer, to join him.

Today's meeting will allow us to determine the urgency of holding that additional meeting. I think we should schedule another meeting, to make sure Mr. Bontis appears before us, along with Mr. Heffernan, to answer our questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you, Monsieur Lemire.

Is there anyone on the committee who objects to this, or do we agree with Monsieur Lemire's suggestion?

Go ahead, Peter.

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

I would like to move that we summon Mr. Bontis to a meeting to be held in March by this committee.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Are there any objections to that motion by Peter?

[Anthony Housefather, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

I have no objection, but I believe he was summoned already. I believe the original thing was not just an invitation. I believe he was summoned in the event he didn't accept the invitation.

I would suggest, since we're dealing with this now, that we also summon Victor Montagliani. It is very evident from the previous meeting that he is needed and was very involved in the CSB agreement as well.

Maybe Peter would adjust his motion accordingly. I'd be delighted to support the three of them coming.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you.

It sounds as if we have an amendment to Mr. Julian's motion.

Does anyone disagree with the amendment that Mr. Housefather placed?

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Madam Chair, I want to make sure that Mr. Heffernan, Canada Soccer's Chief Financial Officer, is also invited. So this is a subamendment.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

All right. Are there any objections to Monsieur Lemire's second amendment of names?

Not hearing anybody, I think we accept the names.

(Subamendment agreed to)

(Amendment as amended agreed to)

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

Madam Chair, the motion is for before the end of March, meaning that we would need these people in committee either this Thursday, next Monday or next Thursday.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Yes. I think that was suggested before the break.

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

That's good. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Given that we now have an amended motion, does anyone object to the amended motion brought forward by Mr. Julian?

Peter.

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

I have no objection, Madam Chair. I appreciate the amendments by my two colleagues, Mr. Housefather and Monsieur Lemire.

When we originally summoned Mr. Bontis, it was by his position, not his name. Now that he has resigned his position, I think it's important that we issue the summons in his name. That way, we are crystal clear that we expect him to come to committee.

(Motion as amended agreed to)

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you.

Shall we move on now to listen to the witnesses?

For 10 minutes, we begin with Mr. Cochrane. Are you going to be the spokesperson?

[Earl Cochrane, General Secretary, Canada Soccer, Canadian Soccer Association]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

All three of us will have a part to play in the 10 minutes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

All right. You may begin. I am setting the stopwatch.

I will give you a 30-second cue so that you can wrap up whatever you're saying.

Thank you.