Canadian Heritage Committee on June 16th, 2025

[Fares Al Soud, Liberal, Mississauga Centre, ON]

On time for opening remarks and questioning of witnesses, I move:

That witnesses be given five (5) minutes for their opening statements; that whenever possible, witnesses provide the committee with their opening statements 72 hours in advance; that, at the discretion of the Chair, during the questioning of witnesses, there be allocated six (6) minutes for the first questioner of each party as follows:

First Round:

Conservative Party

Liberal Party

Bloc Québécois

For the second and subsequent rounds, the order and time for questioning be as follows:

Conservative Party, five (5) minutes

Liberal Party, five (5) minutes

Bloc Québécois, two and a half (2.5) minutes

Conservative Party, five (5) minutes

Liberal Party, five (5) minutes

(Motion agreed to)

[Fares Al Soud, Liberal, Mississauga Centre, ON]

On document distribution, I move:

That only the clerk of the committee be authorized to distribute documents to members of the committee and only when the documents are in both official languages; and that all documents submitted to the committee in both official languages that do not come from a federal department or members’ offices, or that have not been translated by the Translation Bureau, be sent for linguistic review by the Translation Bureau before being distributed to members, and that the witnesses be advised accordingly.

(Motion agreed to)

[Fares Al Soud, Liberal, Mississauga Centre, ON]

On working meals, I move:

That the clerk of the committee, at the discretion of the Chair, be authorized to make the necessary arrangements to provide working meals for the committee and its subcommittees.

(Motion agreed to)

[Fares Al Soud, Liberal, Mississauga Centre, ON]

On travel, accommodation and living expenses of witnesses, I move:

That, if requested, reasonable travel, accommodation and living expenses be reimbursed to witnesses, not exceeding two representatives per organization; and that in exceptional circumstances, payment for more representatives be made at the discretion of the Chair.

(Motion agreed to)

[Fares Al Soud, Liberal, Mississauga Centre, ON]

On access to in camera meetings, I move:

That, unless otherwise ordered, each committee member be allowed to be accompanied by one staff member at in camera meetings and that one additional person from each House officer's office be allowed to be present.

That, during in camera meetings, committee members may be informed by the committee Chair of the MPs who have been designated as substitutes for permanent members, in order to know which MPs are authorized to speak and vote during these committee meetings. That only those who have been recognized and identified as such be authorized to speak, in keeping with the usual agreed rules of order and decorum.

(Motion agreed to)

[The Chair, Liberal, Lisa Hepfner]

Do you have a question, Mr. Généreux?

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Côte-du-Sud—Rivière-du-Loup—Kataskomiq—Témiscouata, QC]

It's actually a request. I'm going to read the other routine motions in French, if I may.

[The Chair, Liberal, Lisa Hepfner]

Please do.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Côte-du-Sud—Rivière-du-Loup—Kataskomiq—Témiscouata, QC]

Regarding the transcript of in camera meetings, I move as follows:

That one copy of the transcript of each in camera meeting be securely retained by the committee clerk for consultation by members of the committee or by their staff; and that the analysts assigned to the committee have access to the in camera transcripts.

[The Chair, Liberal, Lisa Hepfner]

Is it agreed that the motion carry?

(Motion agreed to)

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Côte-du-Sud—Rivière-du-Loup—Kataskomiq—Témiscouata, QC]

Regarding notices of motions, I move as follows:

That a 48‑hour notice, interpreted as two nights, be required for any substantive motion to be moved in committee, unless the substantive motion relates directly to business then under consideration, provided that: (a) the notice be filed with the clerk of the committee no later than 4:00 p.m. from Monday to Thursday, and no later than 2:30 p.m. on Friday; (b) the motion be distributed to Members and the offices of the whips of each recognized party in both official languages by the clerk on the same day the said notice was transmitted if it was received no later than the deadline hour; (c) notices received after the deadline hour or on non-business days be deemed to have been received during the next business day.

[The Chair, Liberal, Lisa Hepfner]

Is it agreed that the motion carry?

(Motion agreed to)

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Côte-du-Sud—Rivière-du-Loup—Kataskomiq—Témiscouata, QC]

I now move the following:

That in relation to orders of reference from the House respecting Bills, (a) The clerk of the committee shall, upon the committee receiving such an order of reference, write to each member who is not a member of a caucus represented on the committee to invite those members to file with the clerk of the committee, in both official languages, any amendments to the bill, which is the subject of the said Order, which they would suggest that the committee consider; (b) Suggested amendments filed, pursuant to paragraph (a), at least 48 hours prior to the start of clause-by-clause consideration of the bill to which the amendments relate shall be deemed to be proposed during the said consideration, provided that the committee may, by motion, vary this deadline in respect of a given bill; and (c) During the clause-by-clause consideration of a bill, the Chair shall allow a member who filed suggested amendments, pursuant to paragraph (a), an opportunity to make brief representations in support of them.

[The Chair, Liberal, Lisa Hepfner]

Is it agreed that the motion carry?

(Motion agreed to)

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Côte-du-Sud—Rivière-du-Loup—Kataskomiq—Témiscouata, QC]

Regarding technical tests for witnesses, I move as follows:

That the clerk inform each witness who is to appear before the committee that the House Administration support team must conduct technical tests to check the connectivity and the equipment used to ensure the best possible sound quality; and that the Chair advise the committee, at the start of each meeting, of any witness who did not perform the required technical tests.

If I may, Madam Chair, I'd like to say something on this matter.

What happened a lot in other committees was that witnesses or committee members did not have the time to do the necessary tests before the start of the meeting, and it was extremely disruptive. For the health and safety of the interpreters, we have to make sure that committee members and witnesses do the required testing before the meeting and that everything is working as it should. In the fall, the situation was awful on the Standing Committee on Industry and Technology. Committee clerks need to do whatever is necessary to make sure that the testing is done before—not during—the meeting.

Madam Chair, I ask that you see to it that the testing is done before the start of the meeting.

[The Chair, Liberal, Lisa Hepfner]

That's what the motion says, so no changes are needed.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Côte-du-Sud—Rivière-du-Loup—Kataskomiq—Témiscouata, QC]

You're right, nothing in the motion needs to change. I'm just pointing out how important it is to make sure that the required tests are done before the meeting begins, for the health and safety of the interpreters. Incidents have happened before and could happen again. It was very disruptive and delayed the committee.

[The Clerk]

If I may, I would like to point out that we have a team that systematically does the testing. Problems arise when we invite witnesses at the last minute, such as 24 hours before the meeting begins. That doesn't give us a lot of time. Otherwise, the tests are done, everything is working smoothly, and there are no issues.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Côte-du-Sud—Rivière-du-Loup—Kataskomiq—Témiscouata, QC]

All right.

[The Chair, Liberal, Lisa Hepfner]

Is it agreed that the motion carry?

(Motion agreed to)

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Côte-du-Sud—Rivière-du-Loup—Kataskomiq—Témiscouata, QC]

On whips' access to digital binders, I move as follows:

That the clerk of the committee be authorized to grant access to the committee's digital binder to the offices of the whips of each recognized party.

[The Chair, Liberal, Lisa Hepfner]

Is it agreed that the motion carry?

(Motion agreed to)

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Côte-du-Sud—Rivière-du-Loup—Kataskomiq—Témiscouata, QC]

On the maintenance of order and decorum, I move the following:

That, during meetings, the Chair, if necessary, uses his prerogative to suspend the meeting to maintain the order and decorum necessary to ensure the application of the House of Commons’ policies on workplace health and safety.

[The Chair, Liberal, Lisa Hepfner]

Is it agreed that the motion carry?

(Motion agreed to)

[The Chair, Liberal, Lisa Hepfner]

Seeing as we've adopted all the routine motions, I think that's all for today.