Declaration of Emergency Committee on Sept. 22nd, 2022

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Outremont, QC]

I am proposing a one-hour block for each witness.

[The Joint Chair, Bloc, Rhéal Fortin]

Okay.

You are proposing one hour for each of the two witnesses. As for the other three witnesses, will they each have two hours or do you want us to divide up the two hours among the three?

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Outremont, QC]

No, those witnesses would be part of the same panel.

[The Joint Chair, Bloc, Rhéal Fortin]

The three witnesses—the Sergeant at Arms, Senate security, and the Parliamentary Protective Service—would have two hours in total. The first two witnesses would have an hour each.

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Outremont, QC]

Yes.

[The Joint Chair, Bloc, Rhéal Fortin]

Okay, thank you.

Mr. Motz, go ahead.

[Glen Motz, Conservative, Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner, AB]

Thank you very much, Chair, and thank you, Ms. Bendayan, for bringing this forward.

I like the witness list. I would make some suggestions.

Given the importance of former chief Sloly and Mayor Watson,.... We need to name not just representatives, but the Ottawa Police Service. We name the interim chief and we name the acting deputy chief to appear for two hours each. We have to.

The rest of it—the Parliamentary Protective Service, the Sergeant-at-Arms and corporate security directorate for a panel for two hours—I can live with.

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Outremont, QC]

You are proposing two hours for Peter Sloly, two hours for Mayor Watson and two hours for both representatives.

[Glen Motz, Conservative, Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner, AB]

Yes, that's for the current interim chief and the acting deputy chief together.

[The Joint Chair, Bloc, Rhéal Fortin]

So we would give two hours to Mr. Sloly and two hours to Mr. Watson.

Mr. Motz, how much time would be given to the other witnesses?

[Glen Motz, Conservative, Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner, AB]

Yes, it's that the committee invite Peter Sloly, Ottawa Mayor Watson and the Ottawa Police Service's interim chief and acting deputy chief for two hours each. Then—

[The Joint Chair, Bloc, Rhéal Fortin]

So that comes up to eight hours, or two hours per witness. Is that right?

[Glen Motz, Conservative, Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner, AB]

No, the Ottawa Police Service would be one two-hour panel for two people.

[The Joint Chair, Bloc, Rhéal Fortin]

That would be for those two witnesses.

[Glen Motz, Conservative, Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner, AB]

It would be for two people and a two-hour panel, and then the rest would be the same for another two-hour panel. I would then propose one more witness. We could put in, from the last motion, the Clerk of the Privy Council.

[Voices]

No.

[Glen Motz, Conservative, Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner, AB]

You don't want her.

[A voice]

The OPP.

[A voice]

After.

[A voice]

There's a disconnect.

[Glen Motz, Conservative, Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner, AB]

We have a disconnect, but that's a totally different day.

[A voice]

We can do Carrique.

[Glen Motz, Conservative, Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner, AB]

That's fair. We can do OPP Commissioner Carrique for two hours.

That gets us going, Rachel. It helps us get moving.

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Outremont, QC]

I have no problem with the idea in principle. It's just that we have a very limited number of meetings and a huge witness list, which we all contributed to. I'm mindful of using our time judiciously.

[Glen Motz, Conservative, Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner, AB]

I agree.

The only thing is I will guarantee that in one hour, with all of us here, we're not going to get through Mr. Sloly or Mr. Watson, and we're going to be calling them back. I want to try to be as efficient as we can be, because we may be able to deal with them in one two-hour slot and not have to bring them back again.