Evidence of meeting #18 for Declaration of Emergency in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was list.
A video is available from Parliament.
NDP
Liberal
Rachel Bendayan Liberal Outremont, QC
On a point of order, Mr. Chair, when I put forward a motion for debate, you indicated that there were witnesses in front of us. Those witnesses are still here, so I don't see why we are engaging in scheduling.
NDP
The Joint Chair NDP Matthew Green
I was just about to dismiss the witnesses. We're at the end of our rounds. I think that's the distinction. You intervened in the middle of your rounds, when there were other people who had the ability to intervene. That list has now been exhausted. That's why I'm entertaining this in the business portion.
Having said that, Ms. Mason and Mr. Hatch, I would like to thank you for your participation in this process and in all processes related to this situation. I happily bid you adieu and wish you well—not to dismiss you, but to say goodbye so that we can carry on with our business at hand here.
General Counsel and Vice-President, Canadian Bankers Association
Thank you. Enjoy the rest of your evening.
NDP
The Joint Chair NDP Matthew Green
I apologize. There is one piece of information with regard to panel two. It should be noted that the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters and their Quebec counterparts are to be confirmed. At the time that this was written, they were not confirmed.
The other piece I will say right now to the committee, which I shared with Ms. Bendayan, is that the co-chairs will endeavour to ensure that the work plan is distributed by mid-week next week. We're going to meet after this meeting—quickly, hopefully—to iron out a few things. We continue to have some administrative challenges. We're going to work through that and get you whatever we have, even if it's a draft, so that you have the same working plan we do.
Bloc
The Joint Chair Bloc Rhéal Fortin
Mr. Chair, I was wondering whether we shouldn't make a few changes to the schedule for the next meeting, since we have a lot of information to go over as far as the work plan is concerned.
Instead of spending an hour and a half with each of the two panels, we could cut one of them by a half-hour, and spend those 30 minutes adopting our work plan. If we invite a new witness, such as Mr. Wells, it would be a good idea to have a look at the whole work plan.
I propose that we review the work plan from 6:30 p.m. to 7 p.m., because we could meet with the first panel from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and the second panel from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. That seems like a better way to do things.
NDP
The Joint Chair NDP Matthew Green
Members of the committee, you heard the proposition put forward by my joint chair, Monsieur Fortin. It's now open for discussion.
The discussion was to reduce the two panels of an hour and a half by a half hour to give us the one hour to work out whatever additional—
Bloc
The Joint Chair Bloc Rhéal Fortin
No, Mr. Chair.
I can say it in English, but I think we should leave it to the interpreters. I'll repeat what I said in French, if that's all right. My apologies to those who don't speak French.
We're supposed to meet with two panels, for an hour and a half each, and I was thinking it would be a good idea to cut our time with one of the panels to an hour, to give us a half-hour to discuss the work plan. That would give us time to go over it and adopt it.
We have two mayors for the first panel, so I think we should keep the hour and a half with them and cut our time with the second panel—representatives from the Canadian Trucking Alliance and the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers' Association—to an hour. That would give us a half-hour to discuss our work plan.
NDP
The Joint Chair NDP Matthew Green
Great.
I understand now. Thank you.
You've heard the recommendation as put forward by Joint Chair Fortin.
Do we have any objections to that?
Liberal
Arif Virani Liberal Parkdale—High Park, ON
Just for clarification, would the 30 minutes be just generally for committee business or restricted to the work plan that Monsieur Fortin is talking about?
NDP
The Joint Chair NDP Matthew Green
I don't know.
Mr. Fortin, I don't want to put words in your mouth.
Bloc
The Joint Chair Bloc Rhéal Fortin
What I'm proposing is that we spend the 30 minutes on the work plan, because I think that's how long we'll need. The draft I have here is a number of pages, and we have to discuss the scheduling of witnesses in the next few months. That'll require at least a half-hour, in my view.
Liberal
Arif Virani Liberal Parkdale—High Park, ON
I think we need 30 minutes at least for housekeeping generally. That could include, but not be restricted to, the work plan.
NDP
The Joint Chair NDP Matthew Green
Okay, I will state for the record as a joint-chairing person that the priority—the initial discussion—will be around the work plan. Then we'll get to whatever housekeeping items happen after that.
I just ask that there be no surprise motions or things that are dilatory that might disrupt our ability to put that to rest, because it's an ongoing administrative challenge that we've now heard raised as a point of order in meetings. It's one that I take seriously and I want to make sure that we just complete it.
Is that okay? Is everybody in agreement? Okay.
With that being said, we will reduce the second panel by a half hour. We'll have it at the beginning. Is that correct or will we have it at the end?
We'll have it at the end. That's smart. Thank you.
Is that unanimous? Do we need to vote on that? Are there dissenting opinions?
Liberal
NDP
The Joint Chair NDP Matthew Green
As committee business for scheduling, we typically do that because we're—
Liberal
Rachel Bendayan Liberal Outremont, QC
Mr. Chair, I understand from the clerk and her whisperings to you that they're not finalized. Is it possible to advise the committee if there are changes? If witnesses do cancel, could we receive an email?
NDP
The Joint Chair NDP Matthew Green
Absolutely. I'll just state again for the record that we literally found out 10 minutes before.
We'll definitely do that. Moving forward, we'll even get you guys the drafts in advance.
