Declaration of Emergency Committee on March 24th, 2022

[The Joint Co-Chair, Bloc, Rhéal Fortin]

Thank you, Mr. Motz.

Mr. Virani, you have the floor.

[Arif Virani, Liberal, Parkdale—High Park, ON]

It's not necessary.

[The Joint Co-Chair, Bloc, Rhéal Fortin]

Mr. Brock, you have the floor.

[Larry Brock, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

I think we should treat this in much the same way we treated the issue regarding legal counsel. My proposal is that we adjourn debate on this, because we're putting the cart before the horse. We don't even understand the scope yet. We haven't decided on that. Why are we pigeonholing ourselves and determining what witnesses we're calling at this point and what time we're setting aside? Right now we're actually looking at 18-plus hours of witness testimony without even understanding the full scope of the study.

[The Joint Co-Chair, Bloc, Rhéal Fortin]

There's a motion to adjourn debate on the fifth motion and the amendment proposed by Mr. Green.

Do I have unanimous consent?

(Motion agreed to)

[The Joint Co-Chair, Bloc, Rhéal Fortin]

Debate is adjourned on the fifth motion.

Are there any other motions?

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

Mr. Chair?

[The Joint Co-Chair, Bloc, Rhéal Fortin]

Yes, Mr. Motz?

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

I would move the following motion:

That an Order do issue for all security assessments and legal opinions which the government relied upon in determining that

(a) the threshold of “threats to security of Canada”, as defined by section 2 of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act, required by section 16 of the Emergencies Act, had been met;

(b) the thresholds required

[The Joint Co-Chair, Bloc, Rhéal Fortin]

Mr. Motz, can you wait until we've received your motion before continuing?

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

I have them here.

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Outremont, QC]

A point of order, Mr. Chair.

[The Joint Co-Chair, Bloc, Rhéal Fortin]

Mr. Motz, we're going to distribute the text of your motion.

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

Chair, I'm introducing this, but we won't debate it until next meeting.

This is an introduction of this motion. We won't be debating it today.

[The Joint Chair, Bloc, Rhéal Fortin]

Okay. Good.

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

I'm giving notice. I'd like to read it into the record, if I may.

[The Joint Co-Chair, Bloc, Rhéal Fortin]

You may read it, Mr. Motz.

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

I'll continue:

(b) the thresholds required by paragraphs 3(a) or (b) of the Emergencies Act, concerning a “national emergency” had been met;

(c) the situation could not “be effectively dealt with under any other law of Canada”, as required by section 3 of the Emergencies Act;

(d) the Emergency Measures Regulations were compliant with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, including the analysis relied upon by the Minister of Justice in discharging his responsibilities under section 4.1 of the Department of Justice Act; and

(e) the emergency economic measures order was compliant with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, including the analysis relied upon by the Minister of Justice in discharging his responsibilities under section 4.1 of the Department of Justice Act,

provided that

(f) these documents shall be deposited with the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel of the Senate, the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel of the House of Commons and any legal counsel which the committee may appoint, in both official languages, within one month of the adoption of this order;

(g) a copy of the documents shall also be deposited with the law clerks and any legal counsel which the committee may appoint, in both official languages, within one month of the adoption of this order, with any proposed redaction of information which, in the government's opinion, could reasonably be expected to compromise national security or to reveal details of an ongoing criminal investigation, other than the existence of an investigation;

(h) the law clerks and any legal counsel which may be appointed by the committee shall promptly thereafter notify the co-chairs whether they are satisfied the requested documents were produced as ordered, and, if not, the co-chairs shall be instructed to present forthwith, on behalf of the committee, a report to each House outlining the material facts of the situation;

(i) the co-chairs shall cause the documents, as redacted pursuant to paragraph (g), to be distributed to the members of the committee and to be published on the committee's website forthwith upon receipt;

(j) the law clerks and any legal counsel which the committee may appoint shall discuss with the committee, at an in camera meeting, to be held within two weeks of the documents being distributed pursuant to paragraph (i), whether they agree with the redactions proposed by the government pursuant to paragraph (g), provided that, upon the request of the government when depositing the documents, the co-chairs shall be instructed to present as soon as possible, on behalf of the committee, a report to each House recommending that this meeting, or any subsequent meeting where the discussion is continued,

(i) shall, notwithstanding the order of the Senate adopted on March 3, 2022, not be subject to the provisions of paragraphs (a) to (c) of the order of the Senate adopted on February 10, 2022, respecting senators on standing joint committees,

(ii) shall, notwithstanding the order of the House of Commons adopted on March 2, 2022, not be subject to provisions of paragraph (r) of the order of the House of Commons adopted on November 25, 2021, and

(iii) may, if the committee decides, be held outside of either House's precincts, but within the National Capital Region, at a location acknowledged by the government to be appropriate for the discussion and presentation of highly classified information; and

(k) the committee may, after hearing from the law clerks and any legal counsel which the committee may appoint, pursuant to paragraph (j), accept the proposed redactions, or reject some or all of the proposed redactions and request the production of those unredacted documents in the manner to be determined by the committee.

Please don't ask me to repeat that.

Thank you, Chair.

[The Joint Co-Chair, Bloc, Rhéal Fortin]

Mr. Motz, if I understand correctly, we will debate your motion at the next meeting.

Mr. Clerk, are we going to receive the official French translation? The document has been translated, but this version isn't perfect. If possible, the document should be translated.

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

My translation wasn't that good.

[The Joint Co-Chair, Bloc, Rhéal Fortin]

The text will be translated into French by tomorrow night so that it can be considered before Tuesday's meeting.

Thank you, Mr. Clerk and Mr. Motz.

Does anyone have any other proposals? It's almost 9:00 p.m., but we have time to—

[Arif Virani, Liberal, Parkdale—High Park, ON]

I move to adjourn to go and watch soccer, Mr. Chair.

[The Joint Clerk, Mr. Paul Cardegna]

My colleague from the Senate and I were looking at everything that's been adopted, and we'd like to get some instruction from the committee as to what members want to do. As they may be aware, the next meeting of the committee will likely be next Tuesday, from 6:30 to 9:30, and we'd like to know if it is the will of the committee to continue doing committee business or if members want to invite the law clerks of the two chambers to appear. I'm not sure the law clerks will necessarily be ready, but we can put the request to them.

My colleague from the Senate and I would like to get instruction as to what the committee wishes to do with its next meeting five days from now.

Thank you.

[The Joint Co-Chair, Bloc, Rhéal Fortin]

Mr. Motz, you have the floor.

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

I would suggest that's not a bad idea; however, given that this is time-sensitive and we want this information back within a month, we should probably deal with this motion for at least part of the meeting, and then we can probably bring a witness or whatever that looks like, potentially.