Evidence of meeting #28 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 documents.
A video is available from Parliament.
9:30 p.m.
Bloc
The Joint Co-Chair (Mr. Rhéal Éloi Fortin) Bloc Rhéal Fortin
Thank you, Senator Harder.
Go ahead, Mr. Green.
9:30 p.m.
NDP
The Joint Chair NDP Matthew Green
I would just suggest, to my original point, to separate this point out, allow us to vote. We can then move on to adopt the motion as amended.
9:30 p.m.
Bloc
The Joint Co-Chair (Mr. Rhéal Éloi Fortin) Bloc Rhéal Fortin
We will now vote on Mr. Maloney's amendment, which proposes to replace the words “the Committee issue an order” with “the Committee require all legal opinions”.
Is that agreed?
Go ahead, Mr. Motz.
9:30 p.m.
Conservative
Glen Motz Conservative Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner, AB
Just to be clear, a “yes” vote means that you support the change from “order” to “request”. Is that right?
“No” means that it stays the same, as “order”. Okay.
9:30 p.m.
Liberal
James Maloney Liberal Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON
To be clear, Mr. Clerk, at the end of that section, where it says, “adoption of this order”, it should say, “within ten days of the request being made”. You change both or neither.
9:30 p.m.
Conservative
9:30 p.m.
Liberal
9:30 p.m.
Bloc
The Joint Co-Chair (Mr. Rhéal Éloi Fortin) Bloc Rhéal Fortin
We will now proceed to the vote.
(Motion agreed to: yeas 6; nays 5)
9:30 p.m.
Bloc
The Joint Co-Chair (Mr. Rhéal Éloi Fortin) Bloc Rhéal Fortin
So we will make a request, not issue an order.
I don't want to make this an amendment, but, as I said earlier, we should perhaps identify to whom we want to address this request. Is it the Clerk of the Privy Council, the council being the Prime Minister's department? Do we need to ask the Minister of Justice, who should have, in his records, the legal opinions he relied on at the time?
In my opinion, if we want our motion to make sense, we need to indicate to whom it is addressed.
9:30 p.m.
Liberal
Sherry Romanado Liberal Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC
I think we're all in agreement. We just voted on it. I think we already have confirmation from the ministers' offices. The ministers are prepared to appear at the next meeting.
9:30 p.m.
Bloc
The Joint Co-Chair (Mr. Rhéal Éloi Fortin) Bloc Rhéal Fortin
The question, really, was who we should ask for the documents.
9:30 p.m.
Senator, Ontario, PSG
May I make a suggestion?
The Privy Council Office is the keeper of those documents, so I would say, “request of the Government of Canada” so that we are free to ask the ministers, as representatives of the Government of Canada, as opposed to asking the Clerk of the Privy Council, because then we're getting a third party involved.
I would say, “the Government of Canada”. Understand, however, that it's the Privy Council Office that is the keeper of cabinet confidences and documents.
9:30 p.m.
Bloc
The Joint Co-Chair (Mr. Rhéal Éloi Fortin) Bloc Rhéal Fortin
What you're saying, Senator Harder, is that the Privy Council Office holds these documents. I therefore suggest that this request be addressed to the Clerk of the Privy Council.
If we don't have the documents, whose fault is it?
February 13th, 2024 / 9:35 p.m.
Senator, Ontario, PSG
It's a small point. I don't really want to keep going. The Clerk of the Privy Council acts on behalf of the government, so it is the Government of Canada that will decide. He's just the clerk.
9:35 p.m.
NDP
9:35 p.m.
Bloc
The Joint Co-Chair (Mr. Rhéal Éloi Fortin) Bloc Rhéal Fortin
Shall we leave the wording as it is?
Is that everything for today?
9:35 p.m.
Liberal
James Maloney Liberal Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON
The word “separately” in the first paragraph is being removed. We discussed it and agreed upon it, but I don't know that we formalized that discussion.
9:35 p.m.
Bloc
9:35 p.m.
Liberal
James Maloney Liberal Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON
“Committee invite the following witnesses to appear, separately, for at least one hour”.
The word, “separately” is to be removed. Mr. Motz agreed to that.
9:35 p.m.
Bloc
The Joint Co-Chair (Mr. Rhéal Éloi Fortin) Bloc Rhéal Fortin
Are we talking about Arif Virani and Dominic LeBlanc?
9:35 p.m.
The Joint Clerk Ms. Miriam Burke
Yes. It's in the text I received, but I wasn't able to distribute it.