Evidence of meeting #1 for Economic Relationship between Canada and the United States in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was chair.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Clerk of the Committee  Ms. Erica Pereira

6:55 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Raj Saini

Sure, that's fine.

Thank you, Mr. Strahl.

6:55 p.m.

Conservative

Mark Strahl Conservative Chilliwack—Hope, BC

Okay.

I have an additional routine motion proposal. I would propose that all meetings other than those deemed in camera be televised, or if that is not possible, then webcast.

6:55 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Raj Saini

Okay.

Monsieur Savard-Tremblay.

6:55 p.m.

Bloc

Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay Bloc Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC

Mr. Chair, I want to move three motions.

The first concerns the documents translated by the Translation Bureau. It reads as follows:

That all documents submitted for Committee business—

6:55 p.m.

Liberal

John McKay Liberal Scarborough—Guildwood, ON

On a point of order, Mr. Chair, we need to deal with Mr. Strahl's motion first before we go to any other motions.

6:55 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Raj Saini

Mr. Strahl, from what I understand, all meetings are already webcast, but we can have a vote on that motion, if you'd like.

6:55 p.m.

Conservative

Mark Strahl Conservative Chilliwack—Hope, BC

It does say at the beginning, “That all meetings other than those deemed in camera be televised, and if that's not possible, then webcast.”

I am asking for televising of our meetings.

6:55 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Raj Saini

Can we have a vote, Madam Clerk?

6:55 p.m.

The Clerk

Mr. Chair, would you like to proceed to a recorded vote?

6:55 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Raj Saini

Is there any debate on the motion at all?

Does anybody want to make any comments?

Yes, Ms. Romanado.

6:55 p.m.

Liberal

Sherry Romanado Liberal Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC

Obviously in a perfect world we'd have the capacity to televise every committee meeting. We are now at 28 committees, so I'm not sure whether that's even feasible, but I know that if not, often all of the meetings are webcast.

I'm not sure whether we need to just flag that obviously in a perfect world we'd have enough facilities to do this, but we don't have that many rooms. I just wanted to bring it up.

It's not an amendment. I just wanted to bring up that we might not have the capacity to do that, again, depending on when the committee meets as well.

6:55 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Raj Saini

Monsieur Savard-Tremblay.

6:55 p.m.

Bloc

Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay Bloc Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC

I just wanted to save my turn for later. I didn't want to get involved in the current discussion.

6:55 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Raj Saini

Okay, we're debating this motion right now. I can come back to you. That's no problem.

Mr. Strahl, do you have another comment?

6:55 p.m.

Bloc

Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay Bloc Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC

Yes, I'm aware of that, Mr. Chair. That's what I was saying.

6:55 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Raj Saini

Okay, thank you.

Mr. Strahl, did you have any other comments?

6:55 p.m.

Conservative

Mark Strahl Conservative Chilliwack—Hope, BC

I think we are mandated to meet during parliamentary break weeks, so perhaps we would have more access to that. Obviously our constituents are very interested in our work and it would be good to have that, recognizing the backup of webcast, which is great. However, it is a separate request for televising that needs to be made.

I would like that to be our normal posture if at all possible, recognizing again, with capacity issues and COVID that it might not always happen. I would like the clerk to always request it, even if it's not always successful.

7 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Raj Saini

Okay. Is there any other debate?

Are you making a formal motion then, Mr. Strahl, or is this just a general comment?

7 p.m.

Conservative

Mark Strahl Conservative Chilliwack—Hope, BC

I would like it added to the routine motions as read.

7 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Raj Saini

Madam Clerk, we would like to take a vote.

(Motion agreed to: yeas 11; nays 0 [See Minutes of Proceedings])

7 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Raj Saini

Are there any other motions or does anyone want to say anything else?

7 p.m.

The Clerk

Mr. Chair, I believe you had Mr. Savard-Tremblay.

7 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Raj Saini

Monsieur Savard-Tremblay, please go ahead.

7 p.m.

Bloc

Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay Bloc Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC

My first motion, which concerns documents translated by the Translation Bureau, reads as follows:

That all documents submitted for Committee business that do not come from a federal department or that have not been translated by the Translation Bureau be sent for prior linguistic review by the Translation Bureau before being distributed to members.

You have received the three motions that I'm moving today in both official languages.

7 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Raj Saini

Is there any debate on the motion?

Mr. Strahl.