Electoral Reform Committee on June 21st, 2016

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

I don't know procedurally how to go about this, but would it be possible to propose a time and day in your motion for parties to submit witnesses, and you suggested Thursday; a time and day for the steering committee to meet, and I think there might be agreement with doing that early next week; a time and day for the analysts to brief us; a time and day for the committees directorate to brief us on the possible uses of technology; and then a time and day—it could all be the same day—for Mr. Mayrand and Mr. Kingsley to appear?

[Sherry Romanado, Liberal, Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC]

I'll try to capture all of that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Can you? In the meantime....

Go ahead, Mr. Reid.

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON]

At the risk of being a stickler, those cannot possibly be amendments, since they are so broadly beyond the scope of a motion that was simply to have the steering committee meet on June 29 at 11 a.m., or whatever the time was. We can have multiple motions that deal with those things, but the first motion—

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Yes, let's start with the steering committee. Okay.

Your recommendation was to have the steering committee meet on June 29?

[Sherry Romanado, Liberal, Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC]

That's correct. It was to have the steering committee meet on June 29, but prior to that, if the members of this committee could submit to the clerk their witness lists no later than, say, end of day this Thursday, so that this could be brought forward to the steering committee—

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Okay, so Thursday and June 29 are the two key dates.

[Sherry Romanado, Liberal, Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC]

That's correct.

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON]

Those are two separate items.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Let's start with the steering committee.

[Sherry Romanado, Liberal, Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC]

I move that the subcommittee meet on Wednesday, June 29, at 10 a.m.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Would anyone like to...?

Go ahead, Monsieur Boulerice.

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I think it is in fact desirable to adopt a motion so that the steering committee would meet next week and we can start hearing from witnesses as soon as possible. That would be a step in the right direction, and we have to move forward.

At the NDP, we feel that we can meet in the early summer to hear from experts, university representatives and people who will come to give us an overview of all models we will have to study. We must have a common vocabulary and agree on certain terms in order to avoid confusion during our debates.

Afterwards, perhaps starting in mid-August, we will move on to another stage, when we can travel and meet with Canadians before the members hold their own consultations in their ridings.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

First, do you agree with having a meeting on June 29 at 10 a.m.?

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

I agree with having that meeting.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Are there any other comments?

Ms. May, go ahead.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Like Mr. Cullen, I would prefer to begin the steering committee's work as soon as possible; perhaps even today. Why not? We are all here. Wednesday morning is also a good suggestion, since everyone will be here for President Obama's speech.

I think if we can get started with the work of the steering committee this afternoon or tomorrow, that would be much preferable. We've lost a lot of time, and summer looms. I don't want to make myself a special case, but I can't plan anything from now until December 1; none of us can, until we have some idea of the calendar. I'd love to see that moving ahead more quickly.

Having the committee meet on the 30th is certainly fine, but many of us will have a long way to travel to be back in our ridings for Canada Day. My community's first Canada Day event is the afternoon of the 30th. Of course, I will cancel anything in order to participate fully in this committee. I will not miss a meeting. I will be here all the time, but I'd hate to break it to the community that's expecting me to be there to open Canada Day events that I can't make it because the committee's first meeting is on the 30th.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Of course. Are you proposing an amendment to Ms. Romanado's motion?

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

I'm opposing this motion and substituting that the steering committee should meet much sooner.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Okay, I got it.

Go ahead, Ms. Romanado.

[Sherry Romanado, Liberal, Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC]

I agree that time is of the essence, which is why I'm proposing that the next time folks will be in Ottawa, we should absolutely sit down and meet. I was proposing that maybe the morning of the 30th we could actually have the full meeting.

If we were to have a meeting of the steering committee, would we have enough content to have that meeting tomorrow? Would we be prepared? Do we have all the witness lists? If we're going to start mapping out our summer, we need to have that information, and I'm not guaranteed that we actually have that information. In order to have time to think about it and look at it, I think we need to give the committee enough time to reflect on that. I'm also not sure if the analysts can prepare things in less than 24 hours.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Your motion's still on the floor here.

Just in the interests of consolidating things—and I hope I'm not overstepping my bounds—other options would be Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. It is quite understandable, I think, that Ms. May would want to be in her riding for Canada Day. All of us do. We could have the steering committee Monday. We could have it Tuesday morning, and then the analysts and the committees directorate could brief us Tuesday afternoon. Then we could have Mr. Mayrand and Mr. Kingsley Wednesday morning.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

I take Ms. Romanado's point very well.

President Obama is here on Wednesday. The steering committee is a much smaller group; it's not all of us. It kick-starts the process. Wednesday we could get in a meeting or two, or perhaps Thursday, depending on flights and all the rest of it. At the very least, that subcommittee can propose something by Wednesday as to what the next number of weeks will look like, which I think is important to everybody. If this committee is going to go full out across the board, we have to know that sooner rather than later, so why not do that?

I like your suggestion very much, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

You mean to have the subcommittee Monday or Tuesday morning?

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Yes, we could have it on Tuesday morning, to get started.