Environment Committee on Dec. 12th, 2017

[The Chair (Mrs. Deborah Schulte (King—Vaughan, Lib.)), Liberal, Deb Schulte]

We are back on clause-by-clause of C-57, an act to amend the Federal Sustainable Development Act.

Monsieur Godin.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Madam Chair, I rise on a point of order following correspondence and distribution of documents in only one of the two official languages by you on December 7 and by my colleague across the way, Mr. Amos, in November.

I will refer to a motion put forward by Mike Bossio on February 4, 2016.

I would also like to move another motion. May I ask for the unanimous consent of my colleagues so that I can put it forward?

[The Chair, Liberal, Deb Schulte]

Could you explain? There's a document that was distributed, but it wasn't distributed as part of the committee. It was distributed by an individual member for interest—

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

—at this table.

[The Chair, Liberal, Deb Schulte]

—but not as part of committee information.

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

I'm sorry, but that's part of the committee. Come on. Even Gerretsen's laughing.

[The Chair, Liberal, Deb Schulte]

We're missing translation. Hang on a minute. I'll just say that again.

If it was the letter that Mr. Amos asked to distribute at the committee, it wasn't committee work. It wasn't from the committee. It was just a member asking to distribute a letter. I did not know what was in the letter when he distributed it, and as soon as he did, we basically said it's something between you and committee members. It wasn't committee business.

I want to make sure that was clear. I never saw that as committee business, and it wasn't intended to be committee business. I didn't know what it was until he put it in front of us. It was not committee business.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Madam Chair, a motion was adopted on February 4, 2016, that only the clerk of the committee is authorized to distribute documents, including motions, to committee members, and all documents distributed to committee members must be available in both official languages. This was adopted on February 4, 2016. That's the first thing.

The second is the correspondence that the chair sent to all committee members. Although the correspondence was addressed to all MPs, it was in only one language—English. I have a copy of the correspondence you sent to us last week. I won't refer to the content of the correspondence, but unfortunately—

[The Chair, Liberal, Deb Schulte]

That was last week?

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Yes, last week.

[The Chair, Liberal, Deb Schulte]

What was it?

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Do you understand?

[The Chair, Liberal, Deb Schulte]

You're referring to an email that I send out just to let you know, and I didn't do it in two official languages.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Yes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Deb Schulte]

Fair enough. It was just a note, but that's fine. I get that. I won't do that again. I just wanted to give people a heads-up.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

I know it wasn't ill-intentioned.

[The Chair, Liberal, Deb Schulte]

No, I get it.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

I'm working very hard to learn English. However, considering the rules governing the committee, both official languages must be used.

Receiving documentation in only one official language prevents me from doing an effective job and makes my job as a parliamentarian harder. That's why this morning, I would like to move the following motion:

That all correspondence distributed in any form by the members of the Committee, including the Chair of the Committee, to the other members of the Committee be presented in both official languages.

[The Chair, Liberal, Deb Schulte]

Fair enough.

Is there any discussion?

He's giving notice of a motion. I don't mind. If you want, we can deal with it right here.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

If he's giving notice, let's just give ourselves time to look at his motion.

[The Chair, Liberal, Deb Schulte]

I'm fine with the content of it, but I'm hearing the feedback as, “Thank you for the notice and we'll discuss it when we come back.”

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

It's a given, anyway.

[The Chair, Liberal, Deb Schulte]

I know, he's just putting it on the table. I thought we could deal with it.

Ms. Duncan.

[Linda Duncan, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Before Mr. Godin goes on to other business, whatever it was that was circulated was circulated when I wasn't here. If it's something that a committee member wants us all to think about, I would appreciate receiving it, whatever was circulated that apparently was or wasn't committee business.

[The Chair, Liberal, Deb Schulte]

You have actually seen it several times. It was just a preliminary copy of the letter on protected spaces.