Environment Committee on Aug. 30th, 2024

[Branden Leslie, Conservative, Portage—Lisgar, MB]

I have a point of order, Mr. Chair, just to offer some clarity.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

That's not a point of order, offering clarity.

[Branden Leslie, Conservative, Portage—Lisgar, MB]

I know. It's a point of order because...it does offer clarity.

Mr. Deltell read the motion as amended. He read the entirety of it. We technically should be debating his amended motion.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

It's Mr. Simard's amended motion.

[Branden Leslie, Conservative, Portage—Lisgar, MB]

Yes—as amended by Mr. Deltell.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Mr. Deltell, could you read Mr. Simard's motion as amended by you?

Perhaps we can all agree on it and continue with debate.

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

Mr. Chair, I wouldn't want anyone to interrupt me and say that I am repeating what I have already said.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

You are proposing an amendment to Mr. Simard's motion.

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

Wait a minute.

I am going to repeat what I proposed earlier.

When we talk about the Government of Quebec, the provincial sector and the rally that took place, we are talking about facts. The committee will invite representatives from Boralex and Hydro‑Québec, like we asked. The environment minister is the only one who did not want to come and testify. That is exactly what I said earlier.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Okay.

What I need from you is the wording of the amendment.

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

You have it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

That is an entirely different motion.

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

So it's—

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

We are going to suspend briefly.

We are really short on resources and we have another period of approximately 15 minutes left. Unfortunately, I will have to dismiss the witnesses.

That being said, witnesses, you contributed a lot to the debate and we are very grateful to you for that. I think we really touched on a lot of—

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Mr. Chair, I don't usually do this, but I sincerely apologize to our witnesses. I thought that things would move more quickly.

I encourage the witnesses to submit documents to the committee. If they want the content of those documents to be included in the report, I am committed to working with them to make that happen.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Great.

We will now suspend briefly so that we can draft an amendment that is in keeping with what Mr. Deltell wants to do. That will help us to be better organized later on.

Thank you to the witnesses.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

We will now resume the meeting.

I think I understand better now. Everyone has the text of the original motion. Mr. Deltell's amendment is found in the shaded part.

We will proceed with the vote, but first we will debate Mr. Deltell's amendment. I've lost track of things.

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

I think we've sorted it out, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Okay.

I think that Mr. Martel and Mr. Leslie wanted to speak to the original motion.

[Richard Martel, Conservative, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

That's right.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Okay. We are going to start fresh.

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

What we are going to do is simply replace “That the committee add an additional two extra hours to the present study to study the potential effects”.

What we are proposing is that the next meeting be three hours long instead of two.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Okay.

What I have here—

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

I'm talking about my motion.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Yes, but it's your motion as amended by Mr. Deltell—