Environment Committee on Aug. 30th, 2024

[Mona Fortier, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Perhaps this committee does things differently, but in other committees, when a motion is being debated, the committee debates the motion that is currently tabled. Members do not try to debate a second motion. I am trying to understand—

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

We are debating the motion. Mr. Deltell.

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

Second, we talked about the fact that “the Minister of Environment violated the first motion that has already passed to appear in the 7 days requested by the committee”. That is the truth.

[Sophie Chatel, Liberal, Pontiac, QC]

Mr. Chair. I am rising on a point of order.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

I have to interrupt you, Mr. Deltell. There is a point of order.

[Sophie Chatel, Liberal, Pontiac, QC]

Mr. Deltell already said all this earlier. He read his amendments.

Can we just confirm that we heard his rhetoric and get on with the meeting?

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

What I am trying to do is—

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

I just want to say one thing.

Committee members attacked us saying that we are being very partisan. I recognize that we used the words “abandon the radical job-destroying decree”. I can understand how that may seem partisan to members of the Liberal Party. I can understand that.

[Sophie Chatel, Liberal, Pontiac, QC]

Mr. Chair, I am rising on a point of order.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Mr. Deltell.

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

In our opinion, it is obvious that this is a radical job-destroying decree, and that is what people are telling us. That is all I wanted to say.

[Sophie Chatel, Liberal, Pontiac, QC]

Mr. Chair, I am rising on a point of order.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

I'm sorry, Mr. Deltell, but I have to give the floor to Mrs. Chatel.

[Sophie Chatel, Liberal, Pontiac, QC]

We heard what Mr. Deltell—

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

I understand that we heard what he had to say and I will ask him to be brief, but he has the floor for now.

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

I have a point of order, Mr. Chair.

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

Mr. Chair, I think it is a shame that a woman is preventing me from speaking, but that's the way it goes.

Mr. Chair, what we disagree with is—

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Excuse me, Mr. Deltell. Mr. Leslie has a point of order.

Mr. Deltell, your colleague is rising on a point of order.

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

I think perhaps we could clarify this. I read the text of the original motion as well as what Mr. Deltell read. I don't believe it was well stated, but it is, in fact, an amendment to the original motion. We need to be discussing the amended version, which came after. We need to deal with that before we deal with the main motion.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Mr. Deltell, if you want to propose an amendment to Mr. Simard's motion, you are free to do so. If you want to add short phrases to condemn the minister or what have you, you can do so.

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

Let's be pragmatic. I'm a logical, efficient man. The reality is that there have been comments made that the Liberals do not appreciate, and I can understand that. It is part of political debate. The thing about the Bloc Québécois motion that we disagree with is the matter of adding an extra day. We would suggest adding an extra hour to meetings that are already scheduled. That would give exactly the same result in terms of time. If we could come to an agreement—

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Are you proposing a subamendment, Mr. Deltell?

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

If the Bloc—

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

What do you think, Mr. Simard?

Do you consider this to be a friendly amendment?

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Perhaps we may have found a solution to all this the confusion. However, I would just like to point out that, initially, Mr. Deltell, who is acting in good faith, wanted us to hold six meetings.

He changed his mind and now he wants to add hours to meetings that are already scheduled. I agree with him. I have no problem with that. We could add an hour to hear from people from the clean energy industry. To get my NDP colleague and perhaps the Liberal Party to agree, we could also add an hour to hear from certain experts, large mammal biologists. We could add an hour to do that, and we could address this whole issue.

If we agree on that, then we could wrap up with the question that Mr. Boulerice wants to ask.