Environment Committee on Oct. 20th, 2025

[The Chair, Liberal, Angelo Iacono]

I'll ask the clerk to address this question.

[The Clerk]

Thank you, sir.

At a previous meeting, the committee agreed that witnesses appearing for one hour constituted a half-meeting. Today is meeting number three. Thursday, October 23, is meeting number four. Under the instruction of the chair, I have invited witnesses on the committee's behalf to appear also on Monday, October 27, which would be meeting number five.

For the reference of members, five meetings would entail a total of 30 witnesses for the study, if the committee stayed at five witnesses. Fifteen had been allocated to the Liberal Party. Fourteen were invited. Ten have confirmed. Two have declined. Two have not responded.

Twelve are allocated to the Conservative Party. Eleven are confirmed. One is pending. Three have declined, and one has not responded.

Three are allocated to the Bloc Québécois. Three have been invited and confirmed. I believe the third appeared today.

I hope that responds to your question, sir.

[The Chair, Liberal, Angelo Iacono]

Thank you, Mr. Clerk.

Are there any further comments?

[Eric St-Pierre, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

I'll make one last friendly statement. I don't think there will be any disagreement on this.

I'd like to wish my colleague, Mrs. Anstey, a happy birthday, from last week, and also congratulate Mr. Leslie on the birth of his new child. I know a lot happens in a week, so I just wanted to reach out to my colleagues and congratulate them on their significant life events.

[Carol Anstey, Conservative, Long Range Mountains, NL]

Thank you so much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Angelo Iacono]

I expect we feel the same.

Mr. Grant.

[Wade Grant, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

Are we going to make a decision on the number of meetings for this study? We have a number of witnesses outstanding still. I think we can make that decision or have that discussion.

[The Chair, Liberal, Angelo Iacono]

Mr. Leslie, I see you're eager to share comments with me.

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

Actually, I'm surprisingly not that eager. I'm just so happy to have collegiality across the way here. Thank you, Mr. St-Pierre.

It just sounds like we have a fifth meeting booked on Monday. It was four to six. I think we'll need more time to figure out how we're going to go forward, rather than right now.

[The Chair, Liberal, Angelo Iacono]

Can I make a deal? Maybe this will be the first one that I'll succeed in getting with all the parties. If the clerk has more witnesses, we'll move to a sixth meeting. Is that okay?

If anybody else has any more witnesses they would like to bring who they haven't brought forward, this is the moment.

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

No. However, as I looked at the calendar that was circulated today, the forward-looking calendar generally looked good. I would happily stick with what was sent out.

[The Chair, Liberal, Angelo Iacono]

That deal didn't get accepted. I'm disappointed.

[Eric St-Pierre, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

I'm happy to provide some additional witnesses.

[The Chair, Liberal, Angelo Iacono]

Mr. Bonin.

[Patrick Bonin, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

If we did have a sixth meeting, when would it take place?

[The Chair, Liberal, Angelo Iacono]

The meetings take place one after the other, so it would be the week after the fifth meeting. The fourth meeting would be held on Thursday, the fifth would be held on Monday, and if need be, the sixth would be held that Thursday.

[Patrick Bonin, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Angelo Iacono]

The meeting is adjourned.