Evidence of meeting #131 for Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was liberal.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Darren Fisher Liberal Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS
Mr. Caputo's amendment isn't about removing. It's about reducing the times for one and adding another person. The motion already speaks to having Mr. Carney.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative John Brassard
You know I give a lot of latitude on this committee. I say this every meeting.
Mr. Caputo, I don't know whether you were concluding your comments or not, but go ahead, please. You have the floor.
Conservative
Frank Caputo Conservative Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC
I had two more words to say, and those were “thank you”.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative John Brassard
Thank you, Mr. Caputo.
I'll go to Ms. Khalid now on the amendment as proposed by Mr. Caputo.
Liberal
Iqra Khalid Liberal Mississauga—Erin Mills, ON
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
For clarity, that amendment seeks to decrease the time for Jenni Byrne and add an additional name, Mr. Singh, who is Mr. Jagmeet Singh's brother, to add another one hour for that person.
I'm just going to say that I am opposed to this amendment. I think it doesn't really do much justice to the main motion at all and provides a lot of unfairness.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative John Brassard
Thank you, Ms. Khalid.
Mrs. Shanahan, you're on the list, followed by Mr. Barrett.
Go ahead.
Liberal
Brenda Shanahan Liberal Châteauguay—Lacolle, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I have to say that I'm also against Mr. Caputo's amendment.
It's unfair to ask one witness to come for two hours, while we ask the other two to come for one hour each. It really makes no sense.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative John Brassard
Thank you, Ms. Shanahan.
I have Mr. Barrett next, followed by Mr. Cooper.
Go ahead, Mr. Barrett.
Conservative
Michael Barrett Conservative Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON
Thanks, Chair.
Look, if this is strictly about the amount of time that witnesses are appearing for, I think we can resolve that.
It's important that we have Mark Carney come before this committee. We've seen all of the revelations over the last number of days about Mr. Carney's string of good luck after taking on this role. It could be the $2 billion-plus to his friend who operates Telesat. It could be that he has now opened the door for Brookfield to have discussions on a scheme with $50 billion on pensions, $10 billion coming—
Liberal
Darren Fisher Liberal Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS
I have a point of order, Mr. Chair.
This is just on the amendment, not on the main motion.
Conservative
Michael Barrett Conservative Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON
If they want to get silly with points of order, what are we doing?
Liberal
Conservative
The Chair Conservative John Brassard
Darren, we give a lot of latitude here. I give you guys as much latitude as I give them.
He's speaking to the amendment. The amendment says, “That pursuant to Standing Order 108(1)(a), the committee call upon Mark Carney to appear for two hours, as well as Jenni Byrne and Gurratan Singh to testify...for one hour...within 14 calendar days”. He can speak about the amendment if he wants.
Go ahead, Mr. Barrett. You have the floor.
Conservative
Michael Barrett Conservative Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON
I understand that they don't want to talk about giving privileged people, Liberal insiders, positions where they have all of the power, access to all of Canadians' tax dollars and none of the accountability that comes along with being a designated public office holder. I understand that's why they want to obstruct this.
Look, if the question is that they want to include people who aren't Mr. Carney in the motion and who speak at the caucuses of parties that are represented in the House of Commons, then we need to add Don Guy. We need to subamend it to add Don Guy. We need to include in that subamendment Brian Topp. These are federal lobbyists who speak at the caucuses and advise the leaders of the Liberal Party and the NDP. That's very plain.
If we're having a panel with Mr. Singh, Mr. Topp, Mr. Guy and Ms. Byrne for two hours together to match the amount of time that Mr. Carney comes to appear at the committee, we support that so long as those witnesses testify only after Mr. Carney has appeared at the committee and we don't just end up with the also-rans instead of having carbon tax Carney come before the committee. If we want to talk about fairness, that would be fairness.
I would put a subamendment forward—
Conservative
Conservative
Michael Barrett Conservative Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON
The motion needs to be subamended. The effect of the subamendment is going to be to include Don Guy, Brian Topp and Gurratan Singh with Jenni Byrne on a panel together and invite them to appear after Mark Carney has appeared.
We're going to have to take the most current copy of the motion and include this proposal in it, but since we're having a conversation about fairness, we have Topp and Guy, who run a lobbying shop. If we want Ms. Byrne, who's not a federal lobbyist, to come to the committee just because she's a Conservative, we're fine to invite Ms. Byrne.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative John Brassard
I need you to repeat, again, for the clerk what your subamendment is proposing, please, Mr. Barrett.
Conservative
Michael Barrett Conservative Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON
The subamendment proposes to have Ms. Jenni Byrne, Mr. Don Guy, Mr. Brian Topp and Mr. Gurratan Singh appear on a panel together and for them to be invited after Mr. Carney has appeared at the committee.
Look, if the only way that's going to be palatable to other members of the committee is if their appearance matches Mr. Carney's appearance in length, then two hours is fine.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative John Brassard
Before you comment any further, I want to make sure that I have the language properly distributed. I'm going to suspend for a couple of minutes because—
Conservative
The Chair Conservative John Brassard
I am going to suspend to make sure that every member of the committee has a copy of what Mr. Barrett is proposing, because I want everyone to be clear on this.
I'm suspending.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative John Brassard
Thank you, everyone, for your patience.
I see your hand.
Mr. Villemure, you are now on the speaking list.
Liberal
