Evidence of meeting #44 for Finance in the 43rd Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was chair.
A video is available from Parliament.
The Clerk of the Committee Ms. Caroline Bosc
Do we want to do a recorded vote, then, for this one?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
Yes, we'll have to do a recorded vote. I don't think there's any other way unless....
The Clerk
We're voting without any kind of amendment. We're just voting on the motion as worded by Mr. Fraser, just to be clear.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
We're voting on the motion with new wording by Mr. Fraser, with the friendly amendment. Yes.
The Clerk
Perfect. That's just to be clear for the record.
Let's go to the vote.
(Motion negatived: nays 6; yeas 5 [See Minutes of Proceedings])
Liberal
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
I have a motion. I move that Craig Kielburger and Marc Kielburger appear for no less than four hours on Tuesday, July 28.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
Just as a suggestion, do we need to go to motions, or can we try to achieve consensus? I guess the motion is on the floor, so we'll go with the motion. The motion moved by Pierre is that the Kielburgers appear for four hours.
Is that on their own, Pierre, just the Kielburgers and not Victor Li?
Liberal
Sean Fraser Liberal Central Nova, NS
Thank you, Pierre and Mr. Chair.
As I said before, I'm not really too fussy about this. From a logistical point of view, I believe there are other witnesses from WE Charity. Are they intended to be part of the same panel? What does this do to the anticipated schedule of existing witnesses or others who have been proposed?
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
This motion seeks to have the Kielburgers alone for four hours, and then, as for the other witnesses, the committee clerk and the chair can work to fit them in.
The good news is that tomorrow we will have lots of time. The meeting starts at noon, and there's nothing after that, so we can just extend the length of the meeting to include other witnesses' testimony.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
For members' information, what went out in the notice was that from 12:00 to 1:00, we would have, as an individual, Michelle Douglas, former chair of the board of directors of WE, and from the Canadian Federation of Students, Nicole Brayiannis, deputy chairman. That's the first hour.
In the notice, from 1:00 to 2:30, for an hour and a half, it was Craig and Marc Kielburger and Victor Li—
The Clerk
If I can just clarify, Mr. Chair, the Federation of Students has now declined. They will no longer be participating, just to clarify.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
Okay, that's good.
Mr. Poilievre's motion would move that from 1:00 to 5:00 Ottawa time. Is that correct, Pierre?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
Then we'll have to deal with Victor Li some other way.
Okay. That's what is on the floor.
Go ahead, Mr. Fraser.
Liberal
Sean Fraser Liberal Central Nova, NS
Sure, and look, I don't even know that we're going to end up needing a vote on this. I hope we will be able to achieve some kind of consensus.
For what it's worth, Mr. Poilievre, my concern is really around scheduling as much as anything else. We have some things going on tomorrow in Nova Scotia, including the return of HMCS Fredericton. One of my neighbours lost a child during the helicopter incident, and then there are some additional personal and professional things scheduled for the afternoon.
There is no attempt to be tricky. I want to assure you that I'm not trying to pull some stunt. I just want to make sure that we have the ability to be there.
Is there going to be any requirement, Mr. Chair, of the other witnesses from WE—not from CFS—who are going to be there? Are they Ottawa-based? I guess it's a teleconference, so it won't matter much. Is this something, from just a logistical point of view, you think is going to be easy to sort out from the committee's perspective?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
I don't know. The clerk would have more information on that. She's been in discussions with the Kielburgers. They initially requested to appear for an hour.
Madam Clerk, I don't know if you can add anything to that.
The Clerk
When I spoke with them today to see if they had more availability, they were available for only one and a half hours. If the committee chooses to say four, I will send that request their way and we'll see whether or not they can meet that. I won't know until I check with them.
Liberal
Michael McLeod Liberal Northwest Territories, NT
Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask Mr. Poilievre why he feels we should add three more hours to the presentation on top of the one hour that was previously planned.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
The answer is that we have a lot of questions.
This is an extraordinary circumstance. We have an organization that has given over $300,000 in benefits to the Prime Minister's family and $41,000 in free travel to the finance minister's family. It has given jobs to members of the finance minister's family, and in exchange—
Liberal
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
—it has had extraordinary benefits from the public treasury. It got extraordinary access to Parliament Hill on one of the most coveted days of the year to have that access. It saw its contributions from the government rise tenfold under the government and it received a half-billion-dollar contribution agreement, a very unusual contribution agreement, so it's an organization that is facing many questions. We think it's appropriate to have all those questions answered.