Finance Committee on Oct. 8th, 2020

[Tamara Jansen, Conservative, Cloverdale—Langley City, BC]

Given that it has been established that everything was made public and that Mr. Fraser is talking about a fool's errand, I think most Canadians watching this—if anybody is still watching—would probably consider this committee meeting to be the fool's errand he is talking about.

It's really time to take a vote. Let's get on with it so that we can get on with business.

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

On a point of order, Mr. Chair—

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

I can't take a vote until the committee allows me to take that vote, Ms. Jansen. That's the problem.

Mr. Fraser, you have another point of order.

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

Sure. It's related to a comment you just made.

My concern is not solely the presence or absence of transmittal letters. That's one concern, and it's a serious one. The bigger picture concern I am worried about, when looking at this motion, is that I know certain documents were made public. What I want to ensure is that all the documents that the government disclosed are part of the record.

No one has been able to clear up for me whether the documents that are the subject of the proposed amendment to the motion we're currently debating actually mirror the documents that the government provided. If we are not talking about the same set of documents, then of course the government will have failed to meet the request of this committee, but it wouldn't be because they chose not to disclose information.

You suggested it might be by amendment of the amendment, but is it possible to have someone, before we take a vote on the existing amendment, actually confirm that the two packages are identical?

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

The only person I could ask that is the clerk, who may be in communication with the analysts. Do you see a—

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

Can you make that request, Mr. Chair?

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

We're talking about 5,000 pages here plus. Could the clerk and the analysts take five minutes to look into this, and we'll come back to it?

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

I have a point of order, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Yes, go ahead.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

No, we're not going to suspend again to run on a fool's errand, as Mr. Fraser—

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

It's not a point of order.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

—improbably gave it the appellation.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

It's not a point of order.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

We are now ready to vote.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

It's not a point of order.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

It's really—

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

It's now time to go to the vote.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

I think, Mr. Poilievre, it's really not. I don't have to move to vote.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Motion to challenge the chair. Challenging the chair. I'm challenging your ruling.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

I can't move—

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Motion to challenge the chair. I'm challenging your ruling.

[An hon. member]

On what? I don't know if there was a ruling to challenge.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

There wasn't a ruling, Mr. Poilievre.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Your ruling is that you can't move to a vote, and I'm challenging that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

I can't move to a vote until there's satisfaction among committee members to move to a vote.