I'll read through it, and hopefully everybody can follow along from their P9s.
Mr. Chair, I move:That the Standing Committee on Finance commence its study of Bill C-8, the Economic and Fiscal Update Implementation Act, 2021, and that a) The committee invite officials from the Department of Finance, Employment and Social Development Canada, Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada to appear on Monday, February 14th,
b) The committee invite the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance to appear,
c) Prioritized lists of witnesses be submitted to the clerk by 5:00 PM EST, Monday, February 14th
d) The committee meet the week of February 21st to hear further testimony
e) The committee commence clause-by-clause consideration of the bill no later than February 28th, 2022
f) Parties submit amendments to the bill no later than 5:00 PM EST, Friday, February 25th
g) The Committee empower the Chair to schedule additional meetings, outside of the regular schedule, for the purposes of studying the bill.
Mr. Chair, that's the gist of the motion, and perhaps I could speak to it just briefly.
I have tried at every opportunity to provide members of this committee with answers to any questions they might have on Bill C-8. As it's been developing, briefings have been provided to members of this committee as well. We all know that there are elements within this particular bill that are important for Canadians. One of the most important parts is the procurement of rapid tests as we continue to fight COVID and making those available to the provinces and territories, as well as keeping kids safe with proper ventilation, etc. One thing I will note is that I haven't put in this motion exactly how many meetings the committee would like to have for witnesses. I would be very open to hearing the preference of the committee members on that.
I would also note that this is the busiest committee in town. We currently have pre-budget consultations going on, and, as we saw today, those are very productive. I also know that the committee has a study on housing inflation and affordability that it wants to get back to. I suspect that we could probably deal with this quite quickly, but I would be open to committee members' comments on the number of meetings they would like.
That is the motion I would like to introduce.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.