Evidence of meeting #43 for Finance in the 44th 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.
Conservative
Dan Albas Conservative Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, BC
Maybe in that case, Mr. Chair, you should suspend for a few minutes so we can have a discussion, because right now we have our own amendment to the timeline that I think maybe we can get some agreement on.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Fonseca
Maybe, MP Blaikie, you could just go over this so that we can get the dates, the exact dates.
Conservative
NDP
Daniel Blaikie NDP Elmwood—Transcona, MB
I'm happy to re-offer those dates and then if folks would then like to have a brief suspension, that's also fine by me.
What I'm proposing is that, in the subamendment, we would change the date in item (b)(ii) from May 13 to May 20 and we would change the date in item (b)(i) from May 20 to May 27. Then, in the main motion, we would change the date in item (b)(i) from May 20 to May 30, and change the date in item (b)(iii) from May 30 to June 3.
As I said at the beginning of my remarks, I recognize.... I didn't say this in the beginning of my remarks, but I certainly recognize Mr. Albas's point of order on the rules and that's why I opened with a suggestion that this is something the committee might find its way to doing by unanimous consent, as a way to try to wrap up this bit of business quickly and leave us in a position to properly continue our study on Monday.
Thank you.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Fonseca
Thank you, MP Blaikie.
Do all members have those dates that are being proposed?
Right, so we'll suspend for five minutes.
NDP
Daniel Blaikie NDP Elmwood—Transcona, MB
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
There has been consultation among the parties, and if you seek it, I hope you will find—
Daniel Blaikie NDP Elmwood—Transcona, MB
—unanimous consent for the following motion: That the subamendment be amended to replace “May 20” with “May 27” and replace “May 13” with “May 20”; that the main motion be amended to change “May 20” in item (b)(i) from “May 20” to “May 30”; that item (b)(iii) be amended to add at the beginning of (b)(iii) that clause-by-clause consideration of the bill will commence Monday, May 30; and if the committee is not completed, etc., and then that the May 30 date in the current iteration of the motion be changed to “June 3”.
I hope you won't ask me to repeat that, because I probably will use some different wording if I have to say it again.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Fonseca
Did everybody capture that? Yes?
Was there any change from before we suspended in terms of those dates? I think they're—
NDP
NDP
Daniel Blaikie NDP Elmwood—Transcona, MB
The salient difference is adding a phrase at the beginning of (b)(iii) in respect of when clause-by-clause study will commence so that it commences on May 30 and would end by June 3, as per the language of the motion.
Liberal
The Clerk
Mr. Blaikie, I have a question.
Point (b) of the main motion starts with “moving to clause-by-clause review of the bill, provided that no later than Thursday, May 26....” Are we talking of changing that to May 30?
NDP
Daniel Blaikie NDP Elmwood—Transcona, MB
I see...moving to clause-by-clause, “provided that the bill is referred to committee on or before May 19”. Okay, that has happened.
Maybe what we actually need to do, instead of adding anything to (b)(iii), is simply change “Thursday, May 26” at the top of item (b) to “May 30”, and add whatever day of the week corresponds to that. That works for me. I think the intention is sufficiently clear.
Conservative
Dan Albas Conservative Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, BC
Yes, I am just a little concerned. Obviously it's a unanimous consent motion, so there is usually not a lot of debate, but I am a little concerned about the clause-by-clause section and whether or not there will be enough resources for us to be able to have a proper process.
As I said, from seeing how terrible Bill C-10 was in the last Parliament, when people literally were voting on things without knowing it, I would just ask to see if maybe we should suspend so that we can have confirmation from someone. Maybe the clerk can look into that to see if we will have enough resources at that time, because if there are not enough resources for us to have clause-by-clause in a proper process, I won't be able to give unanimous consent.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Fonseca
I think that in all good faith all whips would work together if we did have unanimous consent, but go ahead, Clerk.
The Clerk
I am looking at the week of May 30. So far, we would have a meeting on Monday, May 30, at 11, and we would have a meeting on June 2, so that would be two meetings for clause-by-clause. That would be four hours for clause-by-clause.
Conservative
Dan Albas Conservative Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, BC
The one thing that has been raised is that resources are not just for us but for other committees as well. If we're going to be voiding out other committee work.... Is there any willingness for us to allow...?
Maybe what I'll do, Mr. Chair, is just ask you to suspend again for five minutes while all parties quickly confer with one another, because, quite honestly, we shouldn't be debating a unanimous consent motion, and that's the one sticking point that we have. We just don't want to be in a position where we have multiple committees being cancelled or where we can't even do the process ourselves.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Fonseca
Members, we will suspend for a couple of minutes, really quickly.
Thank you, MP Albas.
Conservative
Dan Albas Conservative Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, BC
Thank you for giving us that bit of extra time so we could have conversations about it.
As I stated earlier, Mr. Chair, I want to make sure we don't get into the situation that former MP Simms did. He was chairing a meeting where there weren't adequate resources and adequate time to have a thorough debate.
I want to thank MP Blaikie for his perseverance through my comments, and also in trying to find a path. Thank you.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Fonseca
I was listening to your comments. I think you said “the art of the possible”, or the art of the...what? I was listening, just so everybody is aware of that. I caught the “flying pigs” and all of those references to making it happen.
Go ahead, MP Blaikie.