Finance Committee on May 9th, 2022

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

I have a point of order, Mr. Chair.

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

—Mr. Chair, I will be opposing the main motion and—

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Point of order.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

MP Dzerowicz has a point of order.

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Mr. Chair, I would ask that Mr. Fast continue to talk to the topic of conversation right now, which is the amendment that Mr. Ste-Marie has put on the table.

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

Well, Mr. Chair, I was just winding up.

I think most people watching would have noticed that I was trying to wind up, but now that she has raised this point of order—

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Well, we'd like to you to wind it up, MP Fast—

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

—Mr. Chair, of course, it gives me the right to respond to that point of order.

All that is to simply say that I have continually referred back to Mr. Ste-Marie's efforts to spin out different elements of this budget implementation bill in order to make sure it goes to the committees that are best positioned to review those issues.

The reason that is the case is that this government has tabled an omnibus bill. This is not exclusively a spending and taxation bill, as most budgets are; this is an omnibus bill that is basically a grab bag of issues that the government has decided to push into a budget bill, and it's providing us with great frustration because we can't exercise the oversight we're supposed to.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Thank you, MP Fast.

I have MP Beech, MP Dzerowicz and MP Blaikie.

Go ahead, Mr. Beech.

[Terry Beech, Liberal, Burnaby North—Seymour, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to all members for their comments.

I certainly have been working diligently with all members in various phone calls over time to take into account all the needs, wants and desires, including trying to get more study time than we've had on average over the previous five years. In listening to the debate now, I've been feverishly working on language that I hope will meet the majority of needs for the committee.

I'd like to move a subamendment, I guess, to Gabriel's amended motion, and I think it would be best if I read in the entire language of a revised motion. I have to get this over to the clerk as well. Let me read it and see if this meets the needs of members. It would be:

That:

(a) the Chair of the Committee write, as promptly as possible, to the Chairs of the following standing committees to invite them to study the subject matter of the following provisions of Bill C-19, An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on April 7, 2022 and other measures,:

(i) the Standing Committee on International Trade, Part 5, divisions 9 of the Bill;

(ii) the Standing Committee on Industry and Technology, Part 5, divisions 15, 16 and 17 of the Bill;

(iii) the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities, Part 5, divisions 26, 27, 29 and 32 of the Bill;

(iv) the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, Part 5, division 23 of the Bill;

(v) the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights, Part 5, divisions 18, 19, 21 and 22 of the Bill;

(b) for the standing committees listed in (a),

(i) recommendations in relation to the provisions considered by them, in a letter to the Chair of the Standing Committee on Finance, in both official languages, no later than 4:00 p.m. on Friday, May 20, 2022;

(ii) if a standing committee listed in (a) chooses not consider the subject matter of the provisions, it advise the Chair of the Standing Committee on Finance by letter, in both official languages, no later than 4:00 p.m. on Friday, May 13, 2019.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Thank you, MP Beech. This is a subamendment to the amendment to the main motion.

[Terry Beech, Liberal, Burnaby North—Seymour, BC]

Indeed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Okay.

I have MP Dzerowicz, MP Blaikie, MP Chambers, MP Ste-Marie and MP Fast.

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

Is this on the subamendment?

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

It's on the subamendment, yes.

To the members who first had their hands up, MP Dzerowicz, is this on the subamendment or the amendment?

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

I just wanted to make one small correction to what Mr. Beech mentioned. I think he said “2019”. I think he meant to say “2022”.

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

I have a point of order.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Yes, on a point of order, we have MP Fast.

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

Mr. Chair, could we suspend temporarily and allow Mr. Beech to send his amendment to the clerk so that it could be distributed?

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

MP Beech, have you sent your subamendment to the clerk already?

[Terry Beech, Liberal, Burnaby North—Seymour, BC]

I am literally sending it now.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Okay. You're sending it right now.

We'll suspend for two minutes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Members, we are back. Has everybody received the distributed amendment and subamendment?

I have MP Dzerowicz up next. I then have MP Blaikie, MP Chambers, MP Ste-Marie and MP Albas.

Go ahead, MP Dzerowicz.

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Mr. Chair, I'm not going to be speaking on the subamendment to the amendment to the original motion. I'm okay to pass it over to Mr. Blaikie.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Go ahead, MP Blaikie.