Finance Committee on May 2nd, 2023

[Marty Morantz, Conservative, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB]

On that point of order, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

On that point of order, please go ahead MP Morantz.

[Marty Morantz, Conservative, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB]

Mr. Chair, with the greatest respect, I think you are in error, as is Mr. Blaikie, in fact. When I examine the main motion, I don't see a referral in the main motion to the committee on fisheries and oceans. I can go through them for you. The first referral is to the committee on transport, infrastructure and communities.

[An hon. member]

I think the chair said “like fisheries and oceans”.

[Marty Morantz, Conservative, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB]

The second referral is to human resources, skills and social development and the status of persons with disabilities. The third referral is to the committee on citizenship and immigration. The fourth is the standing committee on health and then there's the standing committee on industry and technology. Then there's the standing committee on defence and then the standing committee on operations and estimates. Then there's natural resources, the standing committee on industry and technology, and the standing committee on environment and sustainable development....

I'm sorry, I think—

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

MP Morantz, you're correct. We have 11 committees.

[Marty Morantz, Conservative, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB]

That's important, because the point was specifically about a referral to the committee on fisheries and oceans. What you said, Mr. Chair, wasn't in here.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Yes. MP Morantz, what we're looking at is within the BIA.

[Marty Morantz, Conservative, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB]

I don't think this is a valid point of order.

[Daniel Blaikie, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

I'm happy to continue on with respect to this point of order.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Yes, please do.

[Daniel Blaikie, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

I think Mr. Morantz is doing what I didn't want to do, because I wanted to be polite to his colleague. I think he's pointing out that there's actually not a lot of substantive content with respect to—

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Peterborough South, ON]

Excuse me. On a point of order, Mr. Chair, we—

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

MP Blaikie has the floor.

Go ahead, MP Blaikie.

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Peterborough South, ON]

We just want to get this thing going.

[Daniel Blaikie, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

I'm not done. There's actually not a lot of substantive content with respect to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in the BIA, and to the extent that there is—because there are mentions—it's under the Canada Shipping Act, and it has more to do with the problem of abandoned vessels than anything else. So that is being referred to the transport committee.

Now, Mr. Morantz thinks that would be better placed at the committee for fisheries and oceans. Of course, that's an amendment we could consider as a committee. I would invite him to prepare that amendment and to move it. Then I'd be very happy to consider that.

But as I was saying, I was trying to be polite and to recognize that often when members choose to filibuster, they take some liberties in terms of relevance. But if Mr. Morantz wants to call out his colleague for relevance, I'm not going to get in his way. I was just trying to be more polite than that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

MP Morantz, do you want to call on relevance? Because there is not much here in terms of what MP Perkins is talking about.

[Marty Morantz, Conservative, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB]

I think it needed to be said, Mr. Chair. You said yourself that there was a referral to the committee on fisheries and oceans. I'm simply recounting the text of the motion, and that referral is absent from the motion. So I'm just—

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

There's not much relevance here—

[Marty Morantz, Conservative, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB]

I was speaking to the point of order itself.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

And it wasn't that there wasn't any relevance—or very little relevance—to what MP Perkins was talking about with regard to the BIA.

[Marty Morantz, Conservative, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB]

Actually, I find my colleague's statement very relevant to the BIA, and I'd like for him to continue as soon as you rule on this point of order.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

I do have another hand up.

MP Dzerowicz, on this point of order.

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Just on this point of order, I agree with my colleague Mr. Blaikie. Mr. Chair, you rightly pointed out that there is a list of committees in the motion. The reason there's not a fisheries committee being assigned to is because there's no measure relating to fisheries in the bill. That's why there's nothing that mentions that in the motion.

I wanted to mention that and that I agree with Mr. Blaikie. If we can maybe keep the soliloquies and the speeches related to the bill at hand, that would be appreciated.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Thank you, MP Dzerowicz. It goes to relevance.

Is this on the same point of order, MP Perkins?