Fisheries Committee on Oct. 19th, 2020

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

Now I've made the ultimate sin.

Seeing no further interventions, I'd ask for the clerk to call a recorded vote on the amendment as proposed by Madame Gill.

(Amendment negatived: nays 10; yeas 1 [See Minutes of Proceedings])

Before I go on, I would like to remind members that we have exhausted all of the time that was allotted for committee today, but if I have the consent of the majority of members, I believe we can extend the time frame.

Nancy, could you let us know if staff and interpreters are available for us to continue, and for how long they'd be available? Can we agree on a length of time for the extension?

[The Clerk]

I believe so. I can verify that, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

Yes, please do.

[The Clerk]

It seems that it's okay, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

Thank you, Nancy.

Do I have unanimous consent, or do you want to go to a vote for extending?

Mr. Beech.

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

Mr. Chair, I'd be happy to sit a while longer. However, I would note that there is an emergency debate coming up that some of us are planning to participate in. Depending on the will of the members, I would certainly be greatly appreciative if this were over before 3 p.m. Pacific time. That's my own view.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

I believe that would be 7:30 here in Newfoundland. That would be a half-hour extension.

I see no further interventions. Do we agree to extend for half an hour?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

We have unanimous consent.

I can't see Madame Gill, but I'm sure she would have hit a button or something to intervene if she were against it. We'll push the time to 7:30 Newfoundland time.

[Marilène Gill, Bloc, Manicouagan, QC]

You're right, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

I'm catching on.

We'll extend to three o'clock Pacific time or six o'clock eastern time.

Now we'll vote on the actual motion as amended.

[The Clerk]

If there is no more debate on the motion as amended, we'll have a recorded vote.

(Motion as amended agreed to: yeas 11; nays 0 [See Minutes of Proceedings])

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

I know it's probably the intent of the committee, having heard the motion, to get started on this as soon as possible.

Nancy, could we set a deadline for submission of proposed witnesses? Would it be appropriate to set that now?

[The Clerk]

It is up to the members of the committee to do that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

Is everybody okay with setting a deadline for the proposal of witnesses to take part in this study?

[Marilène Gill, Bloc, Manicouagan, QC]

I propose Friday.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

Madame Gill proposes Friday as the deadline to propose witnesses for this study. Is everybody okay with that?

Mr. Arnold.

[Mel Arnold, Conservative, North Okanagan—Shuswap, BC]

If I may, I propose next Tuesday. This is moving along fairly quickly. We've expanded the scope on it a little bit today. We can certainly start submitting the witnesses prior to that, but I would ask for next Tuesday, October 27.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

Mr. Arnold, are you suggesting stretching it out to next Monday for submission of witnesses to the list?

[Mel Arnold, Conservative, North Okanagan—Shuswap, BC]

I'm proposing next Tuesday, October 27.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

Okay. That gives us a week.

Mr. Morrissey.

[Bobby Morrissey, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

Mr. Chair, the whole intent of this motion was one of urgency. Now we're losing, in particular, meeting time by delaying witnesses until next week. I'm sure we could come up with a couple of witnesses by tomorrow. That would at least allow us to begin the meeting process.

Because of the urgency of this meeting, could we do a two-stage witness timeline? We can submit by tomorrow—and everybody can get names in by tomorrow—and then put a final deadline for next Tuesday, in accordance with Mr. Arnold's proposal.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

I see Mr. Arnold giving a thumbs-up to that idea.

Mr. Hardie.

[Ken Hardie, Liberal, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

Mr. Chair, given the number of meetings that are being proposed and given the urgency, I'm wondering if the committee would like to consider asking for an additional meeting next week on Wednesday.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

We can certainly ask the clerk to check whether time is available for us on Wednesday, Mr. Hardie. I don't know if we can give an answer to that this evening. We probably won't know, but I think what you're asking is that the clerk investigate the possibility of adding a meeting to our regular weekly meeting for next Wednesday, at whatever appropriate time may be available.

Mr. Morrissey.