Fisheries Committee on Jan. 20th, 2022

[Bobby Morrissey, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

I would make that amendment, then.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

Okay.

Madame Desbiens, do you want to speak to the amendment?

[Caroline Desbiens, Bloc, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

No, I have another comment on the original motion. I'll come back to that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

We'll deal with the amendment first, and then I'll get back to you, Madame Desbiens.

Seeing nothing in the way of hands up to speak to the amendment, can I ask—

Go ahead, Mr. Arnold.

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

Mr. Chair, I would like clarification on the amendment. Does it ask for a government response or for a response to the House? I think they are two different things. Could you clarify that, please?

[Bobby Morrissey, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

It would be a government response to the House. It's the same text that was used before to ensure that the government responds to the report. When the committee does this work, I feel very strongly about it, since I've sat on it for years. We have seen very good reports in the past that had no response from the government. This amendment simply clarifies it.

Mr. Arnold, it would be similar to the motion that was adopted earlier. One was defeated, and now we're back again.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

Seeing no other hands up for discussion on the amendment, can we see a show of thumbs-up or thumbs-down on the proposed amendment by Mr. Morrissey?

(Amendment agreed to on division [See Minutes of Proceedings])

We'll now go to the discussion of the main motion as amended.

Madame Desbiens, you had your hand up to speak to the main motion.

[Caroline Desbiens, Bloc, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

I'd like to see a review of the Canadian Coast Guard's search and rescue capabilities and response rates in terms of both official languages. I've been told of situations where pleasure craft in distress haven't been able to communicate in French with emergency services.

It could be in the form of an amendment, but we could also do this as part of the study. I would like to suggest this to the committee and we can consider it together. I don't know how you feel about this. We can include it in the amendment or come back to it during the study. We can discuss it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

In the actual motion, one of the recommendations is “examining the Canadian Coast Guard's search and rescue capabilities and response rates”. Response rates, to me, would be the timeliness of the response, not that they're charging a rate to respond to any particular response. That's the way I took it.

I don't know if that's what you're trying to make sure is included.

[Caroline Desbiens, Bloc, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

Yes. It can be an amendment regarding the two official languages. So it would be “response rates in both official languages.”

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

Go ahead, Mr. Perkins.

[Rick Perkins, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

I have no objection to that, but I think that would be covered in the wording, which already says “examining the Canadian Coast Guard's search and rescue capabilities”. I would assume we could have witnesses and discuss that issue as part of examination. I'm open either way.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

To Mr. Perkins's point, Madame Desbiens, are you asking for the response back to the House to be in both official languages? I would think that would normally happen. Could you please explain exactly what you're looking for so we fully understand?

[Caroline Desbiens, Bloc, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

I want to draw your attention to situations reported to me concerning pleasure craft in distress that didn't receive a response in French when they tried to communicate with the Coast Guard. In one case, the man spoke only French, so he couldn't understand what was being said to him in English. This didn't help the rescue effort.

Now, do we want to look at this as part of the study or do we want to pass a small amendment regarding equivalent response capabilities in both official languages?

It's really an open discussion. I want your backing on this.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

I think it would be something that would come up, since I think the Coast Guard would be called before committee as a witness. A question for the Coast Guard would be to ask why they don't have the rescue capabilities—which is part of the actual motion—to understand somebody who is calling in French. Getting a response in English would definitely be a problem for somebody who is not totally bilingual. I would think that would come out in the actual study itself, given the way it is phrased, and it should be covered in the motion.

If you want to make an amendment, you can make sure that this particular thing is included. I don't know if “the Canadian Coast Guard's search and rescue capabilities and response rates” would cover that for you or not. If you want to put that in the form of an amendment to make sure it's in there, you're more than welcome to do that.

[Caroline Desbiens, Bloc, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Before we make a decision to amend the motion or to consider the issue during the study, I'd still like to hear what Mr. Cormier has to say. I don't want to take your place by giving him the floor, Mr. Chair. I'll leave it up to you to ask him about it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

Go ahead, Mr. Cormier.

[Serge Cormier, Liberal, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

I completely understand what Mrs. Desbiens is saying.

The study requested by Mr. Perkins in his motion is a very good idea. We have a great deal to learn about safety at sea. I think that Mrs. Desbiens, like me and our English‑speaking colleagues, wants to make sure that this issue is addressed in the study. I'm thinking of your example, Mr. Chair, of someone who is at sea and who calls the Coast Guard.

If I'm drowning, I expect that the people on the other end of the line can understand what I'm saying. I think what Ms. Desbiens is saying here is that we want to make sure that both official languages are also part of the search and rescue call that the Coast Guard receives and that there's a capacity to respond in both official languages.

I'm not sure, Mr. Perkins and Ms. Desbiens, if you want to discuss that and put that forward as an amendment. There's no harm in doing that. It's just respecting both official languages and making sure that we have a person capable of answering a distress call in the language of the people who are calling.

I think that this addresses your concern to some extent, Mrs. Desbiens. The goal is to ensure that the Coast Guard can respond to emergency calls in both official languages. I think that Mr. Perkins would support an amendment of this nature if you were to move one.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

Go ahead, Mr. Perkins.

[Rick Perkins, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

I would agree, just as long as it doesn't narrow the wording. I'm not quite sure how to do it. The other way to do it, I think, Mr. Chair, as you just said, is through our agreement here in the committee that when we start to work on the witness list and all of those things, we will all agree that this will be part of the study and part of determining the witnesses we call. That's just to simplify it. Either way, I'm fine.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

Go ahead, Mr. Morrissey.

[Bobby Morrissey, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

This is a valid point that was made, but wouldn't the place to question that be under the Coast Guard's “capabilities”? It's included in the main motion. That would be a very real capability issue that would come out in the study when we have ample time to question if they have the capacity and capability to respond in both official languages.

As my colleagues Mr. Cormier and Madame Desbiens have said, if you're a unilingual francophone and you're in real distress, you're in an animated environment anyhow, and agitated, and it's important that somebody in the Coast Guard fleet.... It's my understanding that there's always somebody who has that capability, but....

The committee will do as it chooses, but on amending it, I don't know how you would add more to the definition of “capability”. That would be a key capability item within the Canadian Coast Guard.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

Thank you, Mr. Morrissey.

Madame Desbiens, does that answer your question?

[Caroline Desbiens, Bloc, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

Yes, that answers my question. It also informs my decision to amend this notice of motion.

In the interest of flexibility, I would still like to move an amendment. We'll see the committee's response. I'll be as efficient as possible. I simply move that we add the following: “examining the Canadian Coast Guard's search and rescue capabilities and response rates, and studying both official languages.”

The purpose of the amendment is simply to ensure that this aspect is taken into account in the study.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

Thank you for that.

Could you repeat it once more so that everybody fully understands—whether they hear it in French or in English—exactly what you're proposing?