Evidence of meeting #4 for Fisheries and Oceans in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was study.
A recording is available from Parliament.
11:25 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ken McDonald
The meeting will resume.
Go ahead, Mr. Cormier, if you want to speak to the amendment.
11:25 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ken McDonald
Thank you.
Not hearing any further discussion on the amendment as proposed by Ms. Barron, can we go to a vote?
I know it has been accepted by Mr. Arnold as a friendly amendment. Is there any dissension?
We'll do a recorded vote.
(Amendment agreed to: yeas 6; nays 5 [See Minutes of Proceedings])
(Motion as amended agreed to: yeas 6; nays 5 [See Minutes of Proceedings])
I think that's all we had on notice of motion from our last meeting, so I'll move ahead now.
Mr. Cormier wanted to speak.
11:30 a.m.
Conservative
Rick Perkins Conservative South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
Can I have some clarification? Did we pass the safety at sea motion that was put on notice? I don't recall.
11:30 a.m.
Liberal
11:30 a.m.
Liberal
Serge Cormier Liberal Acadie—Bathurst, NB
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I would like to move the following motion.
As you know, since the committee has requested that the Minister appear before the end of February, I would like to move the following, to be prepared in accordance with the Minister's availability:
That the following regularly scheduled meetings of the committee be programmed as follows: That, pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), the committee conduct the study proposed by Mr. Hardie and adopted, concerning the risks posed to wild salmon runs by flood control/mitigation systems in British Columbia, and that the committee hear from officials from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada no later than February 8, 2022; That, pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), the committee conduct the study proposed by Ms. Desbiens and adopted, concerning the traceability and mislabeling of seafood products; that the first witness appear no later than February 17, 2022; and that the committee report its findings to the House no later than April 8, 2022; and That, pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), the committee conduct the study proposed by Ms. Barron and adopted, concerning the impact of marine cargo container spills; that the first witness appear no later than April 5, 2022; and that the committee report its findings to the House no later than June 14, 2022.
Mr. Chair, as I said at the beginning, this is taking into account that the minister will come in February also. On the first study, we'd really like to hear from officials for Mr. Hardie's study. The next meeting is February 3. I understand it might be short notice, but I think the clerk can probably make some arrangements with them and see if it's possible, or February 8 is also acceptable.
Once again, after completing Mr. Hardie's study, we will begin Ms. Desbiens' study on labelling. We will also need to make sure that the witnesses have everything they need, such as headphones, and that their Internet connection works.
Our first meeting can be with officials in the week of February 14 and after that we will continue with Ms. Barron later on with her study. I'm not sure if everybody received the motion.
In any case, this is what we propose.
11:35 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ken McDonald
I see Mr. Morrissey has given a thumbs-up here in the room that he has received it. We're going to take a short recess. I would ask for it to be as brief as possible so we can get on with committee business.
11:40 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ken McDonald
We're back.
Mr. Perkins, you asked for a moment to discuss it.
Please continue.
11:40 a.m.
Conservative
Rick Perkins Conservative South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
I appreciate the committee's indulgence.
You will be surprised to learn that I have an amendment to propose, but also perhaps a clarification. I will talk about the clarification and then propose the amendment.
The clarification is that we are still obviously targeting the minister's appearance. We passed, in the last committee, that she will appear before the end of February. With that in mind, we propose an amendment that we add an additional section at the end of the amendment that's been put forward that says:
That, pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) the committee conduct a study proposed by Mr. Arnold concerning the use of science in DFO decision-making and that the first witness appear April 26, 2022.
11:45 a.m.
Liberal
Serge Cormier Liberal Acadie—Bathurst, NB
Mr. Perkins, I just want to make sure. You also want a clarification on the minister's appearance. Is that right?
11:45 a.m.
Liberal
Serge Cormier Liberal Acadie—Bathurst, NB
Just like I said, it was voted that the minister will come in February. We have some wiggle room there. There's no way in this motion that we want to do something so that the minister doesn't come in February. I think we all agree with that.
Regarding your request to add something, was it the motion of Mel Arnold?
11:45 a.m.
Liberal
Serge Cormier Liberal Acadie—Bathurst, NB
I think we can agree with that.
Mr. Perkins, the only reason I maybe didn't mention some of your studies is that there are so many studies on your side, we didn't know which one was important to you. If you want to add that at the end of the motion, I think we can agree with that.
11:45 a.m.
Conservative
Rick Perkins Conservative South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
It's a busy agenda.
Thank you for that clarification. That's exactly our first priority.
11:45 a.m.
Conservative
Mel Arnold Conservative North Okanagan—Shuswap, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Just for more clarification on the appearance by the minister, the parliamentary secretary was indicating that he maybe had conversations with the minister about an appearance. I'm just wondering if we could get an update as to where the communications are in requesting that the minister appear. Has there been a communication sent or received back in this case?
11:45 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ken McDonald
Mr. Kelloway, do you have an answer for that question for Mr. Arnold? I know I don't, but I understand that the minister is committed to coming before the end of February.
11:45 a.m.
Liberal
Mike Kelloway Liberal Cape Breton—Canso, NS
The communiqué has been sent to the minister. I haven't heard back. I will certainly follow up on Mr. Arnold's question.
11:45 a.m.
Liberal
11:45 a.m.
Liberal
Ken Hardie Liberal Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC
I was just noting the date of April 26 proposed in the amendment. Given the time we need to carve out for Ms. Desbiens' and Ms. Barron's studies, I'm wondering if May 5 would perhaps be a little bit more accurate as the date for the Conservative study to start. That way we wouldn't get in the way of the conclusion of those two other studies.
11:45 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ken McDonald
I'm going to recess for a moment to deal with that suggestion, as a request by Mr. Perkins.