Foreign Affairs Committee on Oct. 13th, 2020

[The Clerk of the Committee, Ms. Erica Pereira]

If everybody's ready, I'll get started.

Honourable members of the committee, I see a quorum.

I must inform members that the clerk of the committee can only receive motions for the election of the chair. The clerk cannot receive other types of motions, cannot entertain points of order nor participate in debate.

We can now proceed to the election of the chair. Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), the chair must be a member of the government party.

I am ready to receive motions for the position of chair.

Ms. Sahota.

[Ruby Sahota, Liberal, Brampton North, ON]

I'd like to nominate Mr. Sven Spengemann.

[The Clerk]

It has been moved by Ms. Sahota that Mr. Spengemann be elected as chair of the committee.

Are there any further motions?

(Motion agreed to)

I declare the motion carried, and Mr. Spengemann duly elected chair of the committee.

I invite Mr. Spengemann to take the virtual chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sven Spengemann]

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

First of all, dear colleagues on the committee, thank you very much for the trust you have placed in me. I'm very honoured to have this opportunity to offer my services as chair of the committee. I look forward to the work we will do together. Welcome to all of you.

To finish setting up the committee, if you agree, we'll now proceed with the election of the vice-chairs.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Mr. Chair, congratulations on your position.

I would like to nominate Mr. Michael Chong for the position of vice-chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sven Spengemann]

Are there any other nominations for the position of vice-chair?

(Motion agreed to)

I declare Mr. Chong elected as vice-chair of the committee. Congratulations, Mr. Chong.

May we have a motion for the second vice-chair of the committee?

Mr. Chong, go ahead.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Mr. Chair, if Mr. Harris is willing, I nominate Mr. Harris for second vice-chair of this committee.

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

Mr. Chair, thank you very much for the nomination, but I understand that there's a bit of a convention with respect to these things.

We made great efforts during this Parliament, before prorogation, to ensure that the four parties were represented on all the committees—including the Canada-China committee, which is the case. That hasn't been accepted, but there's nothing to stop us, as a committee, from electing three vice-chairs. Normally, it would be Mr. Bergeron, and I don't want to take a position that would otherwise go to Mr. Bergeron, given the convention that's been operating in the House.

I would be very happy if we held with the tradition of the Canada-China committee and had a vice-chair from each party. It works well, and in fact it's important, as we've seen in other committees. Members who are vice-chairs make a contribution. We've seen it in the public safety committee, for example, and our members have been playing leading roles in committees, both in terms of helping set the agenda and in working collaboratively with the other parties in this minority Parliament.

With great respect and appreciation, I thank you for the nomination, but I would ask Mr. Bergeron what he would have to say about that. I don't think I will take the place of Mr. Bergeron in this discussion, but I will give him the opportunity to have a word.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sven Spengemann]

Mr. Harris, thank you very much.

I see that Ms. Sahota has raised her hand. I will let her comment quickly, and then we will turn it over to Mr. Bergeron.

[Ruby Sahota, Liberal, Brampton North, ON]

I was also going to nominate Mr. Bergeron as the second vice-chair, so I guess that's the issue we have before us now.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

I withdraw the nomination.

Excuse me, Mr. Bergeron.

I take Mr. Harris' intervention.

I nominate Mr. Bergeron as second vice-chair of the committee.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sven Spengemann]

Okay.

Yes, Mr. Harris.

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

On a point of order, Mr. Chair, in view of the nomination of Mr. Bergeron, unless we were voting for two more vice-chairs, I would withdraw my nomination.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sven Spengemann]

Thank you, Mr. Harris.

Mr. Genuis, do you have a point of order?

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Yes. On a point of order, I'm being told that the staff who are on the phone line for the committee are having some quality problems in terms of being able to hear what's going on, especially on the English feed. They are having a hard time hearing.

I don't know if there's a way that can be resolved, but we want to make sure they can hear.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sven Spengemann]

Thank you, Mr. Genuis. It's an important discussion.

Let's turn it over to the clerk and indirectly to the IT staff to see if that can be resolved in the next minute or so.

[The Clerk]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We are aware and we are working on it. As soon as it is fixed, I will let you know.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sven Spengemann]

Okay.

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

Chair, I know that we will have to wait to see whether people can actually hear the meeting, which is important, but before we move any further, I wonder if perhaps we can see whether there is a consensus amongst the committee to have three vice-chairs. Perhaps we can hear from some of the members of the other parties to see whether that's the case.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sven Spengemann]

Thank you, Mr. Harris.

Just before we go to Ms. Dabrusin, whose hand is raised, the participants field shows the people who have raised their hand. It also shows it chronologically. Please feel free to use that. We're still in a setting where I can see everybody's hand. We will very likely transition into a hybrid format soon, so it will be more difficult to see people raising their hand. Please use the participants list and then the “raise hand” feature, which is the most transparent and chronologically accurate way to measure that.

Ms. Sahota, that was your previous hand-raise, I would imagine. Please lower your hand.

Ms. Dabrusin, go ahead, please.

[Julie Dabrusin, Liberal, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

In fact, I was not going to speak to this point.

[Ruby Sahota, Liberal, Brampton North, ON]

I raised my hand again, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sven Spengemann]

Okay. Please go ahead, Ms. Sahota.

[Ruby Sahota, Liberal, Brampton North, ON]

I was going to speak to this issue of the third vice-chair. It did come up in the 43rd Parliament as well. This issue was tossed around at every committee in the last session. There was no real conclusion to this issue. It eventually went to the Board of Internal Economy. At that point, there was an issue in terms of how they would create this position so that it didn't violate the Parliament of Canada Act in terms of pay. The pay wasn't going to be increased in case more than one person ended up in this position. Anyway, the issue became so complicated, I don't know if there was ever a decision made by BOIE on that.

Is anyone aware of whether there was a decision from BOIE on that issue last session?

[The Chair, Liberal, Sven Spengemann]

Ms. Sahota, thank you for putting that question to the room.

I'm advised that the phone line is working now. The staff is able to hear us.

Let's go with the list we have: Mr. Diotte, Mr. Oliphant and Mr. Bergeron.