Evidence of meeting #21 for Foreign Affairs and International Development in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was chair.
A video is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I defer to you.
Conservative
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
I still have more to say on the substantive matter.
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Okay, I see. We're done the point of order and now we're resuming on the substantive matter. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I will do my best to continue with where I was before I was again interrupted. I hope to be able to wrap up my remarks uninterrupted, so that I can complete the point that I was trying to make and respond to the very reasonable encouragement from Mr. Zuberi to really distill the essence of the argument.
Liberal
Randeep Sarai Liberal Surrey Centre, BC
On a point of order, I didn't get a ruling on the point of order I had, Mr. Chair.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ali Ehsassi
Mr. Sarai, I understand the point that you have raised, but I'm confident that Mr. Genuis will bear the issue of relevance in mind and he will keep his remarks focused on the 10 words that are in the amendment to the motion.
Mr. Genuis, you can resume.
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I can't tell you how much it means to me to have your esteem and confidence as I proceed in this matter. It makes me greatly reassured about the future of this committee, that it is in good hands. I certainly voted for you to be the chair, lest there be any doubt.
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
That's not allowed. You can't accuse me of that, Mr. Sarai, but I'll let it go. Maybe that, too, will become a practice of the committee.
Mr. Chair, on the point, it is my belief that we initially proposed to refer this and other motions to the subcommittee on agenda and procedure, to be evaluated. After it was referred to the subcommittee on agenda and procedure, the subcommittee could have come back with specific recommendations.
The majority of the committee opposed that proposal to refer the matter to the subcommittee on agenda and procedure. As a result, we put forward an amendment which said, at the very least, let's not be too prescriptive with respect to the committee's foregoing agenda, because there are many emerging issues internationally.
If we proceed and say we must spend five meetings on this matter, we're handcuffing ourselves to scheduling a particular number of meetings on that matter. It may be more, but it would certainly be no fewer than five. Given where we are in June, we're likely looking at that going into the fall and displacing other matters that could be on the agenda. We don't know what the fall is going to bring in global events.
There is, of course, the ongoing invasion of Ukraine. We certainly hope for an end to that violence before the fall, but I think, realistically, the committee will need to prepare itself to be seized with whatever the situation is at that time, when it comes to the fall. It will be important for us to be ready to continue to study that issue.
It's my belief that in light of the circumstances that we're seeing globally, we should be having many meetings specifically on the issue of Ukraine, perhaps scheduling extra meetings on the issue of Ukraine to hear from more witnesses. Specific recommendations should come out of that, which we can make to the government on the issue of Ukraine.
That's why we moved a motion that was debated for a long time and was then retroactively ruled out of order. It was a motion that said, let's adjourn debate on this issue—
Conservative
Liberal
Rachel Bendayan Liberal Outremont, QC
I believe now we're engaging in debate over a ruling not only that you made on a previous motion, but that was also contested and voted on, which is entirely irrelevant to the debate.
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
I say something for 10 seconds and immediately that's the basis for calling something irrelevant. It's—
Liberal
Rachel Bendayan Liberal Outremont, QC
There has been a filibuster of over 16 hours that you have engaged in, sir.
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
There was no filibuster. There were constant efforts to adjourn debate.
I'll move a motion now, Mr. Chair.
I move that the committee proceed to scheduling future meetings with respect to its study on Ukraine.
That motion is specifically given as an example on page 1068 of House of Commons Procedure and Practice, third edition.
I share the member's alleged eagerness—I hope it's genuine—to get back to the work on Ukraine, so I would move that the committee proceed to scheduling future meetings with respect to its study on Ukraine.
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Thank you.
I am being asked to read the motion one more time. The motion is “That the committee proceed to scheduling future meetings with respect to its study on Ukraine.”
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ali Ehsassi
Having had an opportunity to reflect on Mr. Genuis' motion, it appears to me that it is a dilatory motion. We can now proceed to a vote on his motion.