Foreign Affairs Committee on Sept. 7th, 2022

[Stéphane Bergeron, Bloc, Montarville, QC]

I have a point of order, Mr. Chair.

Before we thank our witnesses, doesn't the Liberal Party have one more round? Unless our colleagues in the Liberal Party want to—

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Outremont, QC]

I would have loved to ask some questions.

[Stéphane Bergeron, Bloc, Montarville, QC]

Yes, I think we need to keep the government party's turn to speak.

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

On the point of order, Mr. Chair, I would suggest that we vote on the motion and then proceed to give the Liberals their round. I'm prepared to vote if others are.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

I understand.

The next person who would like to speak to the motion is Mr. Zuberi.

[Sameer Zuberi, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Thanks, Mr. Chair.

We have all heard the motion. We have it. Thank you, Garnett, for that.

With respect to next week, I'd like to flag for everybody's attention that we, as the Liberal Party, have our national caucus retreat taking place. I don't know what the schedules are of other parties, but that's our schedule. It would make it hard for us to all participate in a fulsome way.

That being said, before we vote, we should all consider the schedules of colleagues around the table, no matter what party they're from. I think that we'll all do that in order to move ahead on important business.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

Thank you, Mr. Zuberi.

Go ahead, Mr. Genuis.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

If we can allow this briefly, Sameer, on what day, or days, is your caucus retreat?

[Sameer Zuberi, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

I think there's a speaking order, so—

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

Do you mind just saying the day? That will help us move this forward.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

Yes, Mr. Zuberi. Could you clarify that, please?

[Sameer Zuberi, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Sure. Next week until Wednesday, we'll be in meetings. People will be travelling from there as of Wednesday, so Thursday will probably also be taken up.

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

The full day—

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Outremont, QC]

There is a speaking order.

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

I'm sorry. Is it the full day on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday that you're in meetings?

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Outremont, QC]

Mr. Chair, I don't believe that Mr. Genuis has the floor.

[Sameer Zuberi, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Sure. We're not in for the full day Wednesday....

Go ahead, please, Mr. Genuis.

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

We also have a caucus retreat...I had the floor, so I'll finish my comment.

We also have a caucus retreat in the next seven days. I think it would be good for the chair and the clerk, in scheduling this meeting, to take into consideration potential conflicts with caucus retreats. However, a seven-day window is a pretty wide window. We could meet on Friday; we could meet.... Someone could propose an amendment to move it to eight days or nine days, but I'm really sick of the delays. We were sitting on our hands for a full month.

I think this motion is very reasonable. We should work around caucus schedules, but I somehow highly doubt that any caucus is meeting solidly for the next seven days from dawn until dusk. We can probably find a window that works.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

Go ahead, Madam Bendayan.

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Outremont, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Given that we just heard that amendments will be necessary to this motion, and given that our witnesses are here and that this is a matter we would like to fully flesh out with the witnesses, I move to adjourn debate.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

As I understand it, that adjourns the committee.

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

No, it doesn't. It's a dilatory motion and we go to a vote, Mr. Chair, on Ms. Bendayan's motion to adjourn debate.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

Absolutely. I'm sorry. You have my apologies for that.

Madam Clerk, we'll go to a vote on this.

[The Clerk of the Committee, Ms. Ariane Gagné-Frégeau]

Yes, Mr. Chair.

The vote will be on adjourning debate on the motion of Garnett Genuis.

(Motion negatived: nays 6; yeas 5)

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

As I understand it, we revert to the motion proposed by Mr. Genuis.

Mr. Bergeron.