Government Operations Committee on Oct. 29th, 2024

[Rachel Blaney, NDP, North Island—Powell River, BC]

Could I have those dates?

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Sure.

November 5 is Minister Joly. That's Global Affairs for the New York apartment. Then possibly the second hour is Minister Hajdu, if she agrees. If she doesn't agree, then we'll have Canada Post, which I assume would be Mr. Bachrach.

On November 7, we have witnesses on indigenous procurement. On November 19, we will possibly have Minister Hajdu. That's our backup date.

The 21st is on the Canada Post motion that we passed, which is on the bilingual issues around Montreal. The 26th is the PBO, as we agreed to last week in the schedule put forward.

Mr. Sousa, we'll—

[Charles Sousa, Liberal, Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON]

Do I not have the floor still?

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

No.

[Charles Sousa, Liberal, Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON]

I never conceded. I mean, I believe I have the floor and I believe I have the right—

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

We're not having a debate, Mr. Sousa.

[Charles Sousa, Liberal, Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON]

I don't want to have a debate. I want to move forward on the issue of our schedule.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

I will get to your motion. It sounds like it's your motion.

[Charles Sousa, Liberal, Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON]

I don't understand why you're not allowing me to put it forward when I have the floor. I have the floor and I proceed—

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Mr. Sousa, I explained very clearly that there are a couple of things preceding that.

I had asked for unanimous consent about whether we could move forward to the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner and the ombudsman. Mrs. Kusie had her hand up. I stated I would get to her as soon as I was done.

I will go to Mrs. Kusie and then we'll go to your motion if you wish to put through a motion.

[Charles Sousa, Liberal, Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON]

It's in regard to scheduling. I'm talking about the issue around scheduling.

You've moved a lot of stuff forward here, and I think it's important for us to—

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

I'm happy to answer them.

If you have questions on the schedule, that's great. If you want to move a motion, then we'll get to it after the issue I brought forward, and I'd recognize Mrs. Kusie first.

[Charles Sousa, Liberal, Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON]

Again, that's part of the issue that we want to respect on this, Chair. I don't believe that you're adhering to it, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

We'll get to it afterward.

Colleagues, I had asked, regarding the procurement ombudsman and the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner on their—

[Brenda Shanahan, Liberal, Châteauguay—Lacolle, QC]

Chair, I have a point of order.

Mr. Sousa had the floor—

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

I have a point of order as well, Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Go ahead, Mrs. Shanahan.

Please wait until I recognize you before you start talking on your point of order so that we're not talking over each other.

Go ahead.

I'll get to you, Mr. Genuis.

[Brenda Shanahan, Liberal, Châteauguay—Lacolle, QC]

Okay, very good.

Chair, it was very clear that you had recognized Mr. Sousa. He moved a motion and he has the floor.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Go ahead, Mr. Genuis.

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

Respectfully of colleagues, I think that we can all maybe just learn a bit about some aspects of process.

You can't have more than one substantive motion on the floor at the same time. If the chair puts forward a proposal in terms of a schedule and we're discussing something the chair has put forward, you can't have multiple motions on the floor at the same time. In the same way that if I had moved a motion and Mrs. Block said, “I want to move a motion now”, you can only move a motion if there's not another motion on the floor.

I think it's important to be respectful of the chair and the process. It's not really a disputable question in terms of having multiple motions on the floor at once.

Let's just deal with this one at a time and hopefully we can actually move on.

[Irek Kusmierczyk, Liberal, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

I have a point of order, Mr. Chair.

[Brenda Shanahan, Liberal, Châteauguay—Lacolle, QC]

To that point of order....

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Sure. However, let me just comment that Mr. Genuis, as is often the case, is correct in this issue.

I have Mr. Kusmierczyk, and then it's back to you, Mrs. Shanahan.

[Irek Kusmierczyk, Liberal, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

I was going to say that as I understand it, you had engaged us in a conversation about scheduling, but there was no motion. You had not indicated to this committee that you have put forward a motion. The first motion on the floor was my colleague Mr. Sousa's, who clearly and audibly stated that he had a motion, and he had the floor. He was recognized by you. He stated that he had a motion, and so by right, Mr. Sousa has the floor, and he has the only motion on the floor for us to debate.

I want to make that clear in terms of process.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Go ahead, Mrs. Block.