Evidence of meeting #57 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was documents.
A video is available from Parliament.
NDP
Gord Johns NDP Courtenay—Alberni, BC
Mr. Housefather, you have two amendments, really, in your amendment. Do you want to move the first portion and then we can vote on that, or the second one, or do you want to maybe come back with something that we can all support?
Liberal
Anthony Housefather Liberal Mount Royal, QC
Mr. Chair, I appreciate my colleague's comments. All that I am saying is that the report would come to the committee. I don't know why we would say now that it's a report to the House. It's a report to the committee. I don't see anything wrong with my amendment. The committee, when we receive the report, can determine how we want to draft something to go to the House, if the evidence is what we all think it might be. I don't think that this is a report to the House. It's a report to the committee.
Liberal
Anthony Housefather Liberal Mount Royal, QC
Why am I writing a report to the House? Why don't we just say a “brief report” and take out the words “to the House”?
Conservative
Liberal
Anthony Housefather Liberal Mount Royal, QC
You're saying that it's going to go to the House. I'm not agreeing right now that it's going to go to the House.
Liberal
Liberal
Anthony Housefather Liberal Mount Royal, QC
Now, it says it will go to the House. It says it's a brief report to the House.
Conservative
Liberal
Anthony Housefather Liberal Mount Royal, QC
This his how I read it, in plain English, so I cannot agree to the words “to the House” right now in the document. That's why I'm proposing it's to the committee.
If we strike the words “to the House”, a brief report is going to be sent to the committee and at that time we will decide if this should be sent to the House. At this point, I cannot say that it should be sent to the House. Yet the motion seems to indicate—I may be wrong—that it would be sent to the House.
Conservative
Conservative
Michael Barrett Conservative Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON
The proposed amendment is that the analysts and the clerk be directed to prepare a brief report to the committee. I would like to move a subamendment that the motion read, “That the analysts and the clerk be directed to prepare a brief report to the House”, and Mr. Housefather's change at the bottom with respect to the report being considered in camera. That was the last line. Is that right?
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kelly McCauley
We could just vote on two separate amendments from Mr. Housefather.
Conservative
Michael Barrett Conservative Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON
He said he would like it to stand. Therefore, I will amend his amendment, unless I'm not allowed if my subamendment is not in order.
Conservative
Michael Barrett Conservative Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON
I don't know. If we all agree, we should just vote on the amendment.
We are prepared to deal with it in camera only. We are fine with its wording because the clerk has said that there's precedent in the committee for it to be worded this way—that it is formulated as a report to the House and that the committee, once we receive it, will then have to have a separate vote to send it to the House. This does not trigger anything going to the House. It is just prepared in that form.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kelly McCauley
I'm sorry. I'll just interrupt.
What you're proposing is not something that can be done procedurally, I'm afraid.
Conservative
Michael Barrett Conservative Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON
I hear that all the time.
Conservative
Michael Barrett Conservative Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON
I'm just looking for a path forward, because everyone seems very entrenched in their positions. It looks like there's a majority that will support—
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kelly McCauley
We could separate the two amendments and vote on the in camera, so we can get that out of the way.
Liberal
Anthony Housefather Liberal Mount Royal, QC
Could I try another word? Perhaps Mr. Barrett would be okay if we said, “a brief report to the committee, which the committee may determine to refer to the House”.
