Government Operations Committee on Oct. 2nd, 2025

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Welcome back, everyone. We are public.

Quickly, everyone, we had invited the president of Canada Post to come in for, as we said, October 9, as part of our study. This of course was all done before the changes and the current labour dispute, so they quite understandably have said that they are unavailable and would like to be considered for a future time down the road. I'm just letting you know that we won't continue with them or do that.

We had previously asked the public sector integrity commissioner to attend. She's now back in the country and we have taken the liberty of starting the process to invite her in for October 9. That's kind of pushing back other changes, and again, depending on what's going on with the labour dispute, we'll have to address the president of Canada Post coming later for that time.

This happened about a year ago, I think, when we invited him and then the strike happened. It appears that maybe OGGO inviting him is what triggers the strikes. I apologize to Canada.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Ms. Gaudreau.

[Marie-Hélène Gaudreau, Bloc, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

We understand the situation, Mr. Chair.

Obviously, a lot of things changed on September 25. I think the Minister of Government Transformation, Public Works and Procurement needs to be summoned for a two-hour meeting so that he can answer our questions as soon as possible. This is urgent.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Right. We had invited the minister, but our indication is that it may be not for a while. Are you pushing a motion to have him appear sooner at the request of the committee, to have him appear sooner than he was intending, in November?

[Marie-Hélène Gaudreau, Bloc, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

I can't hear. I don't have interpretation. I tried to catch everything, but when two microphones are on, it doesn't work.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

I'm sorry. I'll say it again more slowly.

The committee had agreed to invite the PSPC minister.

They had indicated perhaps in November, but is the intent of your question a motion for the committee to reinvite him to come earlier to address some of these issues?

[Marie-Hélène Gaudreau, Bloc, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

I would like the Minister of Government Transformation, Public Works and Procurement, Mr. Lightbound, to appear before our committee as soon as possible.

There's a break in sight, we have a lot of questions to ask him, and we're in a period of crisis. It's important that he come and meet with us.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Ms. Rochefort.

[Pauline Rochefort, Liberal, Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON]

I was just going to say, given the concern you've raised, or given what my colleague just asked, could we do this in camera?

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

We do not do anything in camera in this committee unless it's specifically confidential information or reports. You can request.... I don't see a will from one side of the room. We could do a vote, but I don't see that happening, Ms. Rochefort.

I did see some nods about requesting that he come earlier. Can we consider that a motion by the committee to invite him to appear preferably in the next week or, if not, in the first week after break week? If he can appear next week, we can move back.... We'll make our time on Tuesday available.

Instead of doing the CG report, we can move the CG report to Thursday if we can get Minister Lightbound on Tuesday. If not, we'll try for Thursday, in which case we can move the public sector integrity commissioner to perhaps Tuesday for now, or we can finish off our report on Tuesday.

Perhaps it's something you can leave with the clerk and me to balance out.

Mrs. Block.

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK]

I have just one point of clarification, Mr. Chair.

I understand my colleague's sense of urgency that she is expressing in regard to wanting to see the minister appear before the committee. Notwithstanding the very current issues, I'm wondering if we could just open it up for questions around his mandate. It may mean that he doesn't need to come back again a few short weeks later to appear in the spirit of the initial invitation we sent.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Yes. Thanks.

I think that was the intent. Rather than having it delayed to November, it's to have him kill two birds with one stone, or to do his meeting with us for two hours. Then he would not be back until the estimates, in which case we usually invite them for one hour with the estimates, which would be in late November or December. I think that's the understanding.

Are we comfortable with that?

[Jenna Sudds, Liberal, Kanata, ON]

Mr. Chair, is there a motion on the floor for this?

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

We could do it by unanimous consent.

[Jenna Sudds, Liberal, Kanata, ON]

Sure. Could you just say it again for me? That's all. I want to make sure I understand what's being put forward.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Sure. The intent is to invite the minister. The committee has invited him already. He had indicated perhaps in November. The will of the committee is to ask him to appear earlier, as soon as possible, not in three weeks or a month, but preferably next week, and if not, in the first week back from the break week.

We'll leave it with the clerk and me to work on the schedule, balancing it between finishing this report and the appearance of the public sector integrity commissioner, acknowledging that we will prioritize the appearance of the minister and work the other two around his appearance.

Are we fine with that?

Wonderful. So be it.

You're clear with that?

Thanks, everyone.

We are adjourned.