Health Committee on April 16th, 2018

[The Acting Chair, Liberal, Sonia Sidhu]

Yes.

(Motion agreed to: yeas 6; nays 0)

We will proceed to the consideration of Bill C-326.

I'm pleased to welcome our two guests from the Department of Health. David Morin is the director general for safe environments, and Greg Carreau is the director of the water and air quality bureau. They're available should members have any questions about the bill or amendments. Thanks for being here today.

Pursuant to Standing Order 75(1), consideration of the preamble is postponed. The chair calls clause 1.

(On clause 1)

[John Oliver, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

I am proposing that clause 1 be amended by replacing line 20 on page 1 to line 17 on page 2 with the following:

5.1(1) The Minister shall identify any foreign government or international agency that, in the Minister's opinion, has standards or guidelines respecting the quality of drinking water that should be compared to the guidelines respecting the quality of drinking water that are being developed in Canada.

(2) The Minister shall review the standards or guidelines respecting the quality of drinking water established by any foreign government or international agency identified under subsection (1) to determine which aspects of those standards or guidelines shall be compared to the guidelines respecting the quality of drinking water that are being developed in Canada. The Minister shall then perform the appropriate comparison.

(3) The Minister shall, during each fiscal year after the fiscal year in which this section comes into force, publish the results of the comparison.

With regard to the reason for those changes, I've spoken to the author of the bill, and we've received feedback from the department. There is a sense that incorporating international agencies would open up other comparative bodies that the minister could look at. Identifying other foreign governments would also be an effective change rather than limiting it to the OECD countries that were in the original bill. I think this makes the bill stronger.

It's important. I mean, Canadian efforts to safeguard drinking water quality has to take into consideration the leading science being done internationally, both by different countries and by organizations that reach beyond individual countries. I think the amendment provides the flexibility needed to maintain the focus of Canadians on the most credible international agencies in making sure we apply the best water quality standards that we can to our standards development.

Thank you.

[The Acting Chair, Liberal, Sonia Sidhu]

First, is there any discussion on the amendment? If not, we can have a vote on the amendment.

(Amendment agreed to)

Shall clause 1 carry as amended?

[John Oliver, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

We just voted on that, didn't we?

[The Acting Chair, Liberal, Sonia Sidhu]

It was on the amendment.

(Clause 1 as amended agreed to)

We'll move on to Liberal amendment 2.

[John Oliver, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

This is for an order in council. The bill will be amended by adding after line 17 on page 2, the following:

2 This act comes into force on a day to be fixed by order of the Governor in Council.

That is simply just a tidying-up point. It establishes a date for the coming into force of the bill as a decision of the council.

[The Acting Chair, Liberal, Sonia Sidhu]

If there is no debate, we will vote.

(Amendment agreed to)

[The Chair]

New clause 2 has carried.

[The Acting Chair, Liberal, Sonia Sidhu]

On Liberal amendment 3, we have Mr. Oliver

[John Oliver, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

I don't have a Liberal amendment 3. Are we ready to deal with the preamble?

[The Acting Chair, Liberal, Sonia Sidhu]

Yes.

[John Oliver, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

Okay.

There was a concern in the preamble that reference is made to the “Federal-Provincial-Territorial Committee on Drinking Water”, which is not something that is under federal jurisdiction or ministerial control. It is a question of whether that appropriately belongs in the preamble. However, I understand there are restrictions on what committees can do with preamble content.

Chair, I'm wondering if we could have an opinion on the committee's capacity to change that.

[The Acting Chair, Liberal, Sonia Sidhu]

The amendment seeks to make a substantive modification by removing elements from the preamble. As House of Commons Procedure and Practice, third edition, states on page 774:

In the case of a bill that has been referred to a committee after second reading, a substantive amendment to the preamble is admissible only if it is rendered necessary by amendments made to the bill.

In the opinion of the chair, the proposed amendment is substantive and is therefore inadmissible.

Shall the preamble carry?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair]

Shall the title carry?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair]

Shall the bill carry as amended?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair]

Shall the chair report the bill as amended to the House?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair]

Shall the committee order a reprint of this bill as amended for the use of the House at report stage?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair]

Thank you, Mr. Morin and Mr. Carreau, for being here and joining us today.

[The Acting Chair, Liberal, Sonia Sidhu]

[Proceedings continue in camera]