Health Committee on Dec. 13th, 2021

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Mr. Davies, go ahead, please.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

I have just more of a question and an observation.

What's different in this language from last time, and in fact I think for every notice of motion or routine motion that I've seen, is the obligation of the clerk to distribute the motion to the offices of the whips. I just don't know why that is the case. I'm not necessarily opposed to it, but the routine motions last time did not have that language.

Other than the whips wanting to stick their noses into everybody's business all the time, I kind of understand why they want it. They just want to know, and I'm not sure there's any harm in the clerk distributing it, but I just thought I would, for transparency's sake, share that with my colleagues as it does appear to be new. If anybody had any thoughts about it, I would entertain them.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Does anybody have any thoughts or anything else they wish to contribute with respect to this motion?

[The Clerk]

I don't see any other members who wish to make further interventions, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Mr. Davies, you have us stumped. Do we have consensus in the room to adopt the motion as presented?

I believe I'm advised that we have consensus.

(Motion agreed to)

Mr. van Koeverden.

[Adam van Koeverden, Liberal, Milton, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'll ask you to be patient because this motion is long.

Concerning the orders of reference from the House respecting bills, I move:

That in relation to orders of reference from the House respecting Bills, (a) The clerk of the committee shall, upon the committee receiving such an order of reference, write to each member who is not a member of a caucus represented on the committee to invite those members to file with the clerk of the committee, in both official languages, any amendments to the bill, which is the subject of the said Order, which they would suggest that the committee consider; (b) Suggested amendments filed, pursuant to paragraph (a), at least 48 hours prior to the start of clause‑by‑clause consideration of the bill to which the amendments relate shall be deemed to be proposed during the said consideration, provided that the committee may, by motion, vary this deadline in respect of a given bill; and (c) During the clause‑by‑clause consideration of a bill, the Chair shall allow a member who filed suggested amendments, pursuant to paragraph (a), an opportunity to make brief representations in support of them.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

You have heard the terms of the motion. Is there any discussion?

Seeing none, do we have consensus to adopt the motion?

I'm advised that there's consensus in the room.

(Motion agreed to)

Mr. van Koeverden.

[Adam van Koeverden, Liberal, Milton, ON]

Thank you.

Technical tests for witnesses:That the clerk inform each witness who is to appear before the committee that the House administration support team must conduct technical tests to check the connectivity and the equipment used to ensure the best possible sound quality; and that the Chair advise the committee, at the start of each meeting, of any witness who did not perform the required technical tests.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

You've heard the terms of the motion. Is there any discussion?

Seeing none, is it the will of the committee to adopt the motion as presented?

There's consensus in the room.

(Motion agreed to)

Is there any further business to come before the meeting?

[Adam van Koeverden, Liberal, Milton, ON]

I think that there's another motion.

[The Clerk]

I have Mr. van Koeverden and then Mr. Davies on my speaking list, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Mr. van Koeverden.

[Adam van Koeverden, Liberal, Milton, ON]

Sorry, I was just indicating that there was one more routine motion.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Do you wish to move it?

[Adam van Koeverden, Liberal, Milton, ON]

Sure, if you wish.

Concerning the linguistic review, I move:

That all documents submitted for committee business that do not come from a federal department, members' offices, or that have not been translated by the Translation Bureau be sent for prior linguistic review by the Translation Bureau before being distributed to members.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

You heard the terms of the motion. Is there any discussion?

Mr. Davies, did you wish to intervene on this?

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

No, Mr. Chair. I had some other business I wanted to bring to the committee.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Okay.

Is there any discussion on the motion?

Seeing none, do we have consensus to adopt the motion as presented?

I'm advised there's consensus in the room.

(Motion agreed to)

Is there any further business to come before the meeting?

[The Clerk]

I have Mr. Davies and then Mr. Hanley, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Mr. Davies.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I had three other routine motions I wanted to propose for the committee's consideration. I'll move them one at a time.

The first one is something that has really been in all routine motions that I've seen, and I do have copies in English and French. I'll just read it out and then pass it out:

That all requests to appear before the committee be distributed to the committee members.

Perhaps I could speak to that briefly. We all know that occasionally—in fact frequently—there are witnesses who write to the chair and request to appear before the committee. All that this motion would do is to have the clerk notify the members that those requests have been made. It would be kind of a courtesy to the members so that we would know who is wanting to appear before the committee. It can sometimes influence whom we call as witnesses.

Let's say we're going to embark on a study and a number of groups contact the clerk to say they'd like to appear. If that's circulated to all of us, we can incorporate that into our own request for witnesses. I would hope that this is non-controversial. It has been part of the health committee's routine motions before, and, to my understanding, of many other committees as well.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you, Mr. Davies. The motion is in order.

Is there any further discussion?

Seeing none, is it the will of the committee to adopt the motion as presented?

[Adam van Koeverden, Liberal, Milton, ON]

I have a question, just for clarity's sake.

Is there any reason to believe that it could slow the process down? Does the clerk then distribute that info to us, or does somebody else distribute it?

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Mr. Davies, do you want to respond to that?

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

I defer to the clerk, but the way it's worked in the past is because the requests go to the clerk, an email is sent by the clerk saying a request has been made by such and such a witness.

I don't believe there's been any slowing down of any process, and that's all we get—just notification.