Procedure and House Affairs Committee on Dec. 12th, 2006

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

Members of the committee, let us begin the meeting. I want to remind the members of the committee that this meeting is open to the public.

I also want to advise members that we have ordered lunch, and at Monsieur Guimond's request it is filet mignon again--disguised as sandwiches. Just kidding, of course.

Today we have extended the meeting and we have the room until midnight. We are going until 1:30 if we need to. We may not need that, but ultimately we're just being well prepared. Lunch is coming at noon. Like before, I don't think we'll break for lunch. We'll just ask members to be as quiet as they can be.

[Marlene Jennings, Liberal, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC]

Chew with your mouth closed.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

That's a very good suggestion, Madame Jennings, thank you. Manners are in order.

We received some letters that were distributed to you from PIPS, and some others at members' request. If you do not have copies of those, we have extra copies.

There's an additional piece of information we just received this morning from Triage Emergency Services and Care Society. Unfortunately it's only in English, but I would certainly be happy to get copies to you. It deals with a similar issue, which is photo identification. We've heard this before, and I've read through the letter. It isn't anything new. There are concerns about personal ID of the homeless, which is something we have heard from a number of other witnesses.

I will pause for a moment and ask our witnesses at the end of the table to introduce themselves to the members around the table.

[Marc Chénier, Counsel, Legislation and House Planning, Privy Council Office]

I am Marc Chénier from the Privy Council Office.

[Natasha Kim, Senior Policy Advisor, Legislation and House Planning, Privy Council Office]

I'm Natasha Kim from the Privy Council Office.

[Dan McDougall, Director of Operations, Legislation and House Planning, Privy Council Office]

I'm Dan McDougall from the Privy Council Office.

[Raymond MacCallum, Counsel, Human Rights Law Section, Department of Justice]

I'm Ray MacCallum from the Department of Justice.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

Thank you very much.

Ladies and gentlemen, I want to thank everybody again for their cooperation and diligence in dealing with this bill. I think it's been a reasonably simple bill to deal with, since this committee basically drafted it. As of the deadline set yesterday, we had received 33 amendments that have been organized into packages, clause by clause, in front of you.

I would like to point out that there was lengthy discussion on one of the amendments, but ultimately I'm ruling all them in order. So we will proceed clause-by-clause in the usual fashion.

(On clause 1)

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Chair, on a point of order, you mentioned that you received correspondence from PIPS. Was correspondence sent from the PSAC?

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

Yes. We have extra copies, Mr. Dewar.

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

I just wanted to verify that all members got that.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

They did.

There have been two amendments submitted on clause 1. The Bloc submitted an amendment, and the government submitted an amendment. We will deal with the Bloc one first simply because it was received first, but it appears to me that BQ-1 is identical to the government's amendment, G-1. As well, BQ-1 can be applied to BQ-7 on page 15.

Monsieur Guimond, please speak to your amendment.

[Michel Guimond, Bloc, Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC]

I will be brief, Mr. Chair. I simply would like, in order to reinforce the only identifier, to strike the words “if any”. Accordingly, line 11 would read: “division and the identifier that is”. This amendment, amendment BQ-1, is identical to amendment G-1. We move concurrence.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

Is there further discussion?

(Amendment agreed to)

(Clause 1 as amended agreed to)

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

Thank you.

There are no amendments in clauses 2 and 3. Would the committee consider dealing with these two clauses as a group?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

(Clauses 2 and 3 agreed to)

(On clause 4)

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

We have two amendments to clause 4. Again, the Bloc put theirs in first.

BQ-2 and government amendment G-2 appear to be similar in intent. If the committee wishes, we can discuss the two of them, but I will ask Mr. Guimond to speak to his amendment first.

[Michel Guimond, Bloc, Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC]

This amendment is identical to what has already been concurred in. Amendment G-2 is identical to amendment BQ-2. I recommend concurrence.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

Mr. Lukiwski, please.

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

We're suggesting—and we agree with the spirit of the Bloc amendment—that the wording we have is slightly different. It tightens it up a little bit where we say “The Register of Electors must also”; it's more definitive. That's why we worded it in such a fashion.

The overall intent, obviously, we agree with.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

Is the committee prepared to add the word “must”?

Is there further discussion? I see nods around the table.

Mr. Dewar.

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

I want to get an opinion on the difference between the two amendments from our panel, if there is any insight they could provide.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

Certainly.

Ms. Kim.