Procedure and House Affairs Committee on Dec. 10th, 2013

[Nycole Turmel, NDP, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

It hasn't been discussed with the Speaker. I agree. At the same time, we know that a lot of school kids visit. When possible, if we agree in principle to look at this motion, there's always a solution. If the House of Commons and the Speaker say it's not feasible, or the security part is not feasible.... At least we can look into the principle of this.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Mr. Lukiwski.

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

I have a couple of points.

Number one, I've already mentioned to some of the members of the NDP staff that before we make any official decision, I'd like to discuss that we want to bring this back to our caucus. We meet tomorrow. We'd like to bring this forward and get the views of our caucus. Until we meet, it's certainly not something that I can say we have a defined position on right now.

I can tell you, however, that I will certainly be thinking about this, and I will be raising a few scenarios at our caucus. I'll be quite honest with you that one of the things I've always found to be absolutely offensive is the refusal of the Bloc Québécois to sing the national anthem on Wednesday mornings. They won't even come into the room. We have a separatist party that supposedly is here for one purpose, and that's to break up our country, and prove that by refusing to come into the chamber to sing the national anthem. I don't mind demonstrating that to the rest of Canadians.

I like when members of Parliament show their patriotism to our country by standing up. We may not be the best singers, but it sends a very good message to our constituents. I don't mind that contrast between people like us, who do believe in a united Canada, and those who don't, who refuse to sing along with us.

We'll discuss this, but clearly, that will be part of our discussion. I'll just put that out to you.

Maybe there could be something on an ad hoc basis, or maybe it will be permanent, where we bring in school groups, choirs, or something like that. Hey, let's discuss that.

I know this is going to prompt some very lively discussion in our own caucus, primarily because of the situation I just referred to.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Mr. Lamoureux.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

First off, Tom, I appreciate the comments. I think you are quite right in your assessment of the Bloc, so I support what you are saying there.

In the motion mention is made of “across Canada”. Like all MPs, I'm very proud of my riding's schools, such as Sisler High School, with its choir group of—if I say 45 or 50, I'm sure I would be underestimating the size of the choir. We have Maples Collegiate, R.B. Russell Vocational High School, Children of the Earth High School. These are all wonderful, fantastic high schools, and I wouldn't forget Stanley Knowles School.

The point I am getting across, of course, is that I am sure there would be hundreds of choirs out there, and some of them, because of their size.... What sort of financial commitment or resources would we be talking about if we were to move ahead on this motion? We want to make sure it's not just the rich kids in the suburbs who participate. We want to make sure we have inner-city kids. We want to make sure it goes beyond just high schools.

It might be worth our pursuing the idea itself. I just don't think we need to be in any great hurry. We can maybe bring it back to our respective caucuses and then maybe look at having a bit of a discussion on the motion.

I would suggest it might be better if we just table the motion until we've had the opportunity to get an understanding of costs and the implications of the motion itself.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Okay. I have two more speakers before I talk about tabling.

Mr. Cullen, we'll do it fairly casually.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

I think we're getting into the weeds here a bit.

We see school groups in here all the time. They're coming through the House on a continual basis.

The intention of this motion, as I understand it from Madame Turmel, is to open up the House to the people it belongs to, particularly to kids, and secondarily—no offence to you, Chair, but I will include myself on this list—to keep the Canadian public from being exposed to some of the singing talents that certain members of Parliament possess or don't possess.

Someone asked a sort of logistical question. The House isn't technically open when we sing O Canada. The House has not yet convened itself, so there are no issues procedurally. I'm sure we can talk to security and I'm sure Madame Turmel will follow that up. Talking to our caucuses is great, but just on the surface, folks, the idea of having young people sing O Canada once a week is an incredibly patriotic thing. It's an incredibly positive thing. Members of Parliament could even join in with them, if they'll have us and we have enough talent.

Getting into the issues of equity and access and who's paying for what, the school groups are already here. They're here on a regular basis. I think we get 20 to 50, depending on the time of year, every single week. It's just something to explore. It's a positive thing. I don't know why we would look for reasons not to do it. Why wouldn't we look for reasons to do it? The kids in my riding who have come to visit would love to be on the floor of the House of Commons doing something incredible like singing O Canada. That would be a true moment in a young person's life.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Mr. Butt.

[Brad Butt, Conservative, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

I want to re-emphasize this. Can we ask the Speaker for his opinion on this? I'm not prepared to vote on this. Whenever we do, and it's obviously not going to be today, I am not prepared to deal with this until I have an opinion about this from the Speaker.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Okay. As your chair, I would suggest that we have a quick discussion with the Sergeant-at-Arms and the Speaker's office about what they think their role might be in this. We'll give the time for each of you to take it back to caucus. Mr. Lamoureux and Mr. Lukiwski have asked for time for it to go back to their caucuses, so we'll table this motion until we return. The steering committee can ensure it's on the agenda. By that time maybe we'll have had some input from the Sergeant-at-Arms about the logistics side. I'm sure it will be handed to him and the Speaker's office to take care of.

Would that be fine to table it until we returned?

Go ahead.

[Nycole Turmel, NDP, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

When you say having a discussion with the Sergeant-at-Arms, is it the committee or just—

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

I was going to take it on myself.

[Nycole Turmel, NDP, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

Can I be part of that? This is my only question, a request. I would appreciate that.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Certainly. We'll have to make an appointment then, so it may be after we return.

[Nycole Turmel, NDP, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

Yes, that's fine with me.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Super.

Are we okay with that? We'll table this motion until we get back. Madame Turmel and I will have a meeting with the Sergeant-at-Arms and someone from the Speaker's office, hopefully the Speaker, and we'll see what they bring to this suggestion, so that we can come back to the committee with some knowledge in hand. You can sell it or not sell it to your caucuses, whichever it may be, in the interim.

Is there anything else for the good of this committee today?

We do not have a meeting scheduled for Thursday, so Merry Christmas to all of you.

[David Christopherson, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

Merry Christmas.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

I wanted to say Merry Christmas to all of you.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Mr. Chair, through you, our thanks to all the support staff that we have.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Absolutely. Thank you to the staff for all their help.

We are adjourned.