Procedure and House Affairs Committee on May 24th, 2018

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

As some members will know, there's been.... I'll speak to the bill. I don't have any particular comments on timing in terms of Blake's motion. The other pieces seem to be set in, and we have to work around that.

Bill C-76 is very large. Governments refer to it as a generational change. There are 350 pages, and 250 of them are text and changing law. The timing is, of course, difficult, as Elections Canada had an end of April deadline. The bill was introduced in May. It was moved through the House under time allocation, passed last night, and referred to us this morning. Is that right, Chair?

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

Yes.

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

Okay, with what I see as a very few weeks left, if the government's ambition is to have the entire bill passed through all stages of the House prior to summer, I think that almost automatically requires the government probably to move time allocation on report stage and third reading, but that's not our business. Our business is the committee doing a proper study.

It bears some noting that.... I forget the total number of days, but certainly a couple of months were spent on the unfair elections act. Excuse me, it's officially called the Fair Elections Act.

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON]

It was Bill C-37.

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

Bill C-37 would be its most neutral—

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON]

Bill C-23. There you go, I remembered that.

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

Bill C-23.... Memories fade, don't they? It was a classic.

That legislation we spent a couple of months on. Obviously, there have not been a couple of months made available to us to spend on a bill that I would actually say is more ambitious in scope, because Bill C-76 has all the components of what the—I'll keep using the term, just to be polite—Fair Elections Act had in it, plus an additional number of sections about foreign influence and other aspects of our voting ecosystem, as it's been referred to. It's bigger and we're going to spend less time on it, which is worrisome to me as a parliamentarian, because we have one job, and it's to try to get legislation right. Whether you agree with it or not, understanding it is proper.

I've always felt and committed.... Ruby knows this. There are many Canadians who are very committed and deeply passionate about our democratic processes. They come from all sides of the spectrum. Sometimes they seem to care more than we do, frankly. They want their voices to be input into this. This doesn't belong to us: we're just here for a moment. We are making changes that will last long beyond our careers in this place, and we should be responsible to the people who sent us here.

It's with some regret, but I'll suggest that we crack it next week. We start with what I would say are some of the more obvious witnesses who are available to us. I think we should have a very short timeline in terms of submitting witnesses to the chair. I was going to suggest noon tomorrow, but that might be a bit aggressive. I'll put it out there, chuck it at the wall, and see if it sticks.

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

Before we continue, why don't we—

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON]

That is a bit aggressive.

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

It's aggressive, but—

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

Before you continue, why don't we agree on a date for submitting witnesses?

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

Sure. Then we'll go back to the timing of things. I hesitate only because one imparts on the other, but yes.... Scott reacted, and yes, that is very fast for a committee.

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON]

I'm no longer the shadow minister here, so—

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

Blake, do you have a timeline for submitting witnesses?

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Banff—Airdrie, AB]

Obviously, I would say that noon tomorrow is more than ambitious. I think it makes it quite impossible, actually.

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

Could you propose another date?

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

Maybe I'll modify it this way, just to help out. I think there are some obvious witnesses: Elections Canada, the minister, the Privacy Commissioners, those folks who are both here in Ottawa and notable. Could we perhaps get agreement on that for noon tomorrow and then have a further deadline for some of the more non-obvious witnesses, or witnesses that we could agree to by Sunday or Monday at noon?

[An hon. member]

It would have to be a weekday.

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Banff—Airdrie, AB]

Let me modify that again.

I'm comfortable with the idea of agreeing on the very obvious witnesses. Depending on what we decide today, that would get us a first meeting or two next week, or whatever is required.

If that is what the committee decides to do, then maybe give us until this time next week, say, to have the other witnesses, because with the obvious and agreed-to witnesses, we would have enough to get us started, anyway. That would give everyone time to prepare a proper witness list.

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

Do you typically go by subcommittee, Chair, in terms of getting through the witnesses? What's this committee's most comfortable process for winnowing down the lists or does it sit with you?

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

We don't usually go to subcommittee because that just adds another stage. We do it here.

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

Okay.

[Ruby Sahota, Liberal, Brampton North, ON]

I think we're hearing some agreement here that we can get some of the big witnesses out there right away, as soon as possible—by tomorrow or even the next day. Then, at the beginning of next week, by Sunday, by the end of the day, that night, we could have them submitted to the clerk, and by Monday we're made aware of who the witnesses are that have been submitted by each of the parties. So next week, Monday...?

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Banff—Airdrie, AB]

Could you clarify that for me? There are two different lists that we're talking about, obviously. The first one—

[Ruby Sahota, Liberal, Brampton North, ON]

Witness lists.