Procedure and House Affairs Committee on April 2nd, 2019

[Jennifer Garrett, Director General, Centre Block Program, Department of Public Works and Government Services]

Contracts worth approximately $11.5 million have been issued to subcontractors via our construction manager to do the planned work for the east pleasure grounds area, so we will have to work with our construction manager to renegotiate those contracts, and if they obviously can imagine with multiple activities occurring.... It's a very integrated and coordinated level of effort and you have multiple contractors in place, so we would have to task our construction manager, to go back and renegotiate those contracts to make sure that we could phase the worker hold-off of the work—

[Ruby Sahota, Liberal, Brampton North, ON]

Could you possibly end up being in default or breach of those contracts?

[Jennifer Garrett]

Not likely in default or breach, but there are definitely increasing costs associated with that work.

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

I'm sorry, but it's past one o'clock and I need the permission of the committee to continue.

[David Graham, Liberal, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

You won't have it, because she has a committee meeting. We all have one.

[Ruby Sahota, Liberal, Brampton North, ON]

We have to go.

[John Nater, Conservative, Perth—Wellington, ON]

Let's see if there's majority support to adjourn.

[Ruby Sahota, Liberal, Brampton North, ON]

Adjourn.

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

Adjourn?

[David Graham, Liberal, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

Adjourn the debate or the...?

[John Nater, Conservative, Perth—Wellington, ON]

If you want to adjourn the meeting, we should have a vote on that.

[David Graham, Liberal, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

We put off the inevitable for this tree if we do that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

Is there agreement to not adjourn?

[David Graham, Liberal, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

I'm ready to vote on the motion if you want to do that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

Okay. Is everyone ready to vote on Mr. Garrison's motion?

[John Nater, Conservative, Perth—Wellington, ON]

I would like a recorded vote.

[The Clerk]

Mr. Garrison's motion states:

That the Committee request a moratorium on the removal of the centenary elm and construction activity that would compromise its health until the end of June to allow for a further evaluation of the health of the tree and of alternative plans that would allow for its long term survival.

(Motion negatived: nays 5; yeas 4)

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

Before you move to adjournment, Mr. Chair, I wonder if I could just...?

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

Yes?

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

I had additional questions. I recognize that we're at the end of our time and we are on the verge of someone moving adjournment, but I have a number of further questions—I suspect that other members do as well—not in relation to the tree, but in relation to the entire visitor welcome centre and what's been approved, what hasn't been approved and the kinds of contracts that have been given out and so on. I wonder if we would be willing to invite the witnesses—in particular, Mr. Wright—to come back.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Mr. Chair, it's one o'clock.

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

Sorry, I'm not trying to move something. I'm just trying to serve notice of that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

We're going to have to adjourn.

To follow-up on that, as you know, and Mr. Garrison would know this, we've worked out a procedure with the Board of Internal Economy to work on these larger issues and plans. We'll follow that procedure and sort out something related to that.

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

Okay. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

For sure, those things are all on the table.

Thank you.

The meeting is adjourned.