Evidence of meeting #160 for Procedure and House Affairs in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was regulations.
A recording is available from Parliament.
NDP
Christine Moore NDP Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC
Basically, here is the problem I am seeing regarding the 21 days.
Let's take the example of a member who lives very far from Ottawa and would have to travel for 24 hours to be present when his spouse gave birth. He could completely miss the birth. So it can be expected for them to want to remain with their spouse as of the 36th week of pregnancy.
If, by misfortune, the 36th week of pregnancy happened to fall within a House sitting period, the 21 days could be used to cover the period when the member is staying at home, but he will be left with no days for any other leave reasons. Let's take the case of a member who has already had to miss two weeks of sittings for other reasons that are not covered, such as to attend his father's or mother's funeral. If he wanted to take another leave to stay with his wife who is close to giving birth, the 21 days may not be enough.
It is more in that kind of a situation that this could happen. It may not have happened in the past, but it could happen.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell
What if we left it up to the subcommittee on agenda to determine when and if this came back?
NDP
Christine Moore NDP Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC
Just on the proxy voting, maybe you should consider a meeting with technology services to figure out what could be used and what technology or which way we can do it. In terms of technical challenges, I think it could be interesting to have a meeting with technology services.
This could help the committee decide whether that option is reasonable and reliable from a security point of view. That could also be added to the agenda of a subsequent meeting.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell
Mr. Bittle, I just suggested a possibility that we leave it up to the subcommittee on agenda—
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell
—to bring those two items back, the proxy and the four weeks in advance.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell
Well, the subcommittee can decide that.
Okay, we're going to suspend for a few minutes to go in camera for the next items on the agenda.
[Proceedings continue in camera]
