Evidence of meeting #24 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 breach.
A recording is available from Parliament.
NDP
David Christopherson NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
Yes, and maybe we can even have some bilateral discussions to see if we can come up with a word or a phrase.
Conservative
Scott Reid Conservative Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON
If I might just raise a point related to this, I can tell you in a nutshell why I would object to using the word “agreement”.
Remembering the last such emergency, on October 21, 2014, it would have been extremely difficult as a practical matter, given the fact that communications had broken down and people were locked up for a fair time and then were taken under guard by police. In my case, I didn't get out of here until 11 p.m.
Conservative
Scott Reid Conservative Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON
It might actually be impossible to get agreement, so “consultation”.... This is the sort of power that it's very hard to imagine being abused. I can't think of how one would abuse this particular power, and hence “consultation” seems to be reasonable.
Otherwise, effectively, not only do individual House leaders have a veto over the new time, but it might be that they are simply unavailable, and hence you literally can't bring Parliament back without violating the Standing Orders, and that would be a meaningful issue.
NDP
David Christopherson NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
I appreciate that. Thank you.
Chair, let me commit to this, because I get the importance. We want to get it in place. You're right: just like that, we could have a problem.
Perhaps we could defer it one more time to even the next meeting to allow us to explore and see if we can find language. If we can't, then I accept that we've done everything we can, and we'd be ready to hold a vote.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell
If it's good with Mr. Chan. Okay.
For the next item, we have the Austrian people. They want to talk about procedure. Three of you responded, which didn't help much, because one said that we should have it during committee, another said that we should not have it during committee, and the third person was Ms. Petitpas Taylor, who's very easy to get along with and said that she'd go with what everyone else wants.
Are there any other comments on that, even just to break the tie?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell
There's a parliamentary delegation from Austria, and they're interested in procedure. They want to meet with PROC or with those in PROC who are available.
NDP
David Christopherson NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
Right. Normally, in my experience as a chair and in the rest of the years I've been here, the chair implores as many people as possible to show up in support, but at the end of the day, the chair has to carry the can. That's why you get the big bucks.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell
Yes, but the question is, at a committee meeting or not in a regular scheduled time? That's in the memo I sent out to you.
NDP
David Christopherson NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
I would say I'd leave it to the chair, because sometimes I've done those things in the summer.
Liberal
Ginette Petitpas Taylor Liberal Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB
Mr. Chair, we have a lot of committee business that we need to deal with. Perhaps a suggestion would be to have it outside of our committee hours, but I'm flexible.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell
You've changed? Okay. We'll do it outside committee hours.
Mr. Reid.
Conservative
Scott Reid Conservative Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON
Yes, I'm not speaking for my colleagues, just for myself, but the observation I would make is that in the past we've normally done these things outside of committee hours.
Conservative
Scott Reid Conservative Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON
If we do it for the Austrians, then how are we going to stop the Slovenians from wanting the same treatment?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell
Okay. We'll set up a time outside committee hours, so anyone who can make it, that would be great.
What else did we have in committee business? I think that was it.
This committee never ceases to impress me with your comportment, rationale, and collegiality under the circumstances of a system that's meant to create confrontation. I think you all deserve a lot of credit.
The meeting is adjourned.