Procedure and House Affairs Committee on May 9th, 2017

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

What are your intentions, then, for the way we'll handle the second two hours? Obviously we have a fairly large group of witnesses for a one-hour time slot in that 11:00 to 12:00 time slot. I'm curious as to what you would plan to do to ensure that they get a proper hearing, because there won't be a lot of time left in that one hour.

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

David.

[David Christopherson, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

Well, that's the point that I think we all want to raise.

Oh, that David? I'm sorry.

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

We'll hear this David and then that David.

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

I was just going to say that I have no problem. I'd encourage us, whatever time we lose to the vote, to make up for it between 1:00 and 2:00, if we can displace that hour and if the witnesses are amenable to it.

I don't know whether that's possible.

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

It depends whether the guests are available.

[David Christopherson, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

We picked 10 o'clock so that we'd still preserve the 1:00 to 2:00 slot, and I have filled it, so it's a bit of a problem to extend this one. I think, though, that this is important enough that we should be looking....

If we don't have enough time to complete what we're doing, the time limit is not what's absolute; it's our goal that's absolute. If it takes us a little more time and we have to have another meeting because we were interrupted by bells, so be it. The one thing we're not going to do, however, is not have any part of the discussion that we should have because we ran out of time in going to vote. That's not going to happen.

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

My hope is that we get back as quickly as possible and see how much work we can get done.

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

I would suggest that if there isn't enough time, if members at the end of that 11:00 to 12:00 slot.... I would guess it's going to be close to 11:30 by the time we reconvene. It's probably only going to leave half an hour. I assume we won't have enough time, with that many witnesses—

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

Right.

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

—but if members at the end feel that this is the case, what we might have to do, although I don't know what the schedule is on Thursday, is invite the guests back for another hour on Thursday. I think that's likely what will have to occur.

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

Concerning the Speaker in particular, if we get all the questions for him done, we could invite the others back for Thursday, if we have to.

Filomena.

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

Mr. Chair, I'm not sure procedurally how this takes place and whether it requires unanimous consent, but is it possible that once the bells go, given that the House is just down the hall, can we continue, still giving ourselves enough time that we get to the House but not suspending right when the bell goes?

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

It's not the issue, though, of this hour; it's the hour following the vote. That's when we're going to lose the time with the witnesses. Whether we sit through part of the bells or not is actually not going to fix the problem.

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

If we're not finished this, we could sit for part of the bells.

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

Yes, certainly, but it's more a question of the other part.

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

Yes, I understand.

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

—and then of resuming right away as soon as we're done.

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

Ruby.

[Ruby Sahota, Liberal, Brampton North, ON]

Actually, Filomena took the thought out of my mind at that point. That's what I was going to say, but in addition I would ask, is it possible, Mr. Christopherson, that you can change around that 1:00 to 2:00 time today? Then, if all the witnesses.... I mean, that should be the first priority. I feel we have so much on our agenda that we should do as much as we can do, and of course, whatever time is remaining we can move into Thursday. Thursday, though, we also have a lot to do: we have to get through this really important topic.

[David Christopherson, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

If I'm the only one, then I would find a way to deal with it—if I'm the only one.

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

We also have to recognize the situation of the witnesses. Some of them are scheduled from 11:00 to 12:00, and those are the ones we're going to shortchange. The ones who are here at noon, we won't be shortchanging. Unless we're going to shift it all around, then, and I don't know how you do that at this point, I really think there's a pretty good chance—

[Ruby Sahota, Liberal, Brampton North, ON]

We can lengthen each period.

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

I know the government members seem to want to avoid that, for some reason—I don't know why—but I really think we're going to need that other hour on Thursday now; I just don't see any way around it. We can see what happens in that time frame, but you can't adjust all the witnesses' schedules at this point, either. It's likely the case that we're going to need to have that other hour.

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

Yes.