My understanding of the usual practice is that when a bill is referred to our committee.... In all the time that I've been on a number of committees in this place, I don't recall.... Usually we have a discussion as a committee about how we want to attack—not attack, but tackle—the work plan for the bill. In some cases, it is attack, I guess, from some members. In most cases, or probably every case I can recall, it involves witnesses and a study of the bill prior to clause-by-clause, which would be the time when amendments would be brought. It just seemed a bit out of place for that to be happening. I don't know if there was some reason for that, because it seems to me that we should probably look at, for the fall, what we need for meetings and how many witnesses. That would seem to me to be the first step, but there may be reasons I'm not aware of.
On June 20th, 2017. See this statement in context.