Evidence of meeting #10 for Procedure and House Affairs in the 43rd Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was panel.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Eric Duncan Conservative Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON
It's like a proxy system or a pairing type of system at a macro level.
Liberal
Anthony Rota Liberal Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON
Exactly. If that's what Parliament decides, it is the members who would have to decide on something like that. That's something that is not in our rules or the Standing Orders right now. Allowing individuals to vote is the heart of our system, and it's the base of parliamentary privilege.
Conservative
Eric Duncan Conservative Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON
I appreciate that and I agree on that. There's the security process and then even how the connectivity and timing would work. I think there are certainly a lot of barriers in that way.
One of the things goes back to the difference between committees sitting like this. We're working the kinks out, I think, bit by bit, but there are certainly some challenges that have been raised with connectivity. I'm from rural eastern Ontario, and I don't know if the service is getting better or staying the same, but we are surviving that way.
I am wondering about general access for Canadians. I think more Canadians are at home and are staying at home, and they are perhaps watching these broadcasts if they're online. Have there been discussions about whether CPAC or an online television entity would be airing these sessions or have the ability to do so? Not only is it important for us to have this access to our committees and have access to each other, but we need as many ways as possible for Canadians to see what we're discussing in the virtual chamber or in committee. Do you have any comments or thoughts on that?
Liberal
Anthony Rota Liberal Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON
The proceedings of Parliament are open to all Canadians, and what is fed into CPAC is actually run by our IT department. The feed that they provide for them—all the work, the heavy lifting—is done by our IT department, and our IT people are very capable of doing so. I believe transparency and openness are certainly very important to all Canadians, so I can see it being something that we want to continue.
Conservative
Eric Duncan Conservative Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON
I appreciate that.
One of the other aspects I wanted to bring up is about timeliness.
When we're back out on this in terms of the light at the end of the tunnel, whenever or wherever that may be, are you looking at timelines or end dates? I know there are sunset clauses in some of the emergency legislation we passed. Do you want to speak a little bit about your intentions for that flexibility in relation to public health? There were comments raised before about the safety of our staff and ourselves as members and the safety of the support staff. What guidance are you using for decisions or continual conversations about some sort of physical presence? I was wondering if you could comment on that and on any discussions you're having in your group.
Liberal
Anthony Rota Liberal Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON
That's an evolving discussion. We're looking at what Health Canada has to offer and what experts have to offer. We're looking at making the best decisions possible for everyone's safety.
As for looking down the road, it really is uncharted territory. I wish I could give you a definite date for when all of this will stop and go away. It is just continuing.
This is a good opportunity for us to look at what we're doing, our process, and our Standing Orders, and to look at special conditions. This is an opportunity to make changes so we can be prepared for future events as they come up. This is obviously not the last time we're going to go through something like this.
I would encourage the committee to prepare for different scenarios, to look at the possibilities down the road and look at what might be the possible triggers to get those new alternatives in place so that if we do come across something like this again, we would have, as a Parliament, the opportunity to trigger a certain number of things or a certain way of doing things and move in that direction.
Liberal
Liberal
Ryan Turnbull Liberal Whitby, ON
Out of the spirit of collaboration, I would like to give the last minute of my time to Ms. May, if possible. Is that okay, Madam Chair?
Liberal
Ryan Turnbull Liberal Whitby, ON
Thank you very much.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for being here. I really appreciated your comments this morning. In particular, I appreciated the comment you made about innovation. I think any time any institution, especially one as large as the House of Commons and the federal government, adopts new technology or any kind of innovation, there are going to be challenges and bumps in the road. I really want to say a hearty thank you to all of the staff of the administration for doing, I think, heroic work in a very short period of time to get these virtual meetings up and running. It's quite a testament to how quickly we're moving to respond to the needs of Canadians.
I'm deeply concerned that we're still going to have some physical presence in the House, given the risks pointed out by my colleague, Ginette Petitpas Taylor. I think they are pretty large at this time.
If we took the best science and the best possible public health advice, do you think we would actually have any physical sittings right now in Parliament?
Liberal
Anthony Rota Liberal Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON
I have to base my answer on the information I am getting now. The information I am getting is that the less the possible contact or the physical proximity, the better.
Is there an absolute yes or no? I don't believe so, because we do have essential services, and essential services are taking the necessary precautions, whether in a hospital or in certain areas that have been designated, mainly on a provincial level.
As for whether or not our presence in Ottawa is a good thing, that depends. I don't think there's an absolute yes or no, but just taking into consideration travel and contact with others, it is something to worry about.
Just to touch on something else you mentioned, I talked about looking at different options. With regard to how we do things in Ottawa, I would like to suggest that changing the way we do things and changing the Standing Orders deserves more extensive study, and I would recommend to the committee that perhaps this is something they should continue to do. Once this is over and they have reported, they should continue looking at different options that would keep Parliament running if something like this or something worse should happen again, and look at all of the worst-case scenarios.
I'm sorry for taking some of that time, Mr. Turnbull.
Liberal
Ryan Turnbull Liberal Whitby, ON
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate your comments.
I'm also interested in the comments you made about capacity. I think we all understand that replicating a full sitting day is a really big task, and we certainly need to take it in bite-sized chunks and gradually work up to it. I think you have expressed in your comments some concern about capacity and being able to do that.
Where are the easy places to start? It's clear to me that we really do have a duty to protect health and safety and to limit the time that we are in the same physical space. I would say that our work and our role, unlike those of construction workers, health care workers, grocery clerks, and other essential support staff out there, do not require us to be in the same physical space.
Do you see a good place to start? What are the bite-sized chunks? How could we phase this in?
Do you have any ideas on that, Mr. Speaker?
Liberal
Anthony Rota Liberal Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON
Yes. There are limited resources. It's something that's more of a technical barrier than anything else, at this point. I honestly believe that what we have to do is grow incrementally, starting off with certain areas that we know shouldn't be a problem. Some of those include Statements by Members, or S. O. 31s, and situations in which members are questioning each other, as in the committee we have set up for next week, where information sharing is one of the big things. As soon as we get into something a bit more technical, like voting, we want to make sure that the vote is not interrupted and works out well. That's where I can see us growing on a gradual basis.
This might be a question that might be best answered by our technical people in the second part of this committee meeting.
Conservative
John Brassard Conservative Barrie—Innisfil, ON
Madam Chair, I had my hand raised for a point of order.
Conservative
Conservative
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ruby Sahota
I have him at four minutes and.... Yes, it leaves 10 seconds right now.
Liberal
Conservative
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ruby Sahota
No, he's not over five minutes. He's under five minutes, but it doesn't leave a full minute for Ms. May at this time.
Liberal
Ryan Turnbull Liberal Whitby, ON
Madam Chair, perhaps I could ask for some leniency, given that I think you were lenient on some of the other speakers as well.