I call this meeting to order.
Good morning, everyone. Welcome to meeting number 10 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs. Pursuant to the order of reference of Tuesday, April 11, the committee is meeting to discuss parliamentary duties in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Before we start, I want to inform members that, pursuant to this order of reference, the committee is meeting for two reasons: first, for the purpose of undertaking a study and receiving evidence concerning matters relating to the conduct of parliamentary duties in the context of COVID-19, and second, to prepare and present a report to the House of Commons by May 15. The order of reference also stipulates that only motions needed to determine witnesses, and motions related to the adoption of the report, are in order.
Today’s meeting is taking place via video conference, and the proceedings will be made available via the House of Commons website. Please be aware that the webcast will always show the person speaking rather than the entirety of the committee.
In order to facilitate the work of our interpreters and to ensure an orderly meeting, I would like to outline a few rules to follow.
Interpretation of this video conference will work very much like in a regular meeting. You have the choice, at the bottom of your screen, of either “floor”, “English” or “French”. At this time, if you haven't already done so, please pick your language of preference.
Before speaking, please wait until I recognize you by name. When you are ready to speak, you can either click on the microphone icon to activate your mike, or you can hold down the space bar while you are speaking. When you release the bar, your mike will mute just like a walkie-talkie. This is a great option for quick interactions. However, I do recommend that, if you are not going to be speaking for a long period of time, you go to the standard mute setting.
As a reminder, all comments by members and witnesses should be addressed through the chair. If a member needs to request the floor outside of their designated time for questions, they should activate their mike and state that they have a point of order. If a member wishes to intervene on a point of order that has been raised by another member, they should use the “raise hand” function. This will signal to the chair that they are interested in speaking.
In order to raise your hand, you should click on “participants” at the bottom of your screen. When the list pops up, you will see next to your name that you can click “raise hand”. Some may have this at the bottom of the participant list. It will either be beside your name or at the bottom of your list. Raise your hand, and you will be able to see beside your name that your hand has been raised. My list will go according to priority, so I think this will work quite well. Even if I don't see it in live time, I will be able to see who raised their hand first.
When speaking, please speak slowly and clearly. When you are not speaking, your mike should be on mute.
The use of headsets is strongly encouraged. It amplifies the voice and makes it much more clear and crisp. If you have disturbances wherever you are, it will be less likely to catch the surrounding sounds.
Should any technical challenges arise, for example in relation to interpretation, or if you are accidentally disconnected, please advise the chair immediately, and the technical team will work to resolve the problem. Please note that we may need to suspend during these times as we need to ensure that all members are able to participate fully.
Before we get started, can everyone click on their screen, in the top right-hand corner, and ensure that they are on “gallery view”? With this view, you should be able to see all the participants in a grid view, it will ensure that all video participants can see one another. This is the only view that gives us the most realistic feeling of being in a committee room.
During this meeting, we will follow the rules that usually apply to opening statements and to the questioning of witnesses during our regular meetings. Each witness will have 10 minutes for an opening statement, followed by the usual rounds of questions from members. I'd like to thank our witnesses today for providing their opening statements in advance.
Just as we usually would in a regular committee meeting, we will suspend in between panels in order to allow the first group of witnesses to depart and the next panel to join the meeting.
I would now like to welcome our witnesses.