Procedure and House Affairs Committee on July 6th, 2020

[Anthony Rota, Liberal, Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON]

I'm not aware of any, no.

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

Are you aware of any suspected cases of COVID-19 associated with any of these 187 gatherings?

[Anthony Rota, Liberal, Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON]

I am not.

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

Are you aware of anyone who has required quarantine as a precaution because of their attendance at any of these 187 gatherings?

[Anthony Rota, Liberal, Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON]

I'm not.

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

Are you aware of any contact-tracing effort touching upon any of these 187 gatherings?

[Anthony Rota, Liberal, Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON]

There is none that I know of.

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

Okay.

Now, Mr. Speaker, you have very helpfully laid out several detailed options for in-person voting. Can you confirm that every single one of your proposals would comply with public health guidelines?

[Anthony Rota, Liberal, Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON]

They were done with that in mind, and we would have to check once we started implementing to make sure, but we have done our best.

As you mentioned earlier, we have very competent staff who have done their work and made sure that everything is in place, so I feel comfortable saying yes, but as we get closer and as things change, as things are shifting with the COVID-19 situation, we would have to examine as they were implemented, if that's what the committee and parliamentarians decided.

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

Did you seek public health guidance in implementing these or in actually coming up with these proposals?

[Anthony Rota, Liberal, Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON]

We did.

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

Okay. How much lead time would you need to implement these in-person voting options? I heard Mr. Aubé say that the app for virtual voting could be ready by September. Would it be possible to put them into effect immediately if they were agreed upon?

[Anthony Rota, Liberal, Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON]

I would feel more comfortable telling you that September 21 would be the best time to implement them, if needed. To implement them right now while we're not sitting—we have three more sessions left at which they might be put in place. I would feel comfortable with telling you that the September return would be the best time.

That would give us sufficient time.

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

Okay. Thank you.

How much more time do I have, Madam Chair?

[The Clerk of the Committee, Mr. Justin Vaive]

Madam Chair, Mr. Brassard has approximately 20 seconds left.

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

Okay.

Mr. Speaker, one of the issues that come up regularly as we discuss this is the issue of air travel. Public health has not advised of any restrictions on air travel. Do you see that being a problem with MPs coming to Ottawa to vote in person?

[Anthony Rota, Liberal, Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON]

We would have to look at what the health officials are saying, but air travel seems to be safe.

The thing we have to take into consideration is where the MPs have been. Have they met with groups? Have they picked something up? Are they inadvertent carriers?

That's something that has to be taken into account and something I hope this committee looks at very closely.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

Thank you.

Next up we have Mr. Gerretsen.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Mr. Speaker, I haven't had a cavity in seven years. Do you think that I should stop brushing my teeth?

[Anthony Rota, Liberal, Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON]

No. Congratulations.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Congratulations to you and the incredible work that the House of Commons staff has been doing in order to produce the result of having no cases.

Would you consider that a success?

[Anthony Rota, Liberal, Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON]

Very much so. The staff has taken this very seriously, as members of Parliament have taken it very seriously. A lot of the co-operation amongst the parties, amongst the members and with staff has really made us to be an example for the world to follow.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Thank you for that.

Mr. Aubé, would you say that your main concern, when it comes to the security of virtual voting, is to police members of Parliament to make sure that they're doing what they're supposed to be doing, or is your main concern to prevent the infiltration of third parties from trying to disrupt the democratic process?

[Stéphan Aubé]

I would say my main concern is to ensure that no one is interfering with the voting process.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Would that include a member of Parliament, or are you referring to people coming in from the outside?