Procedure and House Affairs Committee on Feb. 6th, 2020

[Rachel Blaney, NDP, North Island—Powell River, BC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I thank the member for the motion. This is a really important issue and one that is of concern to many Canadians, so it's good that we'll be looking at this and bringing more transparency to the process.

One of the things that would help me understand is that this motion actually doesn't tell us how long the study will be. Based on the briefings the Senate is receiving, is there is any way to understand how long this process would take?

Just so I understand, if there isn't a timeline listed in the motion, how was that established by the committee? Could I have some information about that?

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

The points raised are all good ones. The trip is definitely something that I'll talk to our team up here about and something that we could probably even question our witnesses about arranging. We can figure that out.

In terms of the witnesses, maybe that's something we could decide on right now, in terms of which officials are going to come. After we meet with them, there might be other witnesses we'll be interested in calling. We might only learn that information after the first meeting.

That goes as well for the length of the study. After we have the first meeting or two, we might be able to ascertain better whether it's an in-depth study that the committee would like to do or something on which we would like to get regular updates once a month or whenever. It's up to the committee, really, but I think we would benefit from the first meeting and it would help us better decide.

Ms. Duncan.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Thank you, Ms. Blaney, for bringing that forward.

We absolutely agree. We thought we'd bring it to the committee. Perhaps this is something that the steering committee could look at as well.

This is such an important project there needs to be regular check-ins. I was hoping this could be brought to the steering committee and perhaps there could be some decisions made.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

Mr. Gerretsen.

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

Hopefully something that comes out of this is that we establish a process to keep us involved. Whether that means setting up or recommending to the House to create a special committee for this, such as the Senate has done, or whether that work stays within this committee, this is something that needs to be ongoing, that transcends different Parliaments so that it doesn't have to be re-established every time.

The membership will have to be re-established but not the actual committee and the work, because quite frankly, that's the benefit the Senate has. They can have the same people, who are established, who can walk through this process, the whole way through it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

Mr. Gerretsen, I think those are great points you brought up about a special committee or this committee continuing on an ongoing process.

In terms of the witnesses who would be coming, the clerk would approach the Department of Public Works to find out who would be the best people to bring forward on this subject, but if any of the members here today have specific people they know of who would be the best people to bring forward, you can definitely submit those names.

I believe you wanted to say something else, Ms. Blaney.

[Rachel Blaney, NDP, North Island—Powell River, BC]

Thank you, again, for your patience as I learn and understand this.

It sounds like we have some decisions to make as we go along the process, and I am clear about that. What I am wondering about is how we will report back.

If we continue, let's just say we say that PROC is going to keep this and get regular updates. Will each update be a different report and will we be tabling them in the House? I'm just curious about the process. Maybe this is not the place to discuss it, but I just have some questions about how that would work.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

Unfortunately, I think, Ms. Blaney, you're looking for a lot more structure than I am able to—

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

Maybe this is about determining that structure.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

Absolutely, this committee can do so. I was just about to say that, as we start the process, the committee may wish to report recommendations back to the House at any given time when we feel we have something to make a recommendation on. However, there may be times when we're just gathering evidence and don't feel there is a recommendation to be made.

Our wonderful analysts take great notes, and they'll be compiling that information. We could also wait until later on to make some of those recommendations. The committee is the master of its proceedings, as we all know, so it's up to us to decide how we want to do that.

[Rachel Blaney, NDP, North Island—Powell River, BC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

Mr. Brassard.

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

Just quickly, Madam Chair, I've been listening to the discussion and hearing the fact that the Senate has been getting information and updates on the House. Just as a matter of efficiency, is there any mechanism whereby officials can come in and jointly provide updates to both the Senate committee and this committee so that...? Maybe it could be a subcommittee, for example.

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

There should be something.

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

I don't know whether there is a mechanism, but it seems awfully inefficient that they're being updated and we're asking to be updated. Why can't we come together and be updated together?

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

That's an excellent point.

Some excellent points have been brought forward. I think we're making progress on this issue. The questions are excellent. I do believe they'll be very appropriate for our witnesses whenever we choose to have this next meeting. We can get a lot of that information. Perhaps we can have a joint committee. The clerk here does not know, and I don't really know how that procedure has taken place. That's something we can find out.

According to the briefing that we have, there is other future potential business and there are some timelines we have to stick to, so we might benefit from having another committee, subcommittee or special committee—whatever you want to call it—take a look at the issue, depending on how deep it gets.

Is everyone at this point ready to vote on the motion?

(Motion as amended agreed to)

Would you like this meeting to be set up on the first Tuesday back after the constituency week?

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

If it can.... We don't have any other business other than one outstanding motion.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

All right. For now, we will slot it in for Tuesday.

Since we have touched upon having a steering committee, would it be...?

The clerk and I had a meeting, and we talked about this. Different committees deal with this differently. Some committees like decisions to be made in the entire committee. They feel that the steering committee decides something, and then that issue has to come back to the full committee for approval, and sometimes you're duplicating the whole process. However, other committees function very well with the steering committee able to decide most of the agenda, and it doesn't take a lot of discussion in the full committee.

Would the will of the committee be to have a steering committee meet regularly or to decide from time to time? How would you like to do that?

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

My thoughts on that are that we play it by ear.

I have no trouble with a steering committee doing some initial work. There may be times when we feel that it's more appropriate for the whole committee to do that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

Okay.

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

However, I think it's a “play it by ear” thing.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

Ms. Blaney.

[Rachel Blaney, NDP, North Island—Powell River, BC]

I think the steering committee is there for a purpose. I think it's a good way to start, to see how it goes. Then when we bring that information back to the committee, we'll become quickly aware of whether it's going to be a consistent practice of having everyone participate or whether it will be case by case. It's good to try the steering committee role first, bring it back and see how the committee feels about it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

Mr. Gerretsen.

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

I'm just going to say that, based on previous experience, at the very least we should set up that steering committee so that it has its membership in the event that it needs to be used.

I agree with Ms. Blaney that we should at least start with it and see how it goes.