Evidence of meeting #27 for Procedure and House Affairs in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was prorogation.
A recording is available from Parliament.
12:20 p.m.
Liberal
Ryan Turnbull Liberal Whitby, ON
Perhaps this is more a point of order.
It's an interesting proposal that Mr. Therrien has put forward. I do appreciate this. I think the amended timeline.... I have some concerns about it. I'm also somewhat supportive, so I'm sort of in between. If possible, would we be able to have a quick 10-minute suspension to have a bit of a team huddle on our side? I think all members might be able to take that time just to consider this.
If that would be okay, Madam Chair, I would certainly appreciate it.
12:20 p.m.
Conservative
Karen Vecchio Conservative Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON
Madam Chair, before we go there, can we just go through the list? I have about a 10-second intro on the types of things we can consider as well.
12:20 p.m.
Conservative
Karen Vecchio Conservative Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON
I was just going to comment that I think this proposal is a great idea. We have to recognize that there will be translation. There will be different things like that. As we're waiting for the report before it can be tabled—because it will need translation services and finalization—that would give us the opportunity to invite the minister and to invite the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada as well. Then, during that time, even if it's not actually tabled right there, the opportunity to start that study is possible.
I just wanted to leave that with everybody.
12:20 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ruby Sahota
Absolutely, it is possible, and we've done that in the past when we've done some things simultaneously.
Ms. Petitpas Taylor.
12:20 p.m.
Liberal
12:20 p.m.
Liberal
Ginette Petitpas Taylor Liberal Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB
To continue to do the two studies simultaneously.
12:20 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ruby Sahota
No, just the committee would decide. We've never actually had amendments or formal motions when we decide to move towards something. Sometimes we have a subcommittee report back to the main committee and we vote on the decisions they've made, but as we've always said, the committee is the master of its own proceedings, so it can do whatever it wishes to do in that regard. You don't need to have formal motions or subamendments put forward.
12:20 p.m.
Conservative
Karen Vecchio Conservative Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON
I just wanted to add to that.
With the subcommittee, these are the things that we do need to look at—the witness lists—so perhaps a subcommittee should be scheduled so that the preliminary work on Bill C-19 could get started outside of the regular committee. That's another suggestion as well.
12:20 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ruby Sahota
Yes, if you wish to have a subcommittee meeting, just let me know. Maybe at the end of today we can decide on that.
Mr. Turnbull had—
12:20 p.m.
The Clerk
Madam Chair—
12:20 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ruby Sahota
—asked for a brief suspension.
Would you still like to have that brief suspension?
Mr. Clerk.
12:20 p.m.
The Clerk
Madam Chair, if I may, I'll just cut in here on a couple of points.
On the suggestion for a subcommittee, unfortunately, again, if the subcommittee does want to meet, it will have to use one of the usual allotted PROC committee slots. Again, it's not like.... I can definitely check to see if there's a way to get extra time outside of our usual meeting slots, but generally speaking, subcommittees have been meeting in the meeting slot that's reserved for the full committee. That may impact your decision, because it could potentially inadvertently remove some of the time that the committee has to look at the report—
12:20 p.m.
The Clerk
I can definitely check to see if a time outside of the committee can be obtained, but I might get told no.
The second point I just want to—
12:20 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ruby Sahota
No, thanks for that reminder. Also, any time the subcommittee decides that it has to come to the main committee in order for something to be adopted, sometimes if it is something small, it could be a redundant process. We could decide that at the end of committee.
I'm sorry, Mr. Clerk. I think I cut you off.
12:20 p.m.
The Clerk
I'm sorry about that. I'll be quick.
The last point I wanted to make is that if the committee wanted to consider the draft report according to the new suggested timelines as suggested by Mr. Therrien in his subamendment, with the deadline of reporting back on June 18, which is a Friday, it would mean that there would be an open meeting slot available on June 17, because the last date on which the committee would be considering the adoption of the report would be the 15th, which is a Tuesday. There would then be an open meeting on the 17th before the chair is in a position to present the report back to the House.
12:20 p.m.
Conservative
John Nater Conservative Perth—Wellington, ON
No, no. Mr. Turnbull had his hand up. I'll go after him.
12:20 p.m.
Liberal
Ryan Turnbull Liberal Whitby, ON
Thanks, Mr. Nater.
I just wanted to clarify. In terms of this discussion about dates and how we use time and organize our work, we're basically saying that on June 8, we'd work on the report. On June 10, we'd work on Bill C-19. On June 15, we would finalize the report and table it on June 18.
Am I understanding that correctly?